Race relations in the NFL

In his journey to stardom, Jeremy Shockey has had a foul flip blurred on television as if his middle digit were a mob witness, illuminating his Hulk Hogan smackdown approach to football. All the while, that blond bomb in Giant blue has been celebrated for his passion, feted for his raw appeal.

On his post route to infamy, Terrell Owens has made a permanent, nontoxic fine point on an end zone arrival with a Sharpie and shaken a pair of 49er-gold pompoms after shaking yet another defender. All the while, that nonblond from Frisco has been chided for his classlessness and hissed for his creativity.

If perception isn't colorblind, how about success?

In expertly guiding their teams to the playoffs, the Colts' Tony Dungy and the Jets' Herman Edwards met on the field last weekend, the first time black coaches faced off in the N.F.L. playoffs. Trouble was, the meeting was born of happenstance, not numeric probability in a 32-team league with two black coaches.

If coaching victories haven't created equality, how about player talent?

When the second week of the playoffs unfolds this weekend, three black quarterbacks with distinctly different assets will think through their reads and lean on their poise. Maybe they'll punch the gas, too. But somewhere, a voice from the booth will laud their mobility, not their mental capacity, leaving the thinking-man's adjectives for Chad Pennington or Rich Gannon.

"It's the people who have the mike," said Doug Williams, a barrier-breaker for black quarterbacks. "The networks lead perception."

It's mostly unspoken, but didn't Michael Vick decode the Falcons' system ahead of the normal curve? Didn't Donovan McNabb prove he could decipher defenses from the Eagles' pocket after he broke a spoke on his ankle? Hasn't Steve McNair managed to outsmart defenders despite missing Titans practices because of pain?

As the playoffs have revealed, there's progress, but so little change. There are proven black coaches and quarterbacks, but race relations are running a reverse in the N.F.L.

Can't Paul Tagliabue climb aboard the Soul Train? If he can admit that officials blow big calls, can't he review himself?

Introspection may not be his style. As culturally hip as Pat Boone, the Commissioner of No Fun has let his league of owners get too cozy with their backward ways. Even after the bad publicity and the Johnnie Cochran legal threats, the league is still as white as baking soda while teams ponder their openings.

"This is about who an owner wants to entrust his business to," said Williams, a coaching success at Grambing who was recently bypassed for the vacancy at Kentucky. "And we're talking about a business here. Just like there are hardly any black coaches, there's only one Ozzie Newsome in a top office.

"Until someone is man enough to make a decision based on what's best ?- and not on what's comfortable ?- nothing is going to happen. The code word is `comfortable.' That's the word that makes it such a tough road to get over for minorities."


For progress, perceptions must change