Fire Bernard Hopkins' Comments on McNabb

Hopkins should save his jabs for the ring.

Recently, boxer and Eagles fan Bernard Hopkins unleashed some of the most scathing criticism to date of Donovan McNabb, expressing or implying that the former Eagles QB is a wimpy Uncle Tom who isn't truly African American.

Hopkins said that because McNabb didn't grow up in poverty, his skin color is "a suntan." He also said he knows why McNabb felt betrayed when he was traded to Washington. "Why do you think McNabb felt he was betrayed? Because McNabb is the guy in the house, while everybody else is on the field. He's the one who got the extra coat. The extra servings. He thought he was one of them."

Since Hopkins gets hit in the head a lot, it might be asking too much for him to explain himself (he has not), and McNabb has declined comment. Rumor has it that Hopkins got his feelings hurt when McNabb supposedly snubbed Hopkins once at an Eagles team function and has been trashing McNabb in public ever since.

McNabb has never been in legal trouble, never cheated on his wife as far as we know, and never really responded to the crap he gets from people like Hopkins. And yet, he is a magnet for over-the-top criticism from just about everyone. He once even got bashed by an Eagles fan because he was doing charity work.

It's hard to say what it is about McNabb that sets people off, but Hopkins' comments seem to get at a particular issue. Some blacks in America seem to feel that any black person who didn't grow up in poverty is somehow not really an African American. The charge was thrown at President Obama and persists in some circles (read foolish people), and it was leveled more recently by ex-NBA player Jalen Rose at current NBA player Grant Hill because Grant's father was an NFL star and Grant went to Duke. It's understandable that people like Hopkins would be jealous of someone who grew up in better circumstances than they did. But why use that against them rather than to show that black people can and do make it in America?  

In a twist that was unexpected to say the least, Rush Limbaugh defended McNabb (yes, really). Limbaugh, who got fired from ESPN because of race-related comments regarding McNabb, said: “I said nothing close to what Bernard Hopkins was saying. I never said a word about McNabb and blackness. I was talking about the media from start to finish....This poor guy cannot, he cannot catch a break. And it’s disgruntled African Americans that are jumping down his case, about the way he was raised? It is horrible, it is distasteful."

Rush is right about McNabb (cue the Apocalypse). It's a disgrace that a man like McNabb, who has been an example of the sort of behavior we all hope to see from athletes, is dissed at literally every turn. Hopkins held up Terrell Owens (who has pissed off a few teams) and Michael Vick (who may have had a few legal issues) as examples of people who are real African Americans. Those people are not role models; McNabb most definitely is. Until Hopkins learns the difference, he should stop talking.