February 18, 2005: An Open Letter to Michael Irvin
ESPN Television
ESPN Plaza
Bristol, CT 06010
Attn: Michael Irvin
Dear Mr. Irvin,
The BMTG sends to you this open letter to inform you of our findings regarding your racial tendencies or lack thereof during the 2004 National Football League season. You will be pleased to know, and to Throcksmorton’s delight, the BMTG has come to the conclusion that you are not racist in any way.
The question of your standing as a racist or not began on Sunday, September 12, 2004, when members of the BMTG noticed on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown show a tendency by you to heap praise on black players, while throwing out excessive criticism of white players. While you raved about Deion Sanders and his comeback attempt at age 37, you railed against Vinny Testaverde, who at age 40 was beginning the season quarterbacking your beloved Cowboys. You raved about Donovan McNabb, but railed against Kurt Warner. The issue was not the positive or negative comment, but rather the intensity of that comment. It was valid to question Warner’s ability to continue to perform at an NFL level, and it was appropriate to applaud the effort by Sanders to come back. But the praise and criticism seemed amplified and the intensity of the comments made the BMTG question your motives.
The BMTG fully recognized that even though you may come across as flashy and arrogant, those comments that were heard before the start of the first week of the season did not mean that you should be considered racist. The BMTG considered your response to Rush Limbaugh’s comments the previous season about Donovan McNabb, when you said, “Rush has a point.” It was not clear if you meant that you agreed with Rush’s assessment, or that you were just acknowledging that Rush made a point, but you did not agree. Your statement was so ambiguous that it ultimately meant nothing.
In the interest of fairness and fully hoping that you did not have a racist bone in your body, the BMTG decided to examine your comments over the course of the entire season to answer the question, “Is Michael Irvin racist?” Each week, the BMTG posted on its website, usesoap.com, the findings from your appearance on the Sunday pre-game show. Those findings have been compiled here for your convenience.
Week 1: Discussion of comments made about Sanders, Testaverde, McNabb, and Warner as already described above.
Week 2: There was no evidence this week of any racial biases held by you. The BMTG did note that you made a knee-jerk assessment of the Carolina Panthers. You admitted that you said in the pre-game before week 1 that you felt the Panthers were ready for a great season, but after watching their first game you became firm in your resolve that Carolina is done. After just one game, you wrote them off for the season. Carolina went on to beat Kansas City that week behind DeShaun Foster’s 174 yards rushing. Carolina then went on to lose six straight games, but became one of the hottest teams in the second half of the season, winning six of their final eight games, falling just short of the playoffs.
Week 3: Much to the BMTG’s satisfaction, you continued to show no signs of being racist. However, you did kiss Steve Young on the face, which raised a whole new set of questions. Young looked a little shocked, but did not seem too upset when you grabbed his face and planted one firmly on his cheek. It was decided that if this sick behavior were to continue, the ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown show would no longer be supported by the BMTG.
Week 4: You continued to show no racist tendencies and in fact stood up for Kerry Collins, even with Coach Ditka telling you how bad Collins is at taking care of the ball. Collins went on to prove Ditka’s point by giving the ball to the Texans at nearly every opportunity. You were critical of Tampa Bay’s Brad Johnson, calling him “Sad Brad Johnson,” and you were not ready to lavish praise on Tom Coughlin, saying the jury was still out on him. Ignoring whether your analysis was good or bad, you have been consistent in giving praise and criticism to players with no regard for the color of their skin.
Week 5: Again, there were no signs of racism from you this week. You did sound a bit crazy, however, when you made the statement that, contrary to what everyone in the world is saying, you would take Ricky Williams back as a teammate because “it hurts more to be 0 and 4.”
Week 6: No racial overtones to your commentary this week. It was noted that, while you seemed happy and content, you did not seem as jovial as usual. There were none of your trademark screaming laughs, where your laughter is so strong that your head is thrown back with your mouth wide open, followed by the slapping of the table with your hands. Your commentary was noted to be very questionable, as you stated that it was a good loss for Seattle when they gave up a late 17-point lead to St. Louis the week before, reasoning that they would learn from it and would not want to go into the New England game undefeated anyway, implying that they couldn’t handle the pressure. Steve Young correctly refuted your statements, saying there was actually more pressure on Seattle, because if they lose they fall closer to the middle of the pack instead of establishing themselves as one of the top tier teams. You then jumped in and said they need that pressure, contradicting your earlier statement that the pressure of coming in undefeated would not be a good thing. Even after Coach Ditka told you there is no such thing as a good loss, you admirably stuck to your guns and insisted that the meltdown was good for Seattle. You did correctly call the Green Bay game, saying it was time for the Packers and Brett Favre (pronounced fawv-ruh) to explode. Green Bay went on to defeat Detroit 38 to 10. Regarding other players, you said you would choose Mike Vick over LaDainian Tomlinson, that Jerry Rice is the best ever, and that Ben Roethlisberger is the real deal.
Week 7: You were back to your jovial, demonstrative self this week and again showed no signs of racism. It was determined by the BMTG that it was no longer necessary to follow your commentary through the entire season.
While your analysis was basically hit and miss, sometimes right on the donut, and other times a bit coo-coo crazy, the BMTG found that at no time did you reveal any type of racial bias or tendency. It may interest you to know that the BMTG also tracked the decisions made throughout the 2004 NFL season by St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz to see if the vast amount of criticism leveled at him was warranted. He did not fare as well as you and, to Brother Nature’s chagrin, the BMTG determined that there were far too many questionable calls made by Coach Martz and decided that the endless waves of criticism against him were warranted.
If you would like to discuss any of the comments outlined above, Throcksmorton has agreed to make himself available to you. He can be reached at throcksmorton@usesoap.com.
Sincerely,
(SIGNED BY THE BMTG BIG FOUR)
CC
ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown
Mike Ditka
Steve Young
Chris Berman
Tom Jackson
ESPN Magazine
Rudi Bakhtiar, CNN Headline News
Troy Aikman
Emmitt Smith