Now that Wilder vs Fury III is over and NFL Sunday has concluded, is any action going to be taken against Jon Gruden and Urban Meyer or are we acting like they did no wrong?
Last week both coaches were eviscerated in the media for their actions.
Gruden was criticized for a racist email where he launched a very personal attack on NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith.
Meyer got busted for partying with a woman while his team flew back home without their leader after yet another loss.
Both men embarrassed themselves, their teams, players, the league and families.
And before some attempt to sweep their actions under the rug because it was ten years ago and it was a personal matter, respectively, let’s just stop right there.
They weren’t coerced, blackmailed or intimidated into doing what they did.
It was their choice, so now they must face the consequences.
And there must be consequences.
Just because their actions aren’t criminal doesn’t mean they should be excused and/or given a pass.
For a league that has struggled to address equality in general, that would be a glaring miscarriage of justice.
Jon Gruden
Jon Gruden has been a popular football figure for decades.
His well-recognized scowl and entertaining analysis make him one of the more unique and likable personalities in the game.
But last week during the NFL’s investigation into the Washington Football Team’s toxic culture, an email Gruden wrote in June of 2011 was uncovered.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gruden lashed out at Smith, writing “Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires.”
Smith is Black, and one way to attack Black people is to target their physical features.
In this case, Gruden went after his lips, a feature that has long been exaggerated by racists to humiliate and denigrate Black people.
Gruden employed that very tactic in an email against one of the highest-ranking Black executives in the sport.
The backstory, as told by Gruden after his extremely weak apology to the Journal (literally “I’m really sorry,”), was that he was upset about the lockout during that time.
He believed that the players were headed down the wrong path under Smith’s leadership, so opened up his computer and “went there.”
Gruden had every right to be frustrated and voice his opinion about the lockout. No problem.
But in a professional email, he turned childish and then ignorant, adjoining his message to tactics employed by racists who have oppressed Black people since the days of slavery and Jim Crow.
His excuse, according to The Journal, was that he called liars “rubber lips”, but took it “too far” in lambasting Smith.
“I was upset,” Gruden said. “I used a horrible way of explaining it.”
“I don’t think he’s dumb. I don’t think he’s a liar,” said Gruden. “I don’t have a racial bone in my body, and I’ve proven that for 58 years.”
After 58 years, 15 of those years spent coaching in the NFL, you would think he would understand the sensitivity of targeting the lips of Black people. A child of the 60s was definitely exposed to the racist caricatures circulated during that era.
But 10 years ago, apparently, he hadn’t learned that lesson.
After being caught a decade later, the lesson was miraculously learned.
“All I can say is that I’m not a racist,” said Gruden after his Raiders lost to the Bears on Sunday. “I can’t tell you how sick I am. I apologize again to De Smith, but I feel good about who I am and what I’ve done my entire life. I apologize for the insensitive remarks. I had no racial intentions with those remarks at all. But… yes, they can… I’m not like that at all. I apologize but I don’t want to keep addressing it.”
You don’t want to address it, but we’d like to know when the Raiders and NFL will.
So far they’ve issued statements but haven’t revealed any punishment.
“The email from Jon Gruden denigrating DeMaurice Smith is appalling, abhorrent and wholly contrary to the NFL’s values,” said a league spokesperson. “We condemn the statement and regret any harm that its publication may inflict on Mr. Smith or anyone else.”
Smith, to his credit, isn’t sweating the situation.
“This is not the first racist comment that I’ve heard and it probably will not be the last. This is a thick skin job for someone with dark skin, just like it always has been for many people who look like me and work in corporate America,” said Smith in a statement to The Journal. “You know people are sometimes saying things behind your back that are racist just like you see people talk and write about you using thinly coded and racist language.
“Racism like this comes from the fact that I’m at the same table as they are and they don’t think someone who looks like me belongs,” he continued. “I’m sorry my family has to see something like this but I would rather they know. I will not let it define me.”
But just because Smith isn’t letting it affect him doesn’t mean that it should be excused or dismissed.
Urban Meyer
Meyer isn’t embroiled in a racist situation. Just a dumb one that exemplifies his short NFL tenure.
After losing their third game in a row this season, Meyer decided not to travel back to Jacksonville with the team.
He decided to remain in Ohio, but not solely with his family though.
Instead, he went to a bar and was caught getting too close with a woman who wasn’t his wife.
In the age of cell phone videos, you would think he would know better.
But doing what he wants seems to be par for the course for Meyer, who’s extended his list of mistakes as an NFL head coach.
Back in February, he hired Chris Doyle as his strength and conditioning coach.
Doyle, who held the same position at the University of Iowa, was accused by Black players of unfair and negative treatment but Meyer hired him anyway.
After pressure from the Fritz Pollard Alliance, Doyle resigned a day later.
Then Meyer pursued, signed, and cut Tim Tebow, further driving a wedge between him and the team as many of the latter didn’t feel Tebow was qualified.
The actions by the $12 million-per-year coach snowballed and slammed right into the recent “lap gate” incident in Ohio.
Now, after his fourth consecutive loss on Sunday courtesy of the Titans, rumors are swirling that he’s lost the locker room and players don’t trust him anymore.
After Meyer skipped out on the team and failed to personally address the situation with the team as a man, who can blame them.
‘He has zero credibility in that stadium,” said one Jaguars’ player. “He had very little to begin with.’
So What’s the Deal?
As of Sunday, no action, aside from them both losing, has been taken against either coach.
Some might say their losses are punishment enough, but they’re ignoring the severity of what they’ve done and caused.
Black people have been insulted through caricatures and languages for too long. For it to come from someone who is a leader of Black men on the field, it’s even more insulting.
Ask Randy Moss, who voiced his pain on ESPN over the situation as it conjured up memories of his own experiences with racism.
Some on Twitter believe because it was a decade ago, it should be ignored. Some feel it’s “cancel culture” going awry.
That’s foolish. Gruden got caught and now must face the music.
Meyer, on the other hand, is failing to be the leader team owner Shad Khan and the Jaguars have hoped he would be.
Some would say “we told you so”, and they’d be right. So now it’s time that the Jaguars’ head coach got some “act right.”
I don’t believe Gruden is racist but his ignorance should not be excused as a momentary lapse in judgment due to anger. That’s a long utilized rationale that further enables this behavior.
Meyer appears to be over his head so maybe his time should be cut short.
Regardless, the teams and/or the NFL should institute some sort of punishment against both men, particularly for humiliating both parties.
According to Pro Football Talk, the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy doesn’t address racist language in communications. But the policy does prohibit “conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL, NFL clubs, or NFL personnel.”
Sounds like both men fall right into that standard.
Players and coaches are fined for insulting referees over their calls, and players are suspended for “conduct detrimental to the team”, so why can’t Gruden and Meyer be punished for their demeaning and embarrassing actions?
I can assume why, but I’ll wait.
