Emma's Race & Sports Blog

The article I chose for this week's blog post was titled NFL Power Rankings: Bucs might be screwing up a promising season by signing Antonio Brown . The article discusses the recent signing of wide receiver, Antonio Brown, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, stating that his presence on the team will ultimately result in failure. We discussed the signing of Antonio Brown to Tampa a little bit in class on Monday. This article, however, goes into depth into the various ways that Brown will pretty much ruin the Bucs season. The article explains that the Bucs are currently doing very well and, there is no need for Brown on the team. The Bucs are already a Super Bowl contender so the article states that the signing of Brown is pretty much pointless and can only impact the team negatively. The article brings up all of Brown's past issues with teams, from helmet debates, freezing his feet, tantrums, to domestic abuse, calling him "the most toxic player in the NFL" . One thing we di...

For this weeks journal entry, I decided to write about the article titled, Atlanta's Raheem Morris wins his first battle against the impossibly high bar for Black NFL head coaches . This article was very important to discuss because it openly addresses the issue that Black coaches and players are constantly held to an outrageously high standard. The article begins with an important and interesting question asking NFL team owners:  Why is it that you’re content to hand Black assistant coaches an industrial-sized roll of Scotch tape and ask to hold a team together after a head coach is fired in-season, but so infrequently inclined to hand them the reins to a team from Day 1, with the full support and resources and time to succeed? This  occurrence  has  happened  twice this NFL season, one example being with Raheem Morris on the Atlanta Falcons. The question and examples of it occurring also prove that owners and the League as a whole have very...

The article that caught my attention for this week's blog post is titled A.J. Green addresses loafing on INT, whether he said 'trade me,' admits he has to handle frustration better .  This article focuses on A.J. Green's "rough week 5" and the continuation of a miserable season for the Bengals' receiver. The article points out Green's mistakes, the two from this weeks game being the little effort he puts into stopping an interception, as well as being seen complaining on the bench. Both clips of this went viral, which I think it a little unfair to Green. I believe that the immense attention that these two clips received shows the suppressive pressure that Black athletes receive in the media. Was the interception bad? Yes. But I do not think it needs to be continuously shared, laughed at, and commented on. Here is a link to the video of the interception play:  https://twitter.com/CharlesRobinson/status/1315350407301005312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5E...

This week, I have decided to analyze two articles that tell the story of Dwayne Haskins' benching and replacement with Kyle Allen for the starting quarterback position for the Washington Football Team. Haskins was the Ohio State Quarterback and the 15th draft pick of the 2019 NFL draft. Although drafted in the first round, the article titled, Things I Noticed: Dwayne Haskins' benching epitomizes why he was a bad fit in Washington from the start , explains just that, how Haskins was always a "bad fit" for the team. The article begins by stating that he was drafted to a team  already on the hot seat  and who clearly didn’t want him , already setting him up for failure. The immense pressure put on Haskins was too much, with the team basically asking him to "move a mountain." The article states how even after a great performance by Haskins on Sunday,  completing over 70% passes for 314 yards, a rushing score and zero turnovers, it of course wasn’t enough. This f...

This article titled,  Report: Cowboys, Bucs, Chargers have most minority coaches on staff , goes into details about the NFL's improved efforts to improve diversity and inclusion, as well as the teams who have been the most impacted by it. Something I was previously unaware of that the article lays out for the reader is that the NFL has been collecting demographic data on every team as a part of its diversity and inclusion plan. The study, as well as data from TheAthletic.com, suggests progress in entry-level positions that could feed the pipeline of including more diversity in NFL organizations. The article explains how, since 2013, staffs with head coaches of color have had a greater representation of minority coaches than white head coaches have, logically so. Steeler's owner and  Art Rooney states, “I think there’s a good pipeline, having said that, I think it’s important that we need to look at developing young coaches, and how we bring young coaches into the league a...

My article for this week’s blog post is titled “ Representation like Week 3's historic matchup matters for NFL's growing female fan base ” and it discusses how for the first time in an NFL game, there will be a female coach on each sideline as well as a female referee. The article discusses the three women, Callie Brownson of the Browns, Jennifer King for Washington, and Sarah Thomas officiating, and how they have impacted this historic event. Although this event is monumental and a great first step for women in sports, there is far more work to be done. Slowly, more women have been added to coaching staffs and front offices, however most still remain at lower-level positions. The disproportionately small number of women involved in the NFL is still a major issue , especially considering the NFL’s own data says around 47 percent of its fan base is female. This event also holds significance for the Black community, being that King, the full time intern for the Washingt on Footb...