\n<\/p>\n
Most feelings go deeper than the surface. They\u2019re rooted in something underneath the circumstances that made the incidents stories in the first place. Most of the feelings aren\u2019t facts. To a degree, they\u2019re inborn in a history, and to many \u2014 not a majority \u2014 more important than what could be a larger degree of truth.<\/p>\n
Take Notre Dame. Please. Take their omission from the College Football Playoff. Take Marcus Freeman \u201cjust happening\u201d to be the coach.<\/p>\n
A year ago, there was a celebration of the advancement of Black coaches in NCAA football because two Black coaches, for the first time, had led their programs to games in the CFP. This season, things done changed. And the face in the scope of that change: of course, a coach who happened to be .\u2009.\u2009. Black.<\/p>\n
Believe: Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua isn\u2019t at the forefront of this ND saga \u2014 Freeman is. More important, Freeman\u2019s face is.<\/p>\n
The Fighting Irish\u2019s trip to the national championship game last year netted the school a cool $20 million, mostly because they aren\u2019t in a conference where they have to share their bag with anyone. The money, all theirs.<\/p>\n
NCAA athletic directors across the board are tired of ND. Other schools and probably about half of the country hate ND. It seems as if the College Football Playoff committee aren\u2019t the biggest fans, either. So there\u2019s room to believe that the Irish not getting in the CFP this year has nothing to do with Freeman and the position he holds at one of the most prestigious, precious and powerful football schools in the country.<\/p>\n
But is it the Notre Dame of it all or the Marcus Freeman of some of it? It sure feels <\/i>more one than the other. Not saying that Freeman being Black is the reason ND found itself \u201cdisrespected\u201d the way that it was, but the feeling<\/i> that there might be some connection \u2014 be it strategic or happenstance \u2014 between the color of his skin and the treatment given to the university is the feeling that sat within, even as we see evidence to refute that feeling, even as no one seemed to scream it out loud in the media. It remained quietly impossible to disregard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not because they\u2019re Black,\u201d the world says to us in these incidents. They just \u201chappen to be black.\u201d And our feelings in response: Why, though, do these things happen to always happen to us since we just happen to be Black when these things just happen to happen?<\/i><\/p>\n
(Same feelings maybe be applied to James Franklin at Penn State, but not so much Sherrone Moore at Michigan. We regress.)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time I think Notre Dame\u2019s really been punished for not being in a conference,\u201d sports analyst Josh Pate said on \u201cJosh Pate\u2019s College Football Show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Um .\u2009.\u2009. the \u201cfirst time\u201d piece. ND has been independent of a conference for almost 100 years. Interesting how that \u201cfirst time\u201d keeps happening when someone \u201cBlack\u201d is at the center. Kinda cements feelings of, \u201cDamn, here we go again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because the human-nature reaction varies for the humans who feel directly identified and associated with the impact of the story \u2014 especially as outside voices continually tell you your feelings are fake. We are not supposed to feel a certain way when the Bears tell us that \u201cBlack\u201d had nothing to do with Lovie Smith being asked to vacate Halas Hall. Same when Notre Dame told us that \u201cBlack\u201d had nothing to do with Ty Willingham\u2019s exit in South Bend. Same when Willie Taggart\u2019s \u201cBlack\u201d had zero to do with him lasting less than two seasons at Florida State.<\/p>\n
Those same honorable voices with a noble-minded state of grace will be the same ones who tell us that \u201cBlack\u201d had nothing to do with Colin Kaepernick being shown no \u201cformal interest\u201d and never being officially called back to play by any NFL team, yet Philip Rivers just got called out of retirement at 44 years old to return to the NFL, open arms, after not being on a roster for five years.<\/p>\n
(Those same words we hear from those same people have already been heard when telling us the White House\u2019s decision to end fee-free days at national parks across the country on MLK\u2019s birthday and Juneteenth have nothing to do with them both being \u201cBlack\u201d days.)<\/p>\n
Race isn\u2019t about color as much as it is about connection \u2014 the way people feel about certain people and the people connected to those people due to the color of their skin and, more than often, their racial heritage and shared history. There\u2019s sympathy, empathy, reverence and emotional understanding all tied up into the feelings when the color of us rises to the top of how we feel.<\/p>\n
Even when feelings aren\u2019t facts. Especially when facts are both subjective and selective. There have been many rational and irrational theories floating around \u2014 every damn thing from the CFP committee restructuring the format next season to avoid an antitrust lawsuit to Freeman leaving ND because of this and taking his talents to the NFL.<\/p>\n
All probably untrue, faceless. Raceless. But unstopping the feelings from being circumstantial.<\/p>\n
How many different ways can the word \u201ccoincidence\u201d be applied? How about the word \u201ccomplicit\u201d? The silent life of a truth. At least, that\u2019s the way it feels. And these feelings may be looked at as wrong, but never nonsensical.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n