Todd Bowles, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach is my favorite person of the week for his response to a couple of reporters who asked about race.
Reporters today — wow. They just love to race bait, right? Well, Bowles offered an extremely refreshing remark on race at a recent press conference when he was goaded by reporters.
“You and Mike Tomlin are two of the few black coaches in the league. I wonder what your relationship was like with him and your thoughts on Steve Wilks joining the fold?
“I have a very good relationship with Tomlin,” Bowles responded. “We don’t look at what color we are when we coach against each other, we just know each other. I have a lot of very good white friends that coach in this league as well, and I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
Bowles continued, shooting down the reporter’s question. “As far as us being coaching against each other, I think it’s normal,” he added. “Wilks got an opportunity to do a good job, and hopefully he does it. And we coach ball, we don’t look at color.”
Then another reporter chimed in, trying to get a different answer out of Bowles.
“But you also understand that representation matters too, right? That when young aspiring coaches or even football players, they see you guys — you know they see someone that looks like them, maybe grew up like them, that has to mean something.”
“Well, when you say, ‘see you guys’ and ‘look like them’ and ‘grow up like them’ — that means that we were odd balls to begin with. And I think the minute ‘you guys’ … stop making a big deal about it, everybody else will as well.”
Tampa Bay Bucs HC Todd Bowles SLAMS reporters over questions about race: "We coach ball, we don't look at color … I think the minute you guys stop making a big deal about, everybody else will." pic.twitter.com/e9KkoDKsCe
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 13, 2022
Todd Bowles, you have won the week!
I actually am more astonished by the second reporter doubling down, basically saying, ‘Okay, but you do understand that you should care that you’re black? This is a matchup between two black coaches and representation matters.’
She’s not happy with the fact that he essentially said, ‘We don’t look at each other as two black men. We’re just coaches in the league?’
Would she ever ask a white coach that question? ‘Oh, you know, so you’re both white. How does that make you feel?’
You would never ask that question.
She doesn’t even realize that she is being racist by saying “Well, you do understand” — which is a patronizing way of saying, “I don’t think you understand my colleague’s questions. Let me rephrase it for you. Clearly, you understand that you’re black, right? Clearly, you understand that representation needs to matter and that you then need to make race an issue.”
In other words, she’s saying, ‘You need to answer this question in a way that allows people to know race is a huge issue in the NFL and you’re going to kowtow to feel like less than so that I can feel good about myself.’
Right?
That’s entirely what posting a black square on social media was about to a bunch of white people acting like saviors for George Floyd.
The second reporter even doubled down on the stupidity. What she’s really doing is making herself feel good. ‘Oh, my God. I’m so brave. I got into that press room and I asked a question to a black man. I gave him a platform. I gave the black man a platform to talk about his blackness. And that makes me a really good person.’
That’s what she was looking for. And he rightfully smacked her down.
Many people before Bowles have said this exact same thing.
In fact, Morgan Freeman famously said, ”If you want to end racism, stop talking about it. Stop looking at people and making judgments based on the color of their skin”
Nobody wants to admit your skin color does not determine your advantages or disadvantages in life. Some black people are born into extraordinary luxury with all the privileges in the world. Some white people are born piss poor with untold disadvantages.
Not many want to admit that because they cannot let go of this whole race narrative. As I exposed in my documentary “The Greatest Lie Ever Sold,” that narrative lines the pockets of a lot of people, namely those connected with the Black Lives Matter movement — which my documentary killed. If you haven’t watched it yet, please click here.
As for Todd Bowles, happy Friday! Again, you are my favorite person of the week.