Posted on 01/11/2025 11:33:27 AM PST by nickcarraway
Marcus Freeman kicked woke sports talk in the a** with a postgame speech for the ages.
Notre Dame's win on Thursday night against Penn St. featured several incredible moments. But Freeman stole the spotlight after the game, giving a sharp response to what sounded like a pointed question by ESPN.
ESPN has been known to make some out-of-touch commentary and nudge folks into discussing race during interviews.
It's a bold direction for the sports network.
Interviewing Marcus Freeman after the win, ESPN reporter Molly McGrath asked the Fighting Irish coach to give his thoughts on becoming the first African-American coach to reach a national championship.
Freeman answered but pivoted to highlighting the skill of his team — choosing not to give attention to his race, which was an intangible element of Notre Dame's Orange Bowl win against the Nittany Lions.
Looking at the tape, McGrath's question clearly didn't land with Freeman as she'd expected.
WATCH:
Viewers nationwide had major questions, one of which was OutKick's fearless leader, Clay Travis.
Clay reacted to McGrath's interview with Freeman.
"Notre Dame just won its biggest game since 1988. How does ESPN react? By focusing on one half of Marcus Freeman’s race," Travis posted. "Freeman absolutely crushes his answer and says he hopes all coaches regardless of race get great opportunities like he did."
Race-Baiting Is A Favorite In The ESPN Playbook
ESPN has faced criticism for race-baiting, particularly under the Disney banner, which has tainted its commentary and led to accusations of bias in its coverage.
Sports fans flat out hate identity politics.
One instance includes former NBA analyst Jay Williams making up a tweet about Ime Udoka becoming "the first head coach of color for the Celtics" and calling it a historic win.
Well, the facts revealed that Udoka was the sixth African-American coach in Celtics history.
Kendrick Perkins is still a top NBA commentator for ESPN, even after refusing to vote for Nikola Jokić during an MVP race against Joel Embiid due to Jokic's whiteness.
Clay Travis continued his fiery criticism of ESPN on Thursday night following the Orange Bowl victory.
"Freeman is half Asian and half black for those who care. He’s both the first Asian and black coach to make a title game. Making his race one of the first questions he’s asked is everything that’s wrong with ESPN’s embrace of identity politics."
ESPN's disconnect from the pulse of sports discourse has become apparent.
By ESPN's estimation, black coaches are focused on being black rather than the X's and O's of a win over James Franklin's Nittany Lions.
Freeman swatted that line of questioning, joining black coaches before him who had challenged the media for pushing questions about race.
Identity politics in sports has failed to stick in sports over its direct conflict with the concept of meritocracy, which translates to "the best athlete or team always wins."
Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles openly admitted to not giving much thought to his accomplishments through the lens of an African-American coach, highlighting the hard work instead.
Mark Jones. Domonique Foxworth. Ryan Clark. Elle Duncan.
With those players on their roster, ESPN has shown its interest in heavily leaning on identity politics.
Go woke, go broke!
Considering that way back in 2007, there was a Super Bowl with two black head coaches, it really is stupid to focus on the races of the head coaches anymore.
The funny thing is, even though the championship is being broadcast on their network, after last night’s game, ESPN commentators said it’s not worth watching because there is no way Notre Dame can even compete.
After both playoff games, he brought it up when being talked to on the field after the game. After the semifinal, he brought it up three times, including the trophy award. The female reporter even mentioned it in a non-snarky way.
Coach Marcus Freeman does sign off with something about God, but they sometimes cut it off.
This is not the same league.
ESPN is horrible. It has been for a while. Sports media is at least as left wing as the broader mainstream media.
ESPN has promoted anti-white rhetoric and dialog as long as it has existed.
You just don’t notice it, because you are used to letting it slide, because a) you don’t want to cause trouble; b) you don’t want to be called a pussy; c) you “don’t see race”; or d) you are under 40 and you have been raised to look at it as normal or even laudable.
“It’s not about me, it’s about us” - that’s a head coach.
It was always stupid.
Especially now.
My observation of this coach is that he has studied the rules closely in an effort to find ways around them. Something Notre Dame has done since the days of leather helmets.
Tony Dungy’s quote after winning the Super Bowl:
“I’ll tell you what. I’m proud to be representing African-American coaches, to be the first African-American to win this. It means an awful lot to our country. But again, more than anything, I’ve said it before, Lovie Smith and I (are) not only the first two African-Americans but Christian coaches showing that you can win doing it the Lord’s way. And we’re more proud of that.”
Another Freeman (Morgan) once told Mike Wallace that we needed to stop talking about race.
That’s BS. It’s gonna be a good game. Grudge match for ND.
Both Riley Leonard and Will Howard talk openly about God, and I think both of the boys mean it.
Race baiting, divisiveness, perpetual victimization and identity politics are in their DNA.
e) the last time you watched ESPN was about six years ago, waiting in the barber shop.
He's right. Race relations were better back in the '80s and the '90s because we weren't obsessed about race.
Yes, but it is an addiction like alcohol or drugs. Liberals just cannot let go of race bating and perpetual victimization.
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