Dancing On The Grave: Prof. Claims Madden Video Game “Glamorized Violence and Dehumanized Black Athletes”
“[The Madden video game] further glamorized violence and dehumanized Black athletes, helping to establish plantation cosplay that has grown worse in the era of fantasy football,” Dallas College history professor Andrew McGregor wrote.
NFL coaching legend turned color commentary icon John Madden was someone who you pretty much never heard a bad word about, whether it was from coaches or players past and present, his contemporaries and those who came after them in the sports announcing world, or anywhere else.
He brought a lot of eyes and understanding to the sport of football due in large part to his ability to explain the game in a way anyone could understand while having fun doing it with the people he worked with throughout his career.
The Hall of Famer, who was also the face of one of the most popular video games of all time (Madden NFL, first released in 1988 with a new version coming out every year since 1990), passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 85.
More than a game. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/vtn6HlMj1p
— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2021
But there is always one in every crowd who tries to play the role of a party pooper, who loves to rain on someone else’s parade. This week’s culprit was Dallas College history professor Andrew McGregor, who, as I wrote this, locked down his Twitter account. Then he later either deactivated or deleted his account apparently because of the massive Twitter ratio he received after doing a “woke” tap dance all over Madden’s grave.
McGregor wrote a mini-Twitter thread about the “issue” of Madden’s alleged racism, the tweets from which I included below. You can see them via my screengrabs as well as the “ghost” versions of the tweets that are still visible. But it was the first tweet that garnered the most attention in terms of comments and quote RTs for obvious reasons:
"Professor" who did a "woke" tap dance on John Madden's grave has locked his account down, apparently after getting a Twitter ratio for the ages. pic.twitter.com/UnxlK6PGIa
— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) December 30, 2021
Here’s the ratio on that first tweet:
I have lots of opinions on John Madden. The creation of the Madden video game was not a great development for the U.S. It further glamorized violence and dehumanized Black athletes, helping to establish plantation cosplay that has grown worse in the era of fantasy football.
— Dr. Andrew McGregor (@admcgregor85) December 29, 2021
The video game distanced the reality of the violent sport from fans, and transformed human behaviors into artificial numbers and simulations. It glamorized athletes, using their name for profits while encouraging fans to disregard the humanity. Madden built a digital plantation.
— Dr. Andrew McGregor (@admcgregor85) December 29, 2021
At every point in his career — coach, announcer, video game producer — Madden profited off of Black athletic labor and glamorized the violence inherent in the game. He became ubiquitous and grew the NFL into the most popular game, and hastened the development of esports.
— Dr. Andrew McGregor (@admcgregor85) December 29, 2021
Sure, there is a lot of significance to his life and his impact. But it’s pretty clear most of his accomplishments were not beneficial or healthy for athletes, particular non-white athletes. John Madden made a life in football, one of the most violent and exploitative sports.
— Dr. Andrew McGregor (@admcgregor85) December 29, 2021
Some of the responses to McGregor’s rant were hilarious:
This guy def lost to his brother a bunch as a kid and rage quit over and over again, now he’s out here hating on madden…
— Jonah Picks (@Jonahpicks) December 29, 2021
As a black male who used to play Madden when I was younger and still enjoy the franchise. I want to label this thread of your tweets with this cute little picture. Have a great day. pic.twitter.com/BzfcI8bHD2
— Bocephus Jenkins III, A bona-fide lollygagger (@Thebohindel) December 29, 2021
I beg of you, please record yourself going up in front of your class next week and lecture your black students on how Madden games were actually violently exploiting them this whole time. I desperately want to see what happens there.
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) December 29, 2021
Next up, Andy McGregor discusses how the Super Mario video game series glamorized drug use and dehumanized Italian plumbers.
— AdamInHTownTX (LGBFJB+ Supporter) (@AdamInHTownTX) December 29, 2021
And after he posted another tweet suggesting that most people are “not ready for Critical Sport Studies,” it got worse for him:
Critical Ratio’d Tweet. pic.twitter.com/AZ7FcR4IyT
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) December 29, 2021
Critical Sport Studies is Critical Race Theory for people too stupid to write a dissertation about Critical Race Theory. https://t.co/hxfhe4r1OA
— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) December 29, 2021
“Critical Sports Studies” ffs https://t.co/bfWxevIYCo
— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) December 30, 2021
But perhaps the best response of all was from the “Defiant L’s” Twitter account, which did a compare/contrast of a past tweet of McGregor’s on Madden NFL to what he wrote this week:
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) December 29, 2021
Oops.
Just for the record, I can tell you that had I not known a single thing about the widespread respect Madden earned over his decades as a player, coach, and commentator, I would know that he wasn’t viewed by the sports world as some type of “exploiter” of black sports figures just by listening to CBS Sports NFL reporter Jonathan Jones’s remarks about him, which Jones gave during an interview on the network Wednesday.
Jones is based in North Carolina, and he covered the Carolina Panthers for several years for the Charlotte Observer before moving on to Sports Illustrated and then CBS. I’m familiar with his work and trust me when I say that he is one of the “wokest” sports reporters out there. He would not have lavished praise on Madden if he had been anything like McGregor described him.
I should also note that McGregor actually went on a little more Wednesday about his thoughts on Madden and “Critical Sport Studies,” but I guess it’s safe to say based on him torpedoing his Twitter account that he finally had enough of people dunking all over him. Unfortunately for him, though, screengrabs are forever.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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Comments
Prof think past the knee jerk. Those gladiators are not downtrodden.
I went to Amazon – wasn’t able to find a copy of “McGregor NFL”. Guess it’s sold out.
I did find a McGregor pinyata and a birthday gamed called “Pin The Tail on McGregor”
How else to get your 15 minutes?
15 minutes to immolate one’s career. Madden WAS football. There are just a few that really can have that title. The NFL has been infected with wokism.
My favorite Madden quote is “It’s the team that scores the most points that’s gonna win this game of football!”
Always cracks me up when some numbskull sports “reporter” asks the coach for his strategy.
“Ah, scoring more points than our opponent, son.”
Or the same question to a jockey. “Getting my horse to run really, really fast.”
I was just thinking a few weeks ago how much I missed John Madden
Hey McGregor, there is another game you might want to check out.
It highlights the ultimate superiority of the patriarchy, a hierarchical class system, emphasizes the privileges of rank, encourages sacrifice of the lower class, normalizes violent conflict, pits white against black….
It’s called Chess you putz.
It should be noted that the NFL Players Assoc. gets a significant piece of the action.
to my mind, no one will ever top cosell and dandy don–terrific insight and often unexpected hilarity
madden was excellent, though–a living legend to owners, players, fans and the media
were madden still with us, believe this soyboy “educator” would not have the gall to say such nonsense(let alone the balls)
The creation of contemporary academia was not a great development for the U.S. It further glamorized official ignorance and made brainless social scolds out of history professors.
Anyone who insists on using the title “Dr.” in letting us know who he is (as in ALL his tweets) is a self-inflated POS. This guy’s a “doctor” like Jillie Biden is a “doctor.”
Madden was a great coach and a great person. What this woke so called professor does not get is that if you are good at any position in football and are drafted, you understand that you might get hurt but will earn a lot of money for playing a kid’s game. That is not slavery.
I lived near the town where John Madden lived for 50+ years. His family unselfishly gave to the community and school sports teams. He was a true gentleman.
Comparing NFL tryouts and physical exams to slave auctions is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Naturally I heard it from Colin Kaepernick, and this guy is apparently just as stupid. Profiting off the labor of black athletes? If nobody could profit off their labor there would be no black professional athletes.
How do these idiots think slavery worked? That hopeful slaves would just come to the slave market hoping to be picked by some wealthy slave owners? That they thousands of hours in the gym and at the track because being a slave was always their dream? That you didn’t need to go look for slaves; you’d just open the doors to the tryout facility and hopeful slaves would just walk in? They of course trained for years hoping to make the cut. And of course if they didn’t make the cut and get chosen to be a slave but had potential, the coaching staff at the slave market would give the disappointed wannabe slave helpful advice on what to work on if they almost make the cut. You know maybe strength training, maybe bulk up if they’re just a little too small to play the position they tried out for, that sort of thing. And then the friendly coaching staff would give the disappointed wannabe slave a pat on the back and invite him back next year to try out for slave again before ushering him out the door.
Yes, I’m sure slave markets worked just like tryouts and medical exams in the NFL.
Value given, value received. No coercion to/from either party.
It’s how freedom and responsibility work together.
Yes. Willing seller, willing buyer is how I’ve always heard it expressed.
But comparing the NFL or any professional sport to slavery is ridiculous. I don’t want to over generalize but a lot of black people think it’s a valid analogy. But to be fare so do a lot of white people. No wonder they see systemic racism everywhere. It’s a religious belief, a superstition. In the UK & Ireland they’ll actually reroute highways in order not to disturb a faerie tree. Faeries apparently can do both good and evil in Gaelic mythology, and you don’t want to get on their bad side.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/fairy-bush-survives-the-motorway-planners-1.190053
In Sub-Saharan Africa a very powerful traditional belief is that bad things don’t just happen at random. If something bad is happening to you, it’s because a witch put a hex on you. Naturally if you subscribe to these types of superstitions, faeries, black magic, whatever, they’re unfalsifiable. You’ll see the evidence for it everywhere. Your superstitions well explain everything.
Systemic racism is another such belief.
Curiously, I’ve always thought you could operate a slave market on principles very much like this, if only the government would get out of the way of consenting adults.
Man get with the program. Today’s slaves have multi million dollar contracts and are treated like rock stars.
Another “doctor”. My head hurts.
How many dumb assed experts to we really need?
I bet this “doctor” is great at parties.
His students don’t think much of him.
Most common comment on rate my professor is “pompous and arrogant.” Another comment shares that he bogs down his lectures with terrible political takes and to avoid this man at all costs.
Just another useful idiot with an advanced degree in jargonism looking to take something or someone down. It’s all they know how to do; these types can’t build or repair anything, so destroying validates them in their circle. This is someone who would celebrate the 911 massacre or the Boston marathon travesty. She could never sniff the success John Madden had.
John always knew when to bow out gracefully. When he left the Raiders, he solemnly said “I’m not quitting, I’m not giving up, I’m retiring. I will never coach again” and he meant it. When he left broadcasting, he said he was done. But he continued to consult and I can only guess that what he was seeing made him realize the NFL was going in the wrong direction.
Jumping in bed with gambling, the woke theater, bending knee (literally) to an incoherent covid policy and hate cults…ugh
The NFL as he and we knew it is gone.
Goodbye, John. Goodbye, NFL.
Most everything good we knew growing up is gone.
They’re not gone, they’ve just been co-opted by a plague of woke-ists. Vote with your remote. And your wallet.
The idiot makes this brilliant observation:
“…It further glamorized violence and dehumanized Black athletes…”
How, pray tell, do you make a video game about the NFL and only dehumanize the black athletes?
Things I learned as a kid (1) never speak ill of the dead, (2) never dance on someone’s grave (3) football teaches teamwork, (4) it’s not about color; it’s about character.
Things I’ve learned as an adult (1) you can be “educated” and still be stupid, (2) it’s about character and teamwork, (3) never speak ill of the dead, (4) people will do or say anything to get 15 minutes of fame, (5) professional athletes make mega dollars playing a game (many in higher education are loons.
Isn’t Colin Kaperdick on a book tour spouting this diarrhea of the brain?
I hope this stays up long enough for people to enjoy this video.
https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/hodgetwins-colin-kaepernick
“‘HE LOOKS LIKE A MUSHROOM TIP’: THE HODGETWINS DESTROY COLIN KAEPERNICK’S IDIOCY COMPARING NFL TO SLAVERY”
I especially enjoyed the part where they play the clip of Kaepernick’s try out that he practically begged for and the NFL finally relented and gave him his tryout. As the Hodge twins point out, by Kaepernick’s own ideology he was begging to be a slave.
My New Year’s Day present to you.
Please scroll down. There’s another video of an actor portraying Kaepernick wearing a football jersey strung up from a tree with a white overseer with an NFL patch sewn on his hat holding a whip, negotiating a multimillion dollar signing bonus while other slaves look on in anguish.
It’s not too hard to get black actors for this kind of gig as a lot of blacks aren’t stupid enough to fall for drama queen Kaepernick’s stupidity. Hell, the Hodge twins are black.