“There can be no neutrals in the battle for human rights.” - @RealBillRussell
Jan 29, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Jackie Robinson was a UCLA All-American football RB who averaged 12 yards per carry but wasn’t taken in the NFL draft while two of his (white) teammates were. (At the time the NFL had zero black players!)
Was Jackie Robinson the victim of race-related blackballing by NFL owners?
Jackie received nearly a million votes in a national poll which landed him a spot on a college All-Star team that played against the Chicago Bears.
The only Black player in the game, Jackie was also the only All-Star not offered an NFL deal. (After a 48 yd TD catch vs the Bears)
Jan 29, 2021 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Jackie Robinson on opening day 1947:
1) 28 yo 2) nationally-known All-American football player at UCLA 3) military vet (WWII) 4) ex-#1 Olympic long jumper 5) PAC Conf. hoops #1 scorer
Does that sound like someone who needed a 64-year-old white guy to tell him not to fight back?
Jackie Robinson suffered physical and verbal abuse from opponents and teammates at UCLA.
Robinson missed several games because of injuries stemming from that abuse including two games in which his own teammates deliberately injured him in practice. (Reported by the LA Times.)
Sep 13, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The pandemic and Trump has shown America how overrepresented sports - particularly American football - is in our culture.
Our outsized perception of the importance of sports is a new development in history, and entirely due to ESPN and 24/7 media, which originated in the 1980s.
Our blind willingness to check humanity at the door for a "sport" that w/out media wouldn't exist b/c no one plays it past 21 w/out pay began w/ the 24/7 access cable TV granted media to individuals. ESPN used that to reinvent our perception of the importance of American football
