Friday, January 21, 2011

Peyton Hillis Says Teams Taunted Him For Being White Running Back

Cleveland Browns RB Peyton Hillis told Dan Patrick that he encountered taunting this season because of his skin color. Hills was the first white running back to rush for 1,000 since Craig James in 1985.

"Every team did it," he told Patrick said. "They'll say, 'You white boy, you ain't gonna run on us today. This is ridiculous. Why are you giving offensive linemen the ball?'

"All kinds of stuff like that you hear on the field, but I use that to my advantage. I kind of soaked it in, ate it up a little bit, because I enjoyed it."

The nicknames he was given included "The Avalanche", "White Rhino" and "Chuck Norris".

Hillis doesn't seem bothered by it. Is it still ok? That's a loaded question in light of the historical imbalance from a racial standpoint and the question as to whether there was any malicious intent. We absorb things a lot differently when we think people are trying to be malicious.

Discuss.

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