(Irvin : some of his best friends lack the bouyancy to swim with the TV sharks)

Either there weren’t too many lady-humans nor persons of non-whiteness making the scene at the latest gathering of the cultural elite, or perhaps persons of either group were just camera shy. Either way, dwill of Sports On My Mind used the celebratory photo of Dudes’ Night Out to illustrate his frustration with “the tirades, the insinuating, the blaming, and the recontexualizing of the worth of certain black athletes, past and present,” in particular, the case of The Playmaker.

Michael Irvin™s Hall Of Fame status is being questioned on AOL Sports . I™m unsure of Michael David Smith™s credentials to judge the worth of Irvin, but unless he™s from Dallas and saw Irvin play repeatedly over his career (or is even old enough to have a truly conscious memory of the man) his opinion should mean little.

So many of these Internet gadflies who actually believe they™re passing for journalists – and far, far too many actual mainstream journalists – want to dump on Irvin, they ignore the tragic story of another Dallas Cowboy, an offensive lineman who, outside of Larry Allen, may have someday been a HOF-er – Mark Tuinei. Tuinei died in 1999 from simultaneously injecting heroin and a stimulant, a combination commonly known of as a speedball – the same combination that killed John Belushi. Where™s the continued outrage over an incident of that type? Compared with Tuinei, who died at age 39, Irvin™s story and life should be viewed as one of redemption, not scorn and continued ridicule.

Who the fuck am I to pass judgment on Michael Vick™s use of ganja – and then somehow relate that to his on-field performance? I question his judgment for thinking he could walk through security with an alleged bottle with herb in it, but I will not equate that with his ability to read a cover-2 defense like that cracker named œUnsilent Majority from Kissing Suzy Kolber did in a comment on The Big Lead (his comment name on the Big Lead comment section is also œUnsilent Majority a nasty-ass Nixonian moniker if I™ve ever heard one – another bit of history: if you want to look for the progenitors of today™s neoconservative movement, look back before Newt Gingrich and peer deeply into the well-roiled waters of Richard Nixon™s œMoral Majorityœ).

It sickens me that white people won™t admit that Irvin’s Romo joke was something said by crackers for centuries – and if it™s not said openly today, it™s certainly part of most white men™s consciousness as they watch a black-dominated sports world.

Y’know, not every white blogger  (not even everyone in the KSK class reunion photo) would equate superior athletic performance with breeding. As opposed to Eckstein-esque scrappiosity (something you’ll find in persons of all creeds if you do enough scraping).  Then again, dwill did say “most white men’s consciousness”, as opposed to all.  And I’d also concur that Michael Irvin’s football credentails are impossible to discount — if he’s not enshrined in Canton, the Pro Football Hall Of Fame is a joke.   I’d not tout Irvin for an Emmy or Peabody Award anytime soon (and Mr. Blackwell is still throwing up from this jacket), but none of that has anything to do with his achievements as a player.