Bell: Race a non-story reflecting progress at Super Bowl XLIX
PHOENIX — An exuberant Russell Wilson was pretty much the anti-Marshawn Lynch during his shift at Super Bowl XLIX media day, engaging through all sorts of requests, even the offbeat shticks.
At one point, the Seattle Seahawks star took a photo with puppets. During another moment, he answered three questions — including a trick one about J-Lo's marital status — drawn by the quarterback from a gold pot. He honored a request to take a snapshot of himself with a selfie stick.
Then in a real YouTube moment, Wilson got up and danced with a woman in a tight skirt, salsa style.
I kept waiting for someone to ask Wilson some sort of retro question about his race.
It has been 27 years since Doug Williams made history as the first African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, 27 years since someone asked the then-Washington star how long he had been a black quarterback.
Yet Wilson's race never came up during the half-hour that I camped out at his podium. That's some kind of progress.
Race is still a hot-button issue in our society, as recent events including protests over the deaths of unarmed African Americans by white police officers have raised mainstream consciousness. And it was only a few months agoa story line buzzed in the aftermath of a Bleacher Report column that quoted an anonymous Seahawks player maintaining Wilson wasn't "black enough."
Still, no one brought up the topic of race at Wilson's podium on Tuesday until Wilson brought it up.
"One of the things that I'm glad people don't talk about, but I think is pretty cool, is our quarterback package," Wilson said. "We have myself, Tarvaris Jackson, B.J. Daniels. Three African-American quarterbacks. We were here last year. That's pretty cool to me. That's history. I'm grateful. I think that shows how our world is changing, slowly but surely; how we're getting better."
Wilson, 26, strikes me as an enthusiastic student of history, and he is contributing wonderful footnotes to that end. After stinging the Green Bay Packers with his big touchdown pass to Jermaine Kearse in overtime to win the NFC title, he can make history on Sunday as the youngest quarterback — black or white — to start two Super Bowls, coming in about four months younger than Tom Brady was in his second Super Bowl.
With a multidimensional playmaking knack Bill Belichick mused as reminiscent of Roger Staubach, Wilson has also won more games in his first three seasons, including playoffs (42), than any quarterback during the Super Bowl era.
He was the fifth African American to start in a Super Bowl, and is in line for his second start in a row — undoubtedly proud of that historical link. For decades, many talented African Americans were denied the opportunity to pursue the position because of racism. Wilson acknowledged that when I asked him about it last year, and nothing has changed except that the first team to bring three African-American quarterbacks to the Super Bowl is now trying to repeat as champs.
"We're very aware of the situation," Jackson, a ninth-year veteran, told Paste BN Sports. "We acknowledge it and understand it's something special. We want to try to get it out there, so that other young guys can see it."
Jackson grew up with African-Americans Randall Cunningham and Warren Moon as role models, just like, he said, he looked up to Steve Young and Troy Aikman. He was too young to remember Williams' Super Bowl MVP performance in XXII but learned the history and over the years developed a relationship with Williams. One of his most-prized possessions: an autographed Williams jersey.
When the story surfaced in October about Wilson's identity, Jackson insists it barely caused a ripple in the locker room.
"I don't know who would say that, but we just tried to keep it moving," Jackson said. "We joked about it and went on about our business."
When I asked Wilson in October about the "black enough" comment, he said, "I don't even know what that means." Looking back now, he sees that period of adversity as a defining moment.
And the real issue wasn't how Wilson was perceived. It was about a defending Super Bowl champion he helped to overcome a 3-3 start to rise to a second consecutive Super Bowl berth. Now the Seahawks have an opportunity to be the first repeat champion since the Patriots 10 years ago.
As it stands Wilson is pretty phenomenal in any shape, size or color.