A Must Read

Continuing in the vein of inspiration derived from recently viewing HBO’s “Costas Now” special on sports and media, I have to say a few words about Jason Whitlock. He is a columnist for the Kansas City Star and a guest columnist for FOX Sports. I have been reading him for about a year now and his columns are “must see” journalism. (You can find links to his work on this site under columnists) Whitlock is not afraid to be controversial in his writing, particularly when it comes to race in sports. Although he is black, Whitlock is not afraid to criticize his own race in the search to get to the truth of race relations in sports. Of course, this stance does not always make him popular in the mainstream. He has used terms like “black KKK” (his words, not mine) to describe how black athletes are kept under control in the sports world and that white people are blamed for this when the problem actually lies in the black community. But Whitlock is no black-biased racist. Far from it. He was banned by ESPN from its “Sports Reporters” show a while back when he went on and defended Barry Bonds in the midst of the steroid controversy. He suggested that the problem was more widespread than just Bonds who, at the time, was the lone poster boy for steroids. He mentioned names like Clemens and McGwire before they were chic but apparently that didn’t sit too well with the “suits” at ESPN who love pandering to the athletes they cover. It is because of incidents like this that Whitlock is a must read. And for those who think he is just sucking up to the white dominated media machine just know that on the HBO special he indicated that his writing style was gleaned from a white newspaper columnist- Mike Royko (now deceased) of the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune, who made a career out of writing about race and sports. Whitlock consistently produces some of the best work I’ve ever seen in print. He deserves the attention he gets for his work. He gets to say things we all want to say because he is black and has the vast resume to get away with it. He uses his experience for the greater good and that can only be a good thing. Check out some of his work under the links on this page.