Displaying a sense of humility worthy of Jason Whitlock, the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick repeats the oft-reported details of Ricky Manning’s verbal and physical abuse of a laptop-using Denny’s patron under the headline, “The Story TV Won’t Dare Touch”.
Imagine – and by now most of us can – the fallout if Manning and his pals, African-Americans, had been white, and their victim had been black. And imagine if the victim’s claim in the police report read that, instead of being cursed as a Jew and a homosexual, he’d been called a “f – – – ing n – – – – r.”
Then take it from there – the no contest felony plea, followed by a specious insistence of innocence, followed by the Bears’ “disappointment with Ricky,” followed by the NFL’s position that “it’s under review.”
Imagine the outrage from the news media, the sports media, politicians and, yes, Chicago’s own Rev. Jesse (“Hymietown”) Jackson.
If Phil is trying to say that this story should’ve generated greater outrage, etc., perhaps the problem isn’t so much that TV refused to touch it, but rather, that major, influential columnists with a national audience have taken their sweet time getting around to it.
Is the NFL cavalier about anti-semitism and homophobia? Probably. But no more or less so than a New York tabloid that considered this story unworthy of coverage until 5 months after the incident occured.