Domonique Foxworth - The Fight for NFL Players' Rights

for me anyway, they both were in. You know what's interesting it is Black His Month and the first day time Brady, Yeah, I mean, and on the day or that we're leading up to the Super Bowl, first two black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl of ever, and we also had we also had um over the weekend what I believe to be the blackest moment in playoff history. I don't know if you saw Patrick Mahomes daddy on the sideline, Patrick Lavon my home's daddy on the side.

I loved it. It sounded so much like my black uncle's. And when you say it was middle name, then you know it's gonna be Oh yeah, it was. It was the familiar den of a black It sounds like a like a leather baseball cap and the black kind of come over high to jewelry. I'm moping on that job. But right so, just like but it is, it's historic to black quarterbacks started for the first time. And then what does that mean you a former player? Which you

mean you know. I mean, I think it represents I hate the word progress, but it does kind of represent some progress. I mean, there's lots of other things in the NFL and in the world, frankly, that we need to work towards. But one thing that we've had to finally accept is black quarterbacks are perfect leaders, perfect quarterbacks, and problem was that they didn't think they had the intelligence. I think it's it's one about the intelligence and also

in the leadership, and it's also about y'all. Like frankly, it's about what the what the quarterback represents on the football team is something that uh, white people in America in general were never comfortable with seeing a black person

represent that. So it's been it's been great to see not only have so many successful black quarterbacks, and we saw even some quarterbacks that are black that aren't good, which is assuring progress too, because we could be just a ship that is press But the most like exciting thing about it is the future of the league. The best quarterback that I think any of us have ever seen is Patrick my Homes. I think I've never seen

anybody the ever to do the things he does. Now you gotta, of course, you gotta be great over a long period of time because the people who started out the way I thought what Cam Newton was doing was remarkable, and then and then and then you see what happens. It's interesting because we talk about football and there's there's a market difference between the way players in the NFL are treated and the way players in the India treating

And I think primarily is it is the ownership. Um, I think that the the ownership in the NFL has a decided any different view of their commodity than the NBA does. Like you would never see an NFL NBA owner talk to a major star like like NFL. If if somebody talked to Lebron James like they talked to some of these stars, it will be over. Yeah. I

mean Lebron James has a disproportionate amount of power. But like singling out the NFL, and trust me, I'm not gonna be up here defending the NFL, But the NFL exists in our society and frankly, NFL is no different than any other workplace. And so like the hierarchy that exists in the NFL, it's like it's gonna be blacker at the bottom and or minorities at the bottom, and you get up higher and higher and there's less risk. There's less danger, there's less injury, there's less pain, but

there's more money, there's more success, there's more protection. And that's like, that's true in the NFL, and frankly that's true in the NBA, that's true everywhere that y'all work is true. It's true in this building. Sorry, and they may not have yeah, yeah, okay, not not today. You know, it's interesting because we we watched. When I watched what happened to hambling on the field, Um, I was personally like because I watched football very long time, and I'm

sure you've seen a lot of injuries. I don't know that I've ever seen anything like that, and um, the way that the players reacted, um, it was it was. It was hurtful. I mean, obviously you were sad that somebody was suffering there. It was such a beautiful human moment because the NFL got to be human like the cultures, like when you're playing this game and it's like, yes

you are. So you got to see men that just were empathic and and just men who were crying and praying and not because they want a little lost because they were praying for for somebody who wasn't there. I played for a long I played a long time. I was in a game where a player got paralyzed on the field and he was taken off. We waited five minutes, warmed up, and played again. I played in the preseason

game where a player died in the locker room afterwards. Like, I've been around some ugly parts of football, but to your point, I've never seen anything. What do you think was different about that that particular play his heart stopped on the field. I mean, but we've seen people pass out, We've seen people have but it was something different about that that because I didn't think it was all that

bad at first. I passed out doing COVID so, but there was the way because I think that people are used to certain types of injuries or seeing certain types of things. But that's scared everybody. Yeah, the reaction from the players really like scared all of us. And I think this all goes back to the original conversation that we were having about like American culture and the hierarchy that exist. Is you show up at those games as a player and you know that there is no limit

to the risk that you're taking. What did you do with them? Well, you do it because you grow up. So when you were a kid and you want to play football, you decide before your like of clear mind, and then you show a propensity for it, and people just keep pushing along, keep pushing along. And nothing's wrong with that. And frankly, when I came up, we were unaware of the ct Stuff that came out while I was in would change your mind? I like to think

it would, but I doubt that it would. And to be honest with you, I don't begrudge any of the players now for participating in the game knowing the risk that it takes. The thing that frustrates me is there is a cap on the amount of money they can make, on the amount of uh like healthcare they can receive.

The league negotiates for a cap on that, but on the other side, the owners, the coaches, the general manner, the players really because there's a say if if if NFL players didn't play, that ship would be Rugby, right yeah, And I think the goal is to make you pretend like you don't have a choice. I believe you don't have a choice. You go through some of the finest institutions of higher learning. On the face of there, you

went to Harvard, You're a very bright man. But to make you believe that you'll be holding to a thing because of your mind is the biggest game in town. So I agree and I understand. So to be clear, I went to Harvard Business School. I'm a Turk through and through first of all. But the first teams plays downplaying Harvard. Yeah, man, I know somebody went to the new school. I would say for me to call back, Harvard has known. I would say that I get your point.

And I'm sorry to sound like a broken record, but like we all exist in the society, and I think the players as a whole, its solidarity is power. If they stop, you can get what you want, and all of us can get the things that we want if we band together. But the challenging thing about negotiating with the owners, it's the same thing that we all faces trying to change the system that's in trench the people

who are already in power in that situation. So if you are to strike, if you're a player too, if you're a group of players, to get what you want, that's essentially a war of attrition the commanders. The Washington Football team reporter is gonna sell for eight billion dollars. How do players win a war of attrition against them? And then you compound that by the fact that we get pressure from everywhere. No one comes down so rarely.

I think it's changing something now, But so rarely do fans come down on the owners when there's an issue. Not at all. They're mad at the players because that's the face that they can't see, the face of the helmet on. UM. I think you guys have a tremendous amount pressure on you externally because um, if you're an athlete, um, people aspire to be and and there's amount of external pressure that society from a civic perspective, from a cultural perspective, um,

from activism perspective. So and and it's it's it's really important because the only time generally they see black people were running, jumping, singing, the dancing. It really is, it's the only time we have everybody's wrapped attention. And so how do you balance the fact that you are a professional, you have commitments you have to uh, you know, obligated to, but you still have a commitment to making things better for a community. It's so it's unfair, but that's life.

It's unfair that that responsibility falls on black players because it doesn't fall on black on white playsure like, no one has this expectation of white players to do the same thing, but as black players, they all know that that expectation falls on them. But I think Howard Bryant wrote a great book called The Heritage about the history of activism and athletes, and it's changed. The position of

the players um and and activism has changed. And I think that that's incumbent on us as spectators and people who care about it to understand that athletes aren't activists anymore. As much as they are like flashlights there, they are not entrenched in the fight and the way that say,

Kareem Abdul, what your bar was, which is fine. So when they get an opportunity and they say, look over at Tyree Nichols, then it's our job to jump in because we can't expect them to commit themselves to being the best in the world and then also commit themselves to be on top of the latest reading, in the latest life, self preservation, virtually every skill set that got you in that field will get you, makes you a hero on Sunday, will make you a target on Monday.

If you big, you fast, you strong, and you black on Sunday, that's an attribute on the streets of the of of of this country. It is a detriment. So it is self preservation. There's one there's only one standard I have. Do what you can to the best of your ability. Do what you can for as long as you can, for all that you can. And I think that one thing I would say about you, even if I got a chance to meet you, I love how

area that you are. I love how nuanced you are because most things aren't just black and white there and and and I love how you don't just depend on your physicality. You have never just depended on that. But I hate how you play. You said, I want to I'm a term now. Nobody would ever put me on any resold. But it ain't no news tool. You've seen that. There's a pretty broad continued experience of when the when the NFL was then it is now. Are you more

hardened or more disappointed by the direction it's going? Um, I think that's a tough question. I think I am That's what I'm here, I think that it's not about the NFL, and I'm guilty of this as much as anybody else, as we think of the NFL as a single entity, which like, yeah, it's an institution, but the NFL is made up of a bunch of different things, and the most important entity in the NFL is the players.

And so that like gives me optimism because I've never been more impressed, more excited, more invigorated by not only the talent, but the perspective and the engagement of these players. We talked about Patrick Mahomes and how he's the best quarterback in football right now and on the trajectory to be one of the best of all time. He spoke out he was one of the first faces in that

video about Colin Kaepernick. And I know that Colin Kaepernick is not back in the league, but the idea that a black quarterback who can obviously avoid this conversation if he wants to, like they, that opportunity is presented to him time and time again, and he does not. And that's an example to everyone else and players like Lamar Jackson who are willing to be outspoken and fight for players right like all of these players in the league.

And it's not just the black players, it's the white players also, Like, the league is in so much better place because of the players. And if only the players like really understood that they're interest in making sure you don't realize everything you have that because somebody look like you sacrifice that's why he has Um, you want to leave the Union. I don't even pay my due. Um. What would the you you're you're older, now, you have a family, you've been married, You've lived in various places,

You've seen in the world. What would the adult you tell the rookie, the wide eye, the wide eyed, the white kid that we walk into. What would you tell you have as much fun as you can. Oh, no, that's a different conversation. That's funny. No, I think the most important thing is to get as many different experiences as possible. And we are so focused and we're celebrating did a bunch of ESPN stuff today celebrating Tom Brady's career, and his career deserves to be celebrated. So it was great.

Part of the reason why it was so great was because it appeared to me that nothing else was more important than football to him. And that's fine. If you could be Tom Brady, not everybody can be Tom Brady. And I know that having all these other experiences. The tough thing about being a player in professional sports is your skills aren't applicable anywhere else. So if you don't hit that home run, and it just goes back to like the challenge for being a player versus in the

ownership class. If you are a player and you play three or four years, then the league minimum goes up and you're out of the league, and your experience, I mean set you up to be a bouncer, like when you are in a tough situation. So like, one of the things that I did, and I would encourage all the players today is get involved in the Union as much as possible. They're like that helped open my mind to how many other opportunities there were out there in

the world. Get involved in community things obviously, and also like when you have time. One of the things that we negotiated was for longer off season. Sure, use that off season to go do something else. It will make you a better football player and will make you a better person, to make you better husband and father. I just I did talking to you, but I'll say this.

I want you to understand you. I truly wanted to understand this, and I most of the men who on that football field go through the finest institutions of how I learned in the world. It is not their physical attributes, it is their minds. And when you understand that your mind is the most you put pot piece arena stayed on the face of the earth. They can't beat you. They can't. It is not your body. Your body will fail you. Wait before your mind? Does you know you

You're here not because your you. You may think that because you hurt yourself you're here, but your mind was ready and these maybe I'm just you know, I got the g D. So who am I to say? But if you go to college rocked by a class every once in the more, you know what I'm saying, it ain't gotta be the new school. But Dominique Fox Flugda and Dominique box Flub The show explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show

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