Don't worry Justine; I am pretty sure that you won't catch AIDS by simply standing in an unemployment line.
It's Sunday here in America, which means that it's time for some football.
My Eagles are trying to win the NFC East and only that hated team from Dallas stands in their way.
So anyway, I recently saw an article about my team and one of the rising stars in the receiving group; Riley Cooper.
In case you don't remember, Riley was the dude who dropped the N- word to an African American security guard at a country and western concert. It was all caught on tape, and poor Riley had some "splaining" to do.
It was touch and go for Riley there for a minute, but now he is having a good season, and they are writing articles about his road to redemption.
"Cooper is a big, strong target who has deceptive speed. He's a solid blocker and brings attitude to the field. But for the first three seasons of his career, he displayed his vast skills only during practice and couldn't carry it over to games.
"What he's doing now is shocking, to be honest with you," said a longtime NFL executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "To this point, he has shown things he previously wasn't able to show."
Is it opportunity? Added motivation to prove himself? Vick said he always saw great potential in Cooper. When the receiver was a rookie, he spent the entire 2010 preseason with Vick, who called him his "go-to guy." But they never really meshed together on the field. It wasn't until Vick injured his hamstring in October that Cooper finally started putting up big stats with second-year quarterback Nick Foles.
Cooper caught four passes for a career-high 120 yards against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6. He had three touchdowns and another career high with 139 yards three weeks later against the Oakland Raiders.
"Sometimes, you just click with guys, and, sometimes, it takes a lot of time to get comfortable with one another," said former NFL quarterback Mark Brunell, an ESPN analyst. "It may take a year or two years to really get to the place where there's a real connection there. Nick and Riley haven't been together that long, yet they're able to do some pretty special things. What's happening in Philly is kind of fun to watch."
Eagles receiver Jason Avant said Cooper looks up to Foles and the type of person he is.
"Just the way he lives his life," Avant said of the quarterback. "If they go somewhere, Nick is a little bit different. He doesn't drink or do certain things. I think he's a positive influence for him in a lot of different areas."
Avant said that ever since Cooper was a rookie, he had a reputation for working hard and having a temper that needed to be controlled. In the heat of competition, Avant said, Cooper was "liable to say anything."
"He had to work his way back with a lot of people," Avant said, "a lot of black guys on the team. He had to go to some of those guys and let them know his heart about the situation. He did, and I think guys received him.
"I can tell you this, that Riley experiences more racism than anybody. Being a white receiver in the NFL, that's not a … I'm out there with him. For years, I've heard some ridiculous things, that he doesn't deserve to be out there. That's happened way before this incident. I don't want to say it to be a cop-out, but what I'm saying is that him being in the position that he's in, it happens in this league. So you have to have that mindset to have a merciful heart."
I need a break!
Poor Riley has experienced racism from NFL defensive backs because he is white.
Jason Avant seems like he might be a nice guy, but he really needs to get a clue. Riley Cooper doesn't need his sympathy, he has a very large support system around him who is all too willing to do that and a public who is all too willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The silly article about his "redemption" is a classic example of that.
I really don't want to hear about how tough Riley Cooper has had it or how hard he has had to work to win over his black teammates. That security guard he was calling nigger around all of his beer drinking country and western friends is who I feel sorry for. Some poor guy earning $9 an hour (probably his second job) just to makes ends meet, and he has to get the business from some jerk of a football player. That's who deserves our sympathy.
Ironically, it was the man every pet owner in in America loves to hate, Michael Vick, who is credited with making it easier for Cooper to get back in the good graces of his African American teammates.
"In late July, after the news of the video broke, a humbled Cooper texted Vick. He thanked the quarterback for standing up for him, for publicly forgiving him at a time when Cooper desperately needed an ally. It was a hot, tension-filled summer in Philadelphia. Teammates, especially new players, were angry and didn't know Cooper, didn't trust him. Cooper issued a public apology, but even older players, such as LeSean McCoy, said they'd lost respect for him.
"I knew how guys were thinking," said Vick, who lived through his own controversy for his involvement in a dogfighting ring. "I overheard guys talking. Some of the things, I just didn't like what I was hearing. I knew it had to be corrected. I just felt like I was obligated to make sure that this locker room stayed intact."
Good for Michael Vick. He put his team first. Not good for Jason Avant, he doesn't understand real racism.
Riley, just keep catching footballs and we will be cool. Your performance on the football field is all I care about.
Your moral awakening and "redemption" is between you and your conscience.
