Ex-Player Calls On Nfl To Be Less Of A Skin Game Fox Television Analyst’s Book Hails On-Field Colorblindness

First off, Tim Green wants you to know that he loves football, loves it with every fiber of his being. It is a passion he is proud of, one that probably won’t ever be extinguished.

That said, Green also is candid enough to report that life in the NFL isn’t always a walk on the beach. He spent eight tough years in the trenches with the Atlanta Falcons and saw some things that weren’t always pretty: racism, drugs, the underbelly of the game.

Now a broadcaster with Fox Sports and author of three football novels, Green has decided to provide a peek behind the scenes in his new book, “The Dark Side Of The Game.”

It is an opportunity, as Green writes, to examine “the Tiffany fixtures and the plumbing as well.” And there are some things in it that are a bit disquieting.

First, there is the relationship between black and white players.

“There is a voluntary form of racial segregation on most NFL teams,” said Green, who played from 1986-93. “Almost every black player will say that management and coaching staffs are disproportionately white. Look at the reality. Run the numbers.

“What are the qualities for coaching and managing a football team? It’s experience around the game. The talent pool for the last 20 years is more than half black. Why is there such a small percentage of coaches and managers are black?

Green remembers separate buses to the games, white players getting on one, blacks getting on the other.

“It’s not an absolute,” he said. “Every team is not exactly that way but I’ve ridden on a bus where I was the only white and I’ve sat at lunch tables with nine blacks and myself. I did it on purpose. It’s ludicrous that players are so close and colorblind on the field, and when they step off, they gravitate back to skin color.”

Green thinks that the situation is improving.

“It was there when I played,” he said. “I think it’s better. This is a place where we’re on such an equal footing with so many common experiences and that wonderful colorblindness on the field.

“I knew racists, but even the most hard-nosed of them would melt away on the field. That’s the beautiful thing about this sport. We’ve got to bring that magic off the field.”

When Green got to the NFL, he was alarmed by the ready availability of steroids.

“I was surprised,” he said. “It was disconcerting. Guys were pretty open, comparing drugs. That evaporated when the NFL started testing.

“I saw a resurgence in speed. There was more of that going on when I left. In the 1970s, amphetamines were passed around in candy dishes. When I played, that was no longer the case. But I saw guys getting their own.”

And now?

“I think it’s still there, but greatly reduced,” Green said. “I’m confident it’s no longer widespread.”

Growing up, football players imagine what it must be like to play in the NFL. For Green, that image was not shattered, but it was tainted.

“It was almost what I experienced when I saw a Michelangelo sculpture at the Vatican Museum,” Green said. “When you think about it from afar, it’s magnificent. However, when you’re up close, you see the seams and crevices, the dirt and discoloration that you don’t see from afar.”