Excuse Me While I Get Racialist

Baseball fans and the media can't get enough of Josh Hamilton. There's no question he's having one hell of a season. His performance at the Home Run Derby was nothing short of amazing. The story of his battle against drug addiction has been an inspiration to sports columnists everywhere.

There's another redemption story that could be in the making in Miami. Ricky Williams is in fantastic shape and is looking ready to make a dramatic return to his old form if we're to believe the reports coming out of Miami. Charley Casserly and Bill Parcells are liking what they see on the practice field and Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald can't get over his cartoon muscles.

If Ricky has a blowout season and matches or bests his numbers from his first two seasons, will everyone get just as excited over his accomplishments as they are over Hamilton's? While subbing on PTI, Dan Le Batard claimed that redemption stories about black athletes don't nearly get the same amount of hype as the stories about white players. Dan Shaughnessy dismissed that out of hand and was obviously nervous about touching the subject. Le Batard had a point and was treading pretty close to the truth.

Black athletes are generally treated like McCain when it comes to overcoming personal demons such as drugs and alcohol while white athletes like Hamilton get the Obama treatment. I'm not saying that anything should be taken away from Hamilton and his accomplishments so far. Let's just see if Ricky gets the same amount of praise if he has a great season. That probably won't be the case. If he has a bad season or gets arrested with a Nate Newton-approved amount of weed, it's open season on his ganja smokin' ass.