Maybe this Brown should consult another Brown
To twerk or not to twerk, that is the question.
Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown has the entire NFL and people all over the country talking about when and how much twerking is appropriate after a touchdown. He was penalized for the second time in three games Sunday night.
Here’s what coach Mike Tomlin said: “When you see the Willie Lynch syndrome being acted out. The buffoonery. The things we fought to get away: the stereotypical gestures. The rolling of the eyes, the dancing, and all the Walt Disney stereotypical racial disgraces. You wonder how these individuals can be so stupid not to understand how the general public is looking at them. Yeah, I said that many times and I’ve said that to them. I don’t think that it’s cute. I don’t think the majority of the fans in stands think it’s cute.”
Then he went on to say, “Entertainment was always used in slave quarters. In fact, they used to take fighters, blindfold them, put everybody in the ring, and let you fight until the last guy was standing. They’d be sitting around the ring in tuxedos, with their women and jewelry. That was entertainment, boss. If you study history, you don’t want to emulate the things that were degrading and humiliating. The humiliation was unreal. Now, guys are voluntarily playing the yes-a-boss slave.”
Okay, I lied.
Mike Tomlin didn’t say that. That was said back in 2007 by the greatest player in NFL history, Jim Brown.
Brown is 80 years old and black.
He played in the ’50s and ’60s, when there were still hotels and restaurants in the south that wouldn’t do business with black people. He was no saint and had some serious off-the-field issues of his own, but he never dreamed of doing a touchdown dance.
He thought the touchdown was enough.
But, wouldn’t it be nice if Tomlin, a black coach, would say something like that to Antonio Brown?
No, Tomlin just wanted to be up to speed on how much buffoonery his players can get away with.”We have to get some clarity in terms of what’s legal and what’s not. I know he doesn’t want it to be a negative thing. He wants to provide positive energy for us and entertain our fans. But we have to get detailed clarity on what he can and cannot do. You’ve got to acknowledge some guys are followed more closely than others. You saw that last night with (Odell) Beckham. AB is probably one of those guys and he probably needs to respond accordingly.”
How about not responding like a buffoon?
Believe it or not, the buffoonery has reached the point that the NFL will be sending out a video tape.
Here’s NFL VP of Buffoonery – I mean officiating – Dean Blandino: “We certainly want the teams to have clarification And this isn’t a new issue. We’ve been dealing with this in the past. And so we’re going to send a tape out in the next week or so and clarify some of these things. But the key is if it’s a gesture that either mimics a violent act — that’s something with a firearm or a bow and arrow — or a sexually suggestive act, those are unsportsmanlike conduct.”
“That’s … something that officials will flag. That’s direct from the competition committee and something that we’re going to try to be as consistent as possible.”
It’s too bad Tomlin can’t bring himself to tell his players that they look like buffoons and he’s not interested in being part of it. Maybe he could refer them to Jim Brown.
Former Steeler Craig Wolfley told a story about touchdown dances on Mark Madden’s radio show Friday. The Steelers had picked up a player on waivers from another team and, after he made a spectacular run for a touchdown, he decided to do a major dance.
Later that week in the film session, Chuck Noll, after seeing the play and the dance, stopped the projector.
The room was silent.
Noll said, “This is Pittsburgh. We don’t do that here.”
They do it here now, Chuck.