That didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours after it was announced that Mike McCarthy used watermelons and a sledgehammer to motivate his defense ahead of Sunday’s game against Dalvin Cook and the Minnesota Vikings, some are accusing McCarthy of being racist for using watermelons.Shannon Sharpe fired away with the hot take this morning on FS1’s Undisputed, saying of the Cowboys head coach: “You’re white America. Any time you have black people in your presence, watermelon has a negative connotation.”(Skip, off camera: “Yep.”)
“Let it go,” Sharpe continued. “Things that were acceptable many, many years ago, even though it wasn’t acceptable, it was tolerated, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Find another tool, another mechanism to motivate your players.“Black players: if you need somebody, a white man smashing watermelons to get you motivated, you’re in the wrong line of business. It’s not funny. It’s not cute.
“I don’t know what Mike McCarthy was thinking.”NFL’s Tom Pelissero sets the scene for us on this whole watermelon-smashing incident that has Shannon Sharpe so fake-outraged. Here’s how it goes down: Saturday night, McCarthy gets up in front of the team at the hotel and tells them he doesn’t think he did a good enough job emphasizing how he wants the defense to hammer the football out of Dalvin Cook’s hands.
A sledgehammer comes out and watermelons with objectives written on them are rolled in. Mike reads an objective and smashes the watermelon. The grand finale is a watermelon with Dalvin Cook’s picture on it. Demarcus Lawrence, a seven-year vet, grabs the sledge and smashes the Cook watermelon.
Fast forward to the game, where Lawrence recovered a fumble after a huge hit on Cook by Donovan Wilson. The Cowboys play inspired ball, and the defense gave McCarthy hugs on the sideline.
“Let it go,” Sharpe continued. “Things that were acceptable many, many years ago, even though it wasn’t acceptable, it was tolerated, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Find another tool, another mechanism to motivate your players.“Black players: if you need somebody, a white man smashing watermelons to get you motivated, you’re in the wrong line of business. It’s not funny. It’s not cute.
“I don’t know what Mike McCarthy was thinking.”NFL’s Tom Pelissero sets the scene for us on this whole watermelon-smashing incident that has Shannon Sharpe so fake-outraged. Here’s how it goes down: Saturday night, McCarthy gets up in front of the team at the hotel and tells them he doesn’t think he did a good enough job emphasizing how he wants the defense to hammer the football out of Dalvin Cook’s hands.
A sledgehammer comes out and watermelons with objectives written on them are rolled in. Mike reads an objective and smashes the watermelon. The grand finale is a watermelon with Dalvin Cook’s picture on it. Demarcus Lawrence, a seven-year vet, grabs the sledge and smashes the Cook watermelon.
Fast forward to the game, where Lawrence recovered a fumble after a huge hit on Cook by Donovan Wilson. The Cowboys play inspired ball, and the defense gave McCarthy hugs on the sideline.
