Jason Whitlock
Jason Lee Whitlock (born April 27, 1967, in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an African-American sportswriter for Foxsports.com, as well as a former columnist at the Kansas City Star, AOL Sports writer, contributor to ESPN, and radio personality for WHB and KCSP sports stations in the Kansas City area.
College and sports
Whitlock was an all-state offensive lineman at Warren Central High School in Warren Township in the eastern part of Indianapolis, and he blocked for quarterback Jeff George, who later became the first overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft.
Whitlock earned a scholarship to play for the great Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan. At his request, Jason was moved to QB before his first season. He redshirted his first year. Heading into spring practice, before his sophomore season, Jason was competing for the 5th string QB job. Unfortunately, late one night at a fraternity party, Jason got into a heated breakdancing battle and during one violent contortion, he tore his meniscus. Once he was fully healed, Jason realized he lost some of his mobility and was told he was being moved back to offensive line. Depressed after the position switch, Whitlock went on an epic eating binge over the next few weeks, ballooning to a reported 387 pounds. There was one ugly incident in the dining hall, where Whitlock chained himself to the ice cream machine and as an unsuspecting Asian boy tried to help himself to an ice cream cone, Whitlock snapped, "Boy this is my machine! U want a 'couple inches' of ice cream...take yo a$$ to Ben & Jerry's!"
After this inflammatory remark, Jason was suspended for 2 games by Coach Schembechler. In a heated exchange, Coach Bo said, "You’re 6 foot nothing, 400 & somethin, got arms like a velociraptor and have barely a speck of athletic ability! You're not good enough to cause this kind of trouble!" Upon hearing this, Mama Whitlock (picture a young Shirley from What's Happening) flew to Ann Arbor and went mid-evil on the ol' coach. Coach Bo quickly dismissed Jason from the team. Luckily, he bounced back and was offered a scholarship American football to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, lettering as an offensive tackle in 1987 and 1988. For his career at Ball State, Jason started 8 games and currently holds the record for most sacks allowed in a season with 40. A majority of these sacks came in one game against Joel Smeenge, when Jason was beaten like a rented mule, giving up 12 sacks on the day. Jason (barely) graduated in 1990 with a degree in journalism.
Journalism career
Whitlock previously worked for the Bloomington Herald Times, The Charlotte Observer and the Ann Arbor News. He has also been published in Vibe Magazine and The Sporting News. In the June 2008 issue of Playboy Magazine, Whitlock wrote a 5,000-word column questioning American's incarceration and drug-war policies. Playboy headlined the column "The Black KKK," which provoked Whitlock into writing two columns—one in the Kansas City Star and another on Foxsports.com—criticizing Playboy editorial director Chris Napolitano for the misleading and inflammatory headline.
Whitlock was the celebrity spokesman for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City. Whitlock had guest-hosted several ESPN shows, including Jim Rome Is Burning, and Pardon the Interruption. He also appeared regularly on ESPN's The Sports Reporters until he was fired from ESPN in September 2006. He is a regular fill-in host on the Jim Rome Radio Show.
The Scripps Howard Foundation awarded Whitlock its National Journalism Award for commentary on March 7, 2008. Whitlock was the first sports writer to win the award and $10,000 prize. His Kansas City Star columns garnered the trophy for their "ability to seamlessly integrate sports commentary with social commentary and to challenge widely held assumptions along the racial divide."[citation needed]
Whitlock announced the departure of his on-line column from ESPN.com's Page 2 in favor of AOL Sports, but initially expected to continue his television work for ESPN. However, after the announcement, Whitlock was interviewed by sports blog The Big Lead, and in that interview, he disparaged two of his ESPN colleagues. Whitlock labeled Mike Lupica "an insecure, mean-spirited busybody", and referred to Robert "Scoop" Jackson as a "clown", saying that "the publishing of [Jackson's] fake ghetto posturing is an insult to black intelligence." Jackson, like Whitlock, is African-American.[citation needed] Whitlock went absent from any ESPN television work. He soon announced to The Kansas City Star readers in September 2006 that he was fired altogether from ESPN as a result of his remarks; he wrote that the company doesn't tolerate criticism and acted as they saw fit.[1]
Whitlock's first AOL Sports column was published September 29, 2006. Whitlock's first Fox Sports on MSN column was published August 16, 2007. On August 16, 2010, the Kansas City Star announced that Whitlock would be leaving that paper. [2]
References
- ^ Whitlock, Jason. Freedom to speak has price Kansas City Star, 24 September 2006 (Retrieved 27 November 2006).
- ^ "Columnist Jason Whitlock is leaving The Kansas City Star". Kansas City Star. 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2010-08-17.