Black quarterbacks, and why AP is pissing me off

to paraphrase an old expression often used by steve sabol, "the truth is a wonderful thing. but a well-told story is even better."

there, goeth, the tale of the question asked of doug. i covered that game and the hoopla leading up to it. the question was never asked. but it did become a running joke that week. which is how it came to be born in print. like a bad game of telephone among the masses.

 

This from the Doug Williams story that just moved:

That followed a week in which he was asked question after question about his role as the first black quarterback to play in the NFL's championship game, including the now-storied query: "How long have you been a black quarterback?"

This from the AP weekend budget:

UNDATED _ When Doug Williams became the first black quarterback to start a Super Bowl 19 years ago, he was the object of what is considered No. 1 on the list of all-time wacky Super Bowl questions: ``How long have you been a black quarterback?'' Race again will be the focus next week, when Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith become the first two black coaches in the game.

I've actually talked to AP about this. It's pretty much understood now that the "How long have you been a black quarterback?" question was never asked that way. Sent them information about it. Yet they're going to continue to beat this dead (and never alive) horse.

http://www.snopes.com/sports/football/williams.asp

So I'm asking all you scribes: Please, please, please do not get into this "How long have you ... " storyline next week. Or if you do, just mention it in a note and note that it's likely bullshit.

Please?

 

How long have you been a South Fargo resident, SF Express?

 

Well, to mimick Doug's nonexistent answer, all my life.

 

This is from a story this week in the Chicago Sun Times:

Actually, Williams was asked by Butch John, a reporter from the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger: ''Doug, obviously you've been a black quarterback all your life. When did race begin to matter?''
But Williams didn't fully hear John and responded, ''How long have I been a black quarterback?''

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/226308,CST-SPT-doug24.article

 

that's a great job of debunking by snopes, footnotes and all.

 

Actually, when you tell it that way, it's even worse.

 

This question is better than the urban legend version, but it's still not how I'd ask it. I see what he's getting at, but I'd say something like, "Is the discussion of your race leading up to this game silly?" or "Do you see yourself as breaking down barriers, or is that something the media is more concerned about?"

 

Well, I don't know. A bit awkward, but it's clear from the real question that he's getting at something a little deeper.

 

That was a strange week of pregame coverage (for the one Super Bowl I covered). Seeing him throw four TD passes to his smurfy receivers in the second quarter was something else.

 

I was at that one, too, but in a behind-the-scenes capacity trying to communicate among something like 10 writers in different places before cell phones, so I saw little of the action, oddly enough.

 

I'm afraid it will never be debunked, like the oft-repeated falsehoods that Don Zimmer has a plate in his head and Al Gore claims he invented the Internet.