I have a short comment in The Independent magazine today about why I am supporting the Seattle Seahawks in tomorrow’s Super Bowl. Spoiler: it is because their quarterback, Russell Wilson, is black. It is not a good reason, as I admit, but it is how I do American football. If one of my teams (Eagles and Bears) is not playing, I support whichever team has either (a) a black quarterback against a white one or (b) the better claim to be a rust belt working-class side.
I’m not sure if Randall Cunningham really was the only black quarterback in the NFL, actually. I think he was at one time the only first-team quarterback. And I had previously supported the Houston Oilers (now called the Houston Texans) because Warren Moon was their quarterback.
But there weren’t many black quarterbacks. According to “The History of Black Quarterbacks in the NFL”, by Chase Stuart, ”During the 1983 season, [Vince] Evans [of the Chicago Bears] was the only black quarterback in the NFL,” and I don’t think he was a starter.
Also, I do like Marshawn Lynch, a great running back for the Seahawks (pictured). When he scored a touchdown against the Forty-Niners in the Championship game (Super Bowl semi-final), he shook hands with his team mates.
Finally, let us recap on what President Obama said about football when David Remnick travelled with him on a plane to Seattle for a fund-raising trip. I mentioned it the other day. Here is the full quotation:
Obama spent his flight time in the private quarters in the nose of the plane, in his office compartment, or in a conference room. At one point on the trip from Andrews Air Force Base to Seattle, I was invited up front for a conversation. Obama was sitting at his desk watching the Miami Dolphins–Carolina Panthers game. Slender as a switch, he wore a white shirt and dark slacks; a flight jacket was slung over his high-backed leather chair. As we talked, mainly about the Middle East, his eyes wandered to the game. Reports of multiple concussions and retired players with early-onset dementia had been in the news all year, and so, before I left, I asked if he didn’t feel at all ambivalent about following the sport. He didn’t.
“I would not let my son play pro football,” he conceded. “But, I mean, you wrote a lot about boxing, right? We’re sort of in the same realm.”
The Miami defense was taking on a Keystone Kops quality, and Obama, who had lost hope on a Bears contest, was starting to lose interest in the Dolphins. “At this point, there’s a little bit of caveat emptor,” he went on. “These guys, they know what they’re doing. They know what they’re buying into. It is no longer a secret. It’s sort of the feeling I have about smokers, you know?”
Obama chewed furtively on a piece of Nicorette. His carriage and the cadence of his conversation are usually so measured that I was thrown by the lingering habit, the trace of indiscipline. “I’m not a purist,” he said.
Tomorrow night I’ll put my doubts aside one more time. Go Seahawks.
Eagle Eye 