First, let me tell you a little bit about former NFL player Eugene Chung.
When he played in the NFL from 1992-1997, he was often among the favorites of a handful of NFL writers, because he’d patiently explain the complicated high wire act that is being an offensive lineman. In fact, even before being a first-round draft pick of the Patriots, he was an excellent communicator.
Once Chung was in the league, I’d sometimes stand at his locker and talk with him for 20 minutes; he was explanatory, kind and blunt. I always believed that if he wanted, he’d be a head coach one day.
It turns out, coaching was indeed something he wanted to pursue. That desire continued to this offseason. Then, something despicably racist happened to Chung.
Chung told the Boston Globe that during an interview with one unnamed team, he was told that: “Well, you’re not really a minority.”
“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. The last time I checked, when I looked in the mirror and brushed my teeth, I was a minority,’ ” Chung said. “So I was like, ‘What do you mean I’m not a minority?’ “
The interviewer, who Chung declined to name, responded, “You are not the right minority we’re looking for.”
“That’s when I realized what the narrative was,” Chung said. “I was blown away, emotionally paralyzed for a split second. I asked myself, ‘Did I hear that correctly?’ ”
And, so, here we are again with NFL teams and race, or rather, NFL teams mishandling issues of race.
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