San Francisco 49ers radio announcer Tim Ryan recently talked about how difficult it is to stop Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson on a radio show. His analysis on Jackson’s ability to fake handoffs led to a one-game suspension.
Here’s the quote:
“He’s really good at that fake, Lamar Jackson, but when you consider his dark skin color with a dark football with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing.”
This led to apology statements from everybody, and 49ers players said they had Ryan’s back. Richard Sherman even said his comments were accurate.
“If you’re saying, ‘Hey, this is a brown ball, they’re wearing dark colors and he has a brown arm,’ honestly, we were having trouble seeing the ball on the field. He’s making a play-fake and sometimes he swings his arm really fast, and you’re like ‘OK, does he have the ball on this play’ and then you look up and Ingram is running it. Technically, it was a valid point.”
If Ryan’s comments were so unacceptable, why is Richard Sherman not suspended for agreeing with him? He made the exact same point breaking down Jackson’s ability to fake the defense. Neither of them should be suspended at all because the argument is 100% true and this should not be a controversy.
Just like two light objects next to each other blend in, two dark objects next to each other blend in. It’s why pitchers in baseball are not allowed to wear white sleeves. They blend in with the baseball.
Hardly anybody would’ve heard about this story had the 49ers not given in to the few people that were upset. The 49ers just branded Tim Ryan as a racist. That’s what they’re saying by suspending him.
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