A Message from Amaretto: Greetings and salutations all! It's been one of those weeks where I have spent countless hours and dollars dealing with various departments of motor vehicles and have concluded that customer service has been replaced by sheer evil and it's cousin stank a** attitude! While I'm still processing my DMV tramas I bring you a post from A MAN... Our dear ole pal and sometimes possible Mudslide!
Enjoy! See You In Seven
Being a fan of all types of sports, I often enjoy a few games of basketball, watch the baseball World Series and indulge in a few NFL games a weekend during the season. I couldn’t help but notice the change in all 3 of the major American sports. I’m not talking about the change of rules, uniforms, player athleticism, or lack of discipline… but rather the change in the race of the each sport’s SUPERSTAR.
No disrespect to my Latin and Asian brethren and sisteren-but for this post I’m really focusing on the white and black players, especially since these two races have been stewing in the American melting pot for awhile now.
Baseball – America’s favorite pastime? Where are all the negroes???? Gone are the days of black superstars like Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Reggie Jackson or more recent stars like Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Bonds (wait, scratch off Barry), Darryl Strawberry. (that’s really been all the superstars in the last 20 yrs…really). Currently the game is completely being dominated by people from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and white Americans. The numbers of black Americans (not just superstars) has dwindled enormously. My prediction: in 10-15 years there will be no black Americans in baseball.
Basketball – Ummm… white American superstars don’t exist here. On to the next…
Football – Football may contain the most diverse group of superstars out of all three sports. But if you really look at it… the positions in football are not all that diverse. If you need someone to run the ball… get a black guy. If you need someone to throw the ball, get a white guy. If you need someone to hit or cover – black guy. Kicker, blocker or big 300lbs+ guy – white dude. If you don’t believe me, take a glimpse at the NFL draft this week or reflect on this past Super Bowl (booooo Saints). Show me a white superstar running back or a hall of fame black QB in the last 20 years. Yes, there are few current exceptions to the good black QB like Donovan McNabb and...ummm…well…Donovan McNabb. And white running backs?? Heck, forget a white superstar running back, show me a starting white running back!
Okay, but back to basketball. Jordan vs. Bird and Magic vs. Bird. Seriously, who has there been since Larry Bird... maybe John Stockton from the Utah Jazz? The USA Olympic team hasn’t had a single white guy on the Olympic team since Stockton in 1996 and he was the only one…the rest were black. In the last ten years, the NBA All-Star game has had only 4 white American players out of 267 (2 of em played in the 2010 game). However, there have been plenty of European players selected for the All-Star game and of course they play for their own countries during the Olympics. You can’t tell me that there aren’t any whites guys that can play ball. The NCAA is full of em, but somehow and for some reason they don’t make it to the NBA. Yes, I’ve heard that white guys can’t jump, but Europeans don’t really jump out the gym either and there are more of them in the NBA than whites. So I guess I have to plan to wear a Bird throwback jersey indefinitely if I’m going to cheer for a white superstar in the NBA.
For America to be the big melting pot of races, and with sports having a huge impact on our economy and culture, we really don’t have a good representation of white and black folks. Maybe this is all in my dream world of sports… to have a team of black and white American superstars across the board. Aren’t we all just people? Black men can throw footballs just like white men can dunk, but our professional sport teams don’t support this idea. I guess this is a reality that I have to accept, not expect much change.
At least tennis, golf, boxing, auto racing, soccer, hockey and in the other Olympic sports there is a pretty even race representation... it’s just unfortunate that I see this race melting on the teams for other countries. Maybe one day I'll live to see an all American team!
Mudslide
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1 comment:
so in my perusing on twitter I think - apparently there is a new debate (idea) that the reason the #s of Blacks in baseball is dwindling is because there are no more Black fathers. Or Black families. And I recall in grad school a DC big wig (Black) had started a baseball training camp because he was saying its a sport where you need someone else there in order for you to get better, i.e., dad has to throw you the ball, so you can hit it.
And it's funny that you mention whites in the NCAA. My parents were joking about the Duke players this last championship - that they were probably in the locker room like, "well guys, let's play this game - then it's off to med school. And law school." tee hee.
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