Do you think it’s systematic? Do you think ESPN, for example, has a vendetta against black people?

Or do you think that within ESPN, you’ll have Reporter X, who may have certain biases towards black people?

Sure it’s about promoting what makes money and it would seem that just so happens to be making black folks look bad. That’s what I thought for a long time.

But, from inside the belly of the beast I see how people use the whole “making money, creating a brand” argument to justify their personal biases and vendattas against certain races.

I think it’s important to understand how the mainstream media is racially biased: I don’t think it’s racist because it goes out of its way to discriminate against black people or because it just can’t stand black people or because it’s run by the KKK. Rather, I think it caters to what it thinks generates broad appeal. Remember what you told me about them giving Brett Favre the gameball when Vince Young had that epic performance? It’s all about demographics.

I have similar conversations with my friends over here in Saudi Arabia about the US government. A lot of them are convinced that the American government keeps bombing the sh*t out of Muslim countries because they hate Islam and want to propagate Christianity. I keep telling them that the US government could give two sh*ts about spreading Christianity. All the US government cares about is serving the interests of the military/industrial complex, and if that means using military action against Islamic countries, so be it. So it IS acting in ways that are “anti-Islamic,” but if you think that it’s because they want to spread Christianity, then you aren’t really understanding the situation. Now, of course, within the US government, I’m sure there are hyper-religious, Bible-thumping nutjobs who would love nothing more than for Jesus to come down from heaven in a cloud of light or whatever, but I doubt that that’s part of the US foreign policy.

Similarly, the mainstream sports media oftentimes act in ways that are blatantly racist. But the way they write their stories are shaped by their interests, first and foremost. They aren’t serving their race. ESPN may not scrutinize Ben Roethlisberger as much as Kobe Bryant, but it isn’t part of some grand design to serve Whiteness. I think the American consumer just accepts the image of the black athlete as someone who gets in trouble with the law, and so Kobe/Tiger/Plaxico/Vick is a chance to generate stories. Ben Roethlisberger’s image, however, has to be protected, because the American consumer doesn’t accept the white athlete as someone who gets in trouble with the law. The white athlete is the Peyton Manning or the Tom Brady, either cerebral guy who understands the game more than anyone else or the guy who f*cks the Brazilian model and gets on the cover of GQ. That’s the image of the white athlete. The image of “goofy-looking alleged rapist” messes up the paradigm, and so the mainstream media buries it. Again, not because it wants to serve Whiteness per se, but because it wants to project a certain image about the athletes it advertises.

Of course, I could be wrong.

I would agree to a degree that media bias isn’t exclusively about race, but if you can step on a couple of people in the process what does that really make it?

I have more of a problem with writers of my same father than those of another.

There are many Black writers who are stepping up. I was speaking with a well known sportscaster recently and he’s going through some stuff.

Don’t White writers write of their own mind? Why when a Black writer scribes from his soul it becomes Black?

I don’t work in the field, and I haven’t done any research, but from the outside looking in, I would say that there is a “mainstream” media that isn’t necessarily motivated by racist ideals. Rather, this mainstream media strives to appeal to the broadest possible demographic by any means necessary. Now, usually, anything that is “mainstream” or has “broad” appeal isn’t necessarily good. For example, the books that are on the bestsellers list are generally crap. I mean, Dan Brown, John Grisham, et al are all terrible writers, but they have mass appeal. The same can be said for Britney Spears etc. And so, generally speaking, when I consume sports media, I can feel that its trying to attract me with sensationalism, with screaming heads on TV, with how fast they can break the “news.” Does race play a part in all this? Absolutely. But I don’t think race is the end-all be-all. To talk about race alone and to obscure everything else is, in my view, problematic. The media is having a field day because Tiger Woods is black, but they’re also having a field day because he’s Tiger Woods, the Biggest Athlete on The Planet (TM). And they’re also having a field day because the media is f*cking sick. And they’re also having a field day because PEOPLE ARE EATING IT UP. I personally don’t even know what’s going on with Tiger. I’m blocking out the whole story. I’m purposefully ignorant of the entire story. I refuse to consume that shopping-aisle sh*t.

You know what I want from my sports media? I want three things:

1- If and when possible, give me access to information I wouldn’t have access to otherwise (e.g. Stephen A. Smith breaking the news that AI was going back to the Sixers)

2- Give me intelligent, entertaining analysis of the sports I follow (e.g. Charles Barkley on TNT)

3- Above all, don’t be biased in your analysis. You can say you root for Team A, but don’t be a homer. I smell that sh*t a mile away.

That’s about it. It’s not brain surgery. Save the personal drama for Desperate Housewives.

but to you the media let me ask you one question: When is enough enough? Some of your brothers and sisters down the street broke this story, and instead of telling them that this is not the kind of scoop we want, you showed ass and ran out there like you had just discovered cold fusion with the words “We finally got him” on your lips. Did some of you do it because Tiger was short, cold, and brusque with you? Probably. Did some of you do it because you wanted to crack that perfect mystique? Probably. But do you know what the most logical explanation is, the only one that makes any kind of sense? You hate that Tiger represents one more sport taken out of your white grip.

To be sure….. Basketball is gone, football is gone, Tennis is gone, Boxing is gone, and only overpriced equipment has saved baseball, that parochial bastion for rich racist southern white men, from being gone too. And now golf, even worse than baseball as being a bastion for rich racist southern white men, is gone. So you went after him. All he needed to do was give you a reason.

And just think…. a meathead lifting freak figured this out. Imagine if someone who studied this all of their life got to you. What else would they find?