Slate has a provoking piece on Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre and his lionization in the sports media. As a former resident of that fair town, I can attest to his near-deity status. After all, they named a street after the guy and he’s not even dead yet. As the article points out, Favre is regarded as a kind of “just folks” superhero. He’s the football equivalent of President Bush; you can imagine having a beer with the guy. You don’t see this same attitude towards many African-American players. Ahman Green, the Packers running back, is arguably a better athlete than Favre. And he’s probably an equally decent guy. But he doesn’t receive nearly the same amount of reverence as Favre. If Green disclosed that he was addicted to painkillers, as Favre did a few years ago, I’m not sure fans or the media would show the same forgiving, beneficent attitude. It’s a distinction that might make many people uncomfortable, but I think it’s important to recognize that the world of professional sports is not as colorblind as we might like to think.
