Patriots So White

I hope you haven't turned "Chris Hogan played lacrosse in college" into a drinking game. If so, you're probably face down in a puddle of your own vomit. Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

Anyway, long-term financial prospects in lacrosse being what they are (i.e., non-existent), Chris Hogan opted to try football. Hogan auditioned with a few NFL franchises before getting a regular gig with the Buffalo Bills as a 4th option in the Bills not exactly feared passing attack. The Patriots made an offer to Hogan as a restricted free agent. The Bills decided not to match. Let's hope you haven't turned "Player X was a disappointment/let go by Team Z only to become a key cog in the Patriots latest run for a Super Bowl" into a drinking game, either.

Hogues is fast, as Tom Brady once observed. It's his secret sauce because (as you probably guessed from "he played lacrosse in college"), he's white. Defensive backs look at him and think, "Smart, clever route-runner, possession receiver." Racial profiling? Of course. You think only police officers do that? That defensive back is still thinking this while peeking into the backfield to see where Brady is going with the ball when they realize it's to Hogan, who is ten yards upfield and pulling away like the Millennium Falcon making the Kessel Run.

I suppose it's understandable - a fast, outside the numbers deep threat who is white? - if misinformed.

Check out the receiving yards leaders for 2016 and you've got one white guy - Jordy Nelson - in the Top 10. You won't find Hogan's name in the Top 40. Excluding tight ends, the only other white guy in the Top 20 is Julian Edelman; a quick, scrappy, tough as nails possession receiver who works out of the slot.

Sort that list by average yards per catch and guess who pops to the top of the list? Chris Hogan, tied with DeSean Jackson at 17.9 yards per catch.

Edelman and Danny Amendola are also white (you probably guessed that when I described Edelman as "scrappy" and well… Amendola, am I right?). We'll ignore Malcolm Mitchell, Michael Floyd, Martellus Bennett, James White, Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount for the moment. They don't fit the narrative. Let's call them alternative facts. Let's focus instead on Hogan, Jules and DA, their eggshell skin tone and general lack of athleticism.

There's all sorts of racism going on here. If the premise is that Patriots wide receivers aren't athletic enough to play for other teams, is the subtext that black wide receivers aren't smart enough to play wide receiver for the Patriots? Is there a notion that white guys can't jump, can't dance and can't run a 4.3 40-yard dash? Are we still comfortable with the presumption that black athletes win with their bodies and not with their heads?

I have to say the answers to that are yes, yes and yes. Let's face it, recent national events suggest that racism is now seen simply as one man's opinion; an opinion we're expected to respect. Thinking that one race is superior to others, that one gender is superior to the other, that one sexual orientation is entitled to legal protection while others are not, that one religion is right and all others are wrong is a matter of belief. Or alternative facts. We're all entitled to our alternative facts, aren't we? Racists, misogynists, homophobes and xenophobes aren't deplorable; they're just another demographic; a market, a special interest group, a block of voters.

I am fascinated by the Patriots and their offensive and defensive systems, the extended run of success they've had in an environment designed to create parity and how difficult it's been for other NFL franchises to duplicate that success but I never thought it had anything to do with skin color.

I still don't. As noted above, though, this may just be my own personal belief in an alternative fact.

Are New Englanders and specifically Bostonians sensitive to accusations of racism? Yes. We've yet to adjust to the new normal and it still stings to be thought of as ignorantly hateful. Boston earned a reputation for racism in the 70s that remains undiminished to this day. Claiming (rightly) that racism exists elsewhere (if not everywhere) is hardly the most compelling of arguments in your favor. It's basically admitting you're racist only like spam, eggs, sausage and spam, there's not as much racism in it. "Patriots so white" is clickbait journalism at best but it fits the accepted narrative. "Boston is a racist city" is pretty much accepted fact for anyone west of the Connecticut River. It isn't a statement that generates a whole lot of "Is that still the case?" reflection.

Maybe I should simply be reassured by the collective outrage here in response to Dan LeBatard's snarky commentary on the pallid Patriots receiving group at a time in our history when racists are more than happy to self-identify in public. Then again, the local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads are even whiter than the Patriots wide receivers.

Media so white, too.