If you have not heard, last night Brandon Marshall a wide receiver for the Denver Broncos who is African American planned to show his support for the historic vote by donning a black and white glove in a sort of take on the famous or infamous act by Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the ’68 Olympics, but updated to show the unity that President-Elect Barack Obama’s historic victory represents. This was during a highly contested Broncos and Cleveland Browns game. Brandon Marshall’s celebration would have triggered an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and forced the kickoff to start deeper in Broncos territory and give the Browns a chance with their explosive wide receiver/kick returner the chance at a shorter field from which to score. Brandon Stokely a wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, a veteran of many campaigns with the Indianapolis colts who happens to be white, saw what Brandon Marshall intended to do and ran over and stopped him. Brandon Stokely likely saved a penalty and a potential loss by the Broncos who were only up 4 points after Brandon Marshall’s touchdown with about 1 minute left in the game.
Now since I am home sick today I have had the opportunity to watch many programs and hear many views on this topic. I have heard many say this was a good gesture at a bad time. I have heard many say that football being a team game, that act though well intentioned would have hurt the team. I heard one person, sportswriter Bill Plaschke on Around the Horn say the only thing that made sense. To paraphrase, “…there is no right time to do what is right, there is just the time to what is right”. Now I did not quite get his quote but I think I captured his sentiment. First and foremost, let us be clear that the topic and intent has received the press it deserved. Second let us note that on team vehicle, Brandon Marshall was sitting next to his Quarterback Jay Cutler, who is white and showing him text messages he was getting about Senator Barack Obama’s historic victory. Jay Cutler in turn said, I am ashamed to show you some of the text messages I have been getting. Okay here it comes, THIRD I think Brandon Marshall did the right thing, planned to do it at a time when the focus would have been his way via TV cameras, and his intent was noble. I also think Brandon Stokely did the right thing by stopping him. And there you have, what can happen when two people from different walks of life, from different cultures can work together to make good things happen. A black man and a white man worked together to make a statement each completely right in their positions on opposite sides of a position, but coming together to effect change.
We can all learn something from Two Brandons and a Barack
