At this point, I wish that sports announcer-turned-perpetual wagging finger of respectability politics Sage Steele would just sit, really sit, and stare at the stirring teaspoon.
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At this point, those of us with both feet firmly planted on the black side of things get her whole shtick. Steele is the military-raised mixed kid whose politics all seem to land on the โBlack people just need to ________โ side. For example: Black people just need to stop mouthing off to cops and then they wouldnโt escalate an incident.
So, whenever Steele opens her piehole to speak on anything remotely race-related, I cringe. Not because she is a black woman who literally let a white man touch her hair like a pet, but because her position on all things black is just yawn-inducing. At this point, Iโd much rather have a different spokesperson for the oppositional side of things.
Nevertheless, Steele recently spoke on Charlottesville, Va., and Colin Kaepernick, and Iโll give you one guess what she had to say about both.
On Charlottesville, Steele said she believes that people donโt watch shows like ESPNโs SportsCenter to hear about the terrorist attacks that took place there.
Now, it isnโt that Steele doesnโt have a point about sports being a place to escape, but her choosing this particular topic from which to discuss sports seems to fall in line with other controversial โalt-rightโ positions sheโs held.
Like, who can forget the time Steele bashed a protest to stop immigration laws that would kick people out of the country, and literally rip parents away from their children, because said protest caused her to miss a flight? Or the time Steele claimed that the worst racism sheโs received came from blacks? Steele has also used her platform to be one of the loudest voices to condemn the Movement for Black Lives as un-American.
But Steele isnโt done, because, of course, she isnโt. Hereโs what Steele told Dan Patrick about Charlottesville during his radio show, according to the Washington Post:
โHereโs the thing, when I turn on โSportsCenter,โ thatโs not what I want to hear,โ she said. โAs a viewer, I want to see the highlights, I want to hear from Rich Hill. Thatโs what I want as a viewer, and thatโs what I believe most viewers want when they turn to ESPN, is less of this.โ
โI will always go back to why did people turn us on when Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann were hosting, and why are they turning us on now?โ she said. โAnd in my opinion, itโs not to hear about Charlottesville. โฆ We will have some opinions, the three of us, but I donโt believe itโs about us. Itโs about the games, itโs about the highlights. Letโs show some standings. Letโs talk about whatโs coming up tonight. Iโm just old, I guess, old-school.โ
Or, a self-hating black woman. Yeah, Steele is old-school, old-school like, โThis is the best massa weโve ever had so why do yโall want to leave?โ old-school.
And, of course, Steele wouldnโt be Steele if she didnโt take a couple of swings at Colin Kaepernick. As the Washington Post reported:
โI just disagree with the whole premise of the issue that people have,โ Steele said of Kaepernickโs unemployment. Ravens owner โSteve Bisciotti, along with the other 31 owners in this league, they run a business,โ she said, โand they have a right to make the decision that they believe is best for their business, just like Colin Kaepernick has the right to express his opinion and do whatโs best for him, for his brand, for his career. Thereโs repercussions to both. I have no problem with what Steve Bisciotti did and I would have no problem if Steve Bisciotti brought him in [to the Ravens]. How much of a problem did we have with Jerry Jones, with Greg Hardy over the last couple of years?
โYou know, people pick and choose what they want to freak out about,โ Steele went on, in comments that were picked up by Breitbart. โNew York City yesterday,โ she said, referencing the protests concerning Kaepernick. โI mean, go for it, that is your right. I think itโs comical. I think Colin Kaepernick, he would still be on the Niners if he were that good. Other teams would have picked him up. People need talent. Thereโs no question about that, right? If he were that good, someone would have picked him up.
โOr maybe he is, and these team owners, the PR staffs say โis it worth it?โ Because the fallout that comes with itโfans, suite luxury box holdersโthereโs a lot of money involved in that. And you have to consider all those things as a business owner. That is his right, to say we donโt want to really go there. And by the way, Ray Lewis back in โ01, 2000, completely different time. More serious, of courseโhe was never convicted of that, and people forget that. Ray Rice, obviously things worked themselves out, as they should have, in my opinion. But we pick and choose, and I think itโs fascinating that oh this is a big deal, and this is not. They are business owners; they have a right.โ
Which brings me to my final point: If Sage Steele truly believes that all of the current NFL quarterbacks are better than Colin Kaepernick, I question her abilities as a sports journalist.
I wish she would move over to Fox News with her positions, and where all the white men who share her politics can touch her hair every day.
#NeverForget
Read more atย the Washington Post.
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