ESPN's Howard Bryant (allegedly) pulls a Jay Mariotti

ESPN would not have run a story that lengthy if it wasn't keeping him or trying as hard as it can to keep him.

 

Pulling out the race card makes him look a lot worse. Sad that he and his wife went that route, not to mention saying the cop was being aggressive while his son was watching. Yeah, now we believe you. Puhlease.

 

Because the police are never wrong.

 

Did he play the race card or did his lawyer?

The denial from his wife was a strong one. Sadly, it means nothing when it comes to Bryant's innocence.

It does mean that he almost certainly will not be convicted.

 

WFW.

 

It's never about race.

 

Anyone who wouldn't use the "race card" post-O.J. is a moron.

 

So the "race card" is merely tactical? Rhetorical? There's no actual difference in the way police treat white people and people of color?

 

Me, too. I've become pretty friendly with Howard over the years. I guess you never know but he just doesn't seem like the typical kind of person (aggressive, macho) who gets into these situations. In fact, he always seems like kind of a gentle person. I'm definitely going to wait for the dust to settle on this one.

 

Overall, yes, the criminal justice system treats black people differently than white people.

 

Ragu's take is a fair one.

We don't know what happened, but this business of "pulling the race card" dismisses the fact that in too many cases, it's not a card or a trick, but a frustrating reality.

People wonder what the big deal about diversity on news staffs is sometimes. This is an example of it. If you come to this type of story with the perspective that a black person claiming racist behavior by a police officer -- especially a well-respected black man with no known history of violence -- is simply pulling the "race card" then you are lacking in fairness and knowledge.

It doesn't mean you can assume his story to be true. But it's certainly a valid possibility that it's what happened and not something that should just draw a roll of the eyes. And as Ragu said, the comments from his wife are strong and reasonable. Could she be covering up? Sure. But they don't read that way.

I've also found it interesting that from the beginning it was claimed "five witnesses saw a man" ... not "five witnesses identified Bryant."

I hope it's not true. And what shockey said is correct -- we don't know anyone all that well when it comes down to it. But my limited knowledge of Bryant would allow me to believe his story here. The bitter irony is the man has done excellent work on sports and race.