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Russell Wilson isn't black enough, according to some Seahawks players

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Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman spent some time musing today on the fallout from the Percy Harvin trade, which has seen Harvin painted as a moody malcontent. Citing an anonymous Seahawks player, Freeman reports that a big reason Harvin was traded was his continued animosity toward quarterback Russell Wilson, which was dividing the locker room into pro- and anti-Wilson camps.

Near the end of his riff on the Seahawks, Freeman hits us with this:

There is also an element of race that needs to be discussed. My feeling on this—and it's backed up by several interviews with Seahawks players—is that some of the black players think Wilson isn't black enough.

 

 

 

http://deadspin.com/report-some-seahawks-players-think-russell-wilson-isnt-1649427660

 

:yao:

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Just because Wilson is a study freak?

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It would be interesting to know who these players are... And I highly doubt it is simply because Russ spends a lot of time studying. Without fueling any stereotypes or starting an full out racial debate, I think it's a foolhardy discussion though. It is ideals and predisposition that slows or halts progress and true 'equality'.

Although, I suppose you could also argue that some of those stereotypes or differences are buried in truth (or part-truths) and that that will never change.

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Guest Phailadelphia

Just because Wilson is a study freak?

 

If I had to guess I'd say it's his background and dialect.

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No.

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"Russell isn't a dumb N from the hood." Is basically what I'm hearing. There's no room for this racist BS, and any seahawks players honestly saying that need to man up and reevaluate themselves.

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The article, the idea, and bleacher report being the source. Get a quotation from a player, and then maybe we'll have an issue. A good majority of the non fully caucasion players are mixed. Even if somebody or multiple somebodies did say this, and it comes out that they did in fact say it supported by multiple witnesses, you see what happens to people on our squad who try to start some shit.

 

But for now, I'm not believing this at all. Bleacher Report is notorious for being a news source trying to stir up a "gasp" reaction. The timing of it being within a week of the Percy firestorm is not coincidental.

 

Another dumb, useless thread that has nothing to do with football.

Edited by BC
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BC why are you so salty these days? Asking for a friend.

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Nothing to do with football right. Like JD said, so these issues have nothing to do with Seattle sputtering on the football field. Sure guy.

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Rumors aren't really news, especially rumors not coming from sources that aren't reputable. This article is rather short, contains no quotations from anybody within our organization, therefore this holds no weight.

 

The black veterans on our team are Marshawn Lynch, Robert Turbin, Russell Okung, James Carpenter, Bobby Wagner, Richard Sherman, Cliff Avril, Brandon Mebane and KJ Wright. The rest of the veterans and leaders, including the main receiving targets in Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse are either white or mixed. If one of the black veterans listed gets quoted, they will be Percy Harvin'd. I don't believe any of these guys would have done so, however. This organization has never tolerated this kind of stuff, no matter who you are, and they won't start now. They all are aware of that. Furthermore, would anyone in their right mind really have beef with a guy like Russell Wilson? He spread the ball around equally, is really damn efficient, has always said the right things to the media, and is about as selfless of a football player as there is the NFL.

 

"My feeling on this—and it's backed up by several interviews with Seahawks players—is that some of the black players think Wilson isn't black enough."

 

And if this really is backed up by interviews, then let's hear it. Show us how you feel this to be the case, rather than posting an empty, weightless statement, which is what 99% of bleacher report is.

 

Seattle is an easy target for this kind of dramatic rumor "news" at the moment. They are defending champs, have been talked up for months on end, have underperformed for a month, and just offed a guy who tried to mess with the classy, tight-knit chemistry this organization has going on. I'm almost certain that's why this was composed. They are doing whatever they can to milk this organization for hits on their website.

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I agree with BC here, to an extent. The Bleacher Report is a vile website full of amateur morons.

 

People in the media love to stir shit up for hits on their articles while naming no sources. It was initially reported that Lynch almost didn't get on the bus, which was then refuted.

 

It's foolhardy to accept anything on the internet these days without at least one credible source. This sounds like a story that could easily be true in any professional sport, but I'm not buying it at face value, sorry.

Edited by Zack_of_Steel
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BR usually sucks, but it's not like Mike Freeman is some nobody.

 

And deadspin usually doesn't report just any old bullshit, either.

 

 

Mike Freeman is a columnist for Bleacher Report. He has previously written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Boston Globe and Florida Times-Union and CBSSports.com. He is also the author of five books, including a biography on Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden. His book ESPN: The Uncensored History, which alleged sexual harassment, drug use and gambling, was the first critical study of ESPN.
Edited by .AirMcNair.

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It's kind of weird how if you're half or almost any part black really you're considered black by the government and are expected to act a certain way. I wonder how much of an issue this really is with the Seahawks locker room

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Ziss iss reaaaalllly sillllly.

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It sucks to hear this I'm sure, but I'm going to let you guys in on the dirty li'l secret that no one wants to talk about: this shit happens. Every day, every where, every walk of life. Idiocy reigns where the mob mentality thrives. One on one, I'm sure most people would never say something or maybe even think it in an interpersonal setting with the guy, but it's not like this is so appalling and outlandish a rarity.

 

The place that I live is pretty well mixed as far as black, white, gay, and even Asian now, and for the most part no one really has a problem with anyone else based on something as silly as culture or appearance. You get a bunch of beta types in the room with one dumb-ass alpha who's "just trying to be funny" though, and the ignorance rains down like snow in February.

 

Rich, poor, educated or not, this shit goes down. The only difference here is that it's in a national spotlight, so everyone has to be outraged like "this shit would NEVER happen in the enlightened society that I live in." It just comes down to personality differences that end up having to be labeled as something, because no one can just not be compatible without there being some glaring reason. People get lazy and sloppy and say stupid things like this, but it's really not the worst thing I've heard. Hell, it barely reads on the "oh shit" scale.

 

I will say that in my house/car/etc... this sort of thing isn't tolerated, but that's just me. I don't expect everyone to walk the same path that I do though, and this "issue" clearly isn't holding Wilson back professionally or personally, so it's probably more of an issue to the looky-Lous than it really is to Wilson. I grew up in an area where it was commonplace for me to be told that I was "too black." I'm not black at all, but I listen to a lot of hip hop, eat unhealthy foods, shoot hoops, drank cheap malt liquor because it was cheap and strong, and talk with a bit of an accent that can't really be identified, so I caught that shit my whole life. You just let morons be morons and move on.

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To add to it:

 

 

 

But on Thursday's SportsCenter, Kenny Mayne added this to Freeman's story:

“Two sources — one inside the team, one outside of the underachieving 3-3 Seahawks — tell me that much of what was written in Mike Freeman's Bleacher Report column is true,” Mayne said, via PFT. “(Freeman) wrote of turmoil involving since-traded Percy Harvin and the quarterback Russell Wilson that led to a more widespread internal battle pitting those for Russell Wilson and those against.

"And Freeman surmised on his own an issue among some teammates regarding Wilson that quote, 'he isn't black enough.' A certain expected behavior based on color, apparently. One of the sources told me, quote, I don't know how he got all that stuff, but it's pretty much true. We do have a divide. We're working on it. Thursday that notion was not presented to Wilson, but over and again, questions came about Harvin's departure.”

First, as PFT's Mike Florio points out, Freeman didn't "surmise" this. It was his feeling "backed up by several interviews with Seahawks players." Second, "that notion" was presented to Wilson.

“There's no division in our locker room,” the third-year quarterback told the media. “There's none at all. If anything, I think we've continued to build, continued to grow. I truly believe that. I think that the guys that we have in the locker room, the guys that believe that we can still go 1 and 0 and still be a championship team; those are the guys that we have sitting in this room every day. Every morning when we wake up, we're looking for one common goal and that's to win football games.”

 

Wilson also addressed his relationship with Harvin.

 

“Percy and I never had differences,” he said. “He's a guy that, you know, we had a lot of similarities, probably, if anything. You know, guys that want to compete at the highest level, want to win every single time you step on the field. Want the ball in our hands, to make the big play and everything. So I'm not sure why the media tries to blow everything out of proportion, it's part of it, I guess. You have to deal with it. But you also ignore it, too. Like I always tell you guys, ignore the noise. You know, Percy's a Virginia guy and I wish nothing but the best for him.”

We'll repeat what we've said all week: However some of Wilson's teammates view him, the reality is that we're only hearing about it now, as the Seahawks struggle. It never came up last season as Seattle was on their way to winning the Super Bowl, which just reinforces the cliché that winning fixes just about everything. And if the Seahawks start playing well, we're guessing players won't care if Wilson turns out to be C. Thomas Howell.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24765777/reports-some-teammates-say-russell-wilson-isnt-black-enough

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Not really on topic, and maybe it's just me, but it feels like shit news like this is taking up almost all football related articles. I remember when analysts focused on the actual football aspects of the NFL and a lot less on the locker room gossip.

 

 

I don't think it's really the analysts that have changed though, it's the players. They need to worry a little more about doing their job, which is winning games, and a little less on talking to the media about whether or not they think a teammate is black enough. Doing the latter is only going to serve not only hurting the team, but their own careers.

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Nearly a week later nothing has been followed up on, meaning this whole thing is most likely a bunch of invalid garbage. Its most likely a rumor based on sour grapes. Losing a couple of real close games gets the worst reaction out of football enthusiasts. The idea of somebody calling someone not enough of a certain race in such a time of pro-diversity is absurd, which I thought from the beginning. The guy does not declare of any particular type of people or play favorites with anyone. If anything, he's the most un-hateable person in football.

 

Terrific troll job done by the media. In a number of weeks the naysayers can look back on this and feel dumb.

Edited by BC
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I read this article already from my BR Team Stream. The BR Team Stream is only useful in that if you manage to find objective articles on games and performances, you can stay updated in sports. Otherwise, you'll get a piece of shit opinion piece. Any time there is any opinion injected into a BR article, it's a piece of shit. There are also articles that are mostly objective that are pieces of shit.

 

I didn't read much into the article, because it just sounded flat-out dumb when I read the part about some players not thinking Wilson was black enough (and then the writer ranting about being a well-spoken black man isn't considered black enough). I understand what BC is saying when he says he disregarded this when learning it was BR.

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Still ignoring that Kenny Mayne echoed what Freeman said on sportscenter/his sources are saying the same things? Guess so.

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