Over those 10 years, the two have become tight. Really tight. So tight that they routine greet each other with phrases that a black man wouldn’t usually greet a white man with, and vice versa.
Here’s a taste from Terry Foster of the Detroit News:
“Hey, cracker,” Delmas often says to Scheffler inside the Lions practice facility.
“How’s my n—–?” Scheffler replies.
Obviously, something like this is news because of the huge can of worms the Riley Cooper incident opened. And as Foster correctly states in his column, the relationship between Delmas and Scheffler is a “test to society.” But even both Delmas and Scheffler know that they must draw the line with their friendly banter somewhere.
“Me and (Scheffler) have a relationship many people do not have — both black and white,” Delmas said. “I look at him like my brother. I love him to death.
“He greets me, ‘What up, n—–?’ But I understand it. So I say, ‘What’s up, cracker?’ But we would never take it outside the building.”
“I treat Louis like a little brother,” Scheffler said. “He knows my wife and kids. He calls me ‘white boy’ and ‘cracker.’ We go back and forth with it and we are both comfortable with each other.
“I can’t say the same with other relationships in the locker room or how other guys would feel about it. So it is a tough dynamic when you are using those types of words. Everybody does not react the same.”
Like it or not, a line has to be drawn with things of this nature. And just because Delmas is fine with Scheffler using the n-word and Scheffler is fine with Delmas using a cracker, doesn’t mean everyone should be. And it’s clear that both Delmas and Scheffler completely understand that fact.