August 6, 2001

 

BETTER OFF ON THE PLANTATION

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The tragic death of Minnesota Vikings' All-Pro offensive lineman Korey Stringer has already received plenty of coverage. Most revealing was the press conference breakdown of star receiver Randy Moss, Stringer's teammate.

Read now what you won't see anyplace else.

Moss broke down because of Stringer's untimely death, of course. But there is more, far more. Moss knows that the trainers and the coaches would never have let him (Moss) push himself to such a dangerous extent because he is a SKILL player. Right now, Moss is the best receiver in the NFL, and if he stays healthy, he could become the best receiver of all time.

As for Stringer, he was a big, strong, overweight lineman. He was expendable. They didn't want him to DIE, certainly, but there are plenty more where he came from.

Remember lineman Charles Haley? The Dallas Cowboys let him go, and he returned to the San Francisco 49ers. The Cowboys figured that it was just a matter of time before Haley would not be able to walk, and they would rather not have that happen on their watch. As for the 49ers...

Remember Lyle Alzado? He was an all-pro lineman, also. The drugs took their toll when he died of a brain tumor at age 42. Do you think his death was "natural"?

What did Stringer die for, anyway? Even if he had sacrificed his life to win the Super Bowl, it would have been imprudent in the extreme--even sinful. Life, after all, is a gift from God, and Stringer threw his away in a football practice. Please note that heatstroke is not asymptomatic. A victim will have the shakes, feel faint, and will vomit. Simply put, to play through all of this, Stringer abandoned common sense and even self-preservation for pride. He would show them how tough he was. Well, he surely did. No one interceded, and more's the pity.

How young was he when they got to him? When did they convince him that he was too big and too dumb to do anything else but play football? When did he start believing that it was okay to take steroids and other drugs, even though his health would be ruined? How much do they have to pay you to make up for your shortened and painful post-NFL existence? How much should they pay your family if you don't even have THAT?

Now, think of the plantation, and the oppressive summer heat and humidity of the South. No slave owner would dream of working a field hand to death. What would be the point of that? And, if a slave, for some unknown reason, were taxing himself beyond a reasonable level, it would be stopped. Slaves were hard to come by, and were valuable workers. Moreover, as they got old, they still earned their keep by doing lighter chores. In a word, while denied of freedom, they were taken care of. And they were taken care of within the institution that some feel marks the lowest point in our national history.

136 years after slavery ended, who was taking care of Korey Stringer, free though he may have been?

Where is the NFL Player's Union, where are the so-called Black leaders?

Not a day goes by where we don't hear about this or that racist aspect of our society, real and imagined. But it's long past time that the Black community do some serious soul-searching about how big time sports has created thousands of potential Korey Stringers.


 

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