WTF is with Jason Whitlock?

At times it appears that Jason Whitlock has dreams of becoming the Ann Coulter of the sports world. We hope that this does not lead to black cocktail dresses becoming a staple of Mr. Whitlock's wardrobe, however.

After defending Don Imus and attacking Scoop Jackson for being a "ghetto clown," Whitlock must have realized that the time was ripe for him to create more controversy and get himself more attention to try and boost his ego.

Whitlock's latest column makes it a point to state that the NFL's two best teams (New England and Indianapolis) are the least black. However, Whitlock does not actually phrase it that way, throwing in players of non-white ethnic backgrounds into the mix in order to say that these teams are the "whitest". Whitlock counts players with names like Gonzalez, Guiterrez, Seau, and our favorite Naivote Taulawakeiaho Keiaho as examples of the "whiteness" of the two teams.

Whitlock then goes off on absurd statements about the vague boogeyman of "hip hop culture" that is a favorite of people as culturally aware as Bill O'Reilly. This passage stands out.

Football fans are aware of [Marvin] Lewis' love affair with Chad Johnson, the Flavor Flav of the gridiron. Johnson's insistence on conducting a minstrel show during games has long been reluctantlytolerated by Lewis.

The audacity of Whitlock to use a cultural institution that showed blacks joyously spending time on plantations is incredible to us. Whitlock is not ignorant of the absurdity of his comparison, he is using it to stoke controversy so more people will read his idiotic columns.

The worst part is that this trash is not even original. Whitlock used the exact same insult in an interview over a year ago. Talk about phoning it in.

Whitlock claims to be angry with players who have a me first attitude and try to draw attention to themselves. This coming from a man who wrote an open letter to Elvis Grbac in the Kansas City Star immediately after he became the Chiefs' starting quarterback to bash him before he even threw a pass. Including this gem in the letter.

"Hey, man. Remember me?" it opened ominously. "Black dude, about 6 feet 4, looks like a young Denzel Washington only more muscular?"

Ooooooookay, Jason.

But what does Chad Johnson do? He choreographs touchdown celebrations that are flamboyant. What is the problem with this? The Canadian Football League has no rules on touchdown celebrations. Teams regularly choreograph group dances and skits.

Recent dances include five Calgary Stampeders receivers celebrating a touchdown against the rival Saskatchewan Roughriders by holding out their hands and each pretending the football was a champagne bottle. They popped the cork, poured drinks for all and then stumbled around like they were drunk. Their latest end-zone routine was a simulated bobsleigh run — receiver Jeremaine Copeland sat down and wrapped his legs around the goal-line pylon. The rest of the receiving corps tucked in behind him, and the players swayed together in a pretend trip down a bobsleigh track. A very creative sketch by the same team was the four person stationary bicycle, which all players played a role for the bicycle.

Here's a video of Toronto Argonauts players pretending the football is a hand grenade, throwing it in the air and then playing dead as it hits the ground. And here's another dance from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Those touchdown celebrations include white players, so I highly doubt that any CFL fans who may find it disrespectful make allusions to minstrel shows in their criticisms of it. That would be blatantly unacceptable, just as it should be with Whitlock.

The problem here, is not the actions of black athletes in the NFL, it is columnists and demagogues like Whitlock who wish to generalize an entire group of Americans as holding the same "hip hop culture" because of the color of their skin. Chad Johnson is a cocky athlete who likes to celebrate. In this he joins athletes of every skin color across the planet, from soccer stars in Europe to white baseball players who skip down the baseline after they hit a home run.

Why is it acceptable to hold all black Americans accountable for actions by one individual that you find to be disrespectful? Why is it acceptable to slander black athletes that are difficult to coach when athletes from every corner of the globe are difficult to coach?

The simple and obvious answer is that is not.

Jason Whitlock is an idiot and a hypocrite. He claims that black athletes draw attention to themselves for no reason other than to gain the attention itself. Something that he believes to be inspired by some evil "hip hop culture." We will leave you with this quote from the Columbia Journalism Review on Whitlock.

"Most of you already know that Gretz is a joke," wrote Whitlock, "and that it would take a sledgehammer, two crowbars, a flame thrower, mace, and a stick of dynamite to remove his lips from Peterson's backside."

These and other personal jabs have cost Whitlock some respect among his Star colleagues - one sportswriter denounced him at a staff meeting - but boosted his standing with what editor Brisbane calls "our young, alienated, anti-establishment readers." "It's not about breaking news any more," worries Bob Moore, the Chiefs' public relations director. "It's about breaking chops."

Hypocrite.