I think, if Earl could think that one over and rephrase it, he certainly would, as anytime you explicitly use the term "someone of that skin color", regardless of which color you're referring to (if it's not your own), you're setting yourself up for trouble.
Do I think he had any malicious intent whatsoever? Absolutely not.
Was it a poor choice of words? Of course.
I don't think anyone, including the commenters on the ESPN article, is, in their heart of hearts, upset with Earl Thomas for what he said. As others have alluded to (and I, at times, can sympathize with), people are upset with the double standard, and this is just the most recent, public example of it. There's absolutely no denying that if a white player had made a similar statement about a black player, this would be a huge story. That being said, any semi-intelligent individual who has seen Earl give interviews or speak publicly before can tell, while he's not Marshawn Lynch, he's definitely not Russell Wilson, as far as eloquence and poise in front of a podium, and he was probably making a comment that most people in a room, if there were no cameras or reporters present, would have laughed without thinking twice about. His (or the team's) publicist will sit down with him and give him a quick lesson in political correctness, and this will be forgotten, and never surface again, after the game on Sunday dominates the public discourse.
