What has caught my attention is the focus that has been put on the athleticism that the larger programs that are comprised of predominantly African American players versus the more fundamentally sound and "whiter" teams that can be found at smaller programs. It has basically become a debate about race for many bloggers that work for CBS Sports online division and I have even heard mention of it on ESPN. I was curious as to what your reactions to the racialization of this issue, because I do not often hear about a debate in baseball or soccer teams have an advantage by having more Hispanic players. Personally, I have not found such a debate. Many of the racial debates regarding sports in this country have fallen by the wayside. For example, the NFL has moved on from the days in which the black quarterbacks were deemed not intelligent enough to run a complex offensive scheme. If anyone else has any insight on race and sports, I would like to hear it, or the idea of placing whites against blacks on and off the court.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Race and the NCAA Tournament
I am an avid sports fan, and March is one of the best times of year. The NCAA tournament is one of the best displays of athleticism, basketball fundamentals, and strategy that one can enjoy. St. Louis has been lucky enough to be part of the rotation that hosts the tournament. This year, the tournament has seen a rash of upsets. Some of the most publicized have been when smaller schools upset larger athletic programs (see Kansas losing to Northern Iowa or Kansas State losing to Butler). Commentators and sports writers have produced many different opinions on why such upsets, and so many of them, are occurring.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Maybe it comes from the belief that blacks are biological more athletic than whites. I have heard of this line of reasoning often enough. However, I am not sure if there is any substantial evidence to back up this claim. Since Hispanics are whites really and are not known to be an extraordinarily athletic race, this line of reasoning does not follow for Hispanics in the baseball and soccer fields.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am curious of, however, is the fact that there are a lot more white basketball coaches than black. I notice this while watching March Madness. I am an amateur of basketball so can you tell me if there is any historical significance that may explain this imbalance.
Also, I do notice while watching Duke vs Baylor today that there are relatively more white players in Duke's team. First, why is this? Second, doesn't Duke have a big program? And they are doing well and contains many white players. So are they an exception to the racial discourse between the commentators?
I think what is happening here is that the sports casters and bloggers are looking for something that just simply isn't there. The number one seeds can fall just as easily as any other team, which is what makes basketball interesting is that upsets can occur. Also, once one of the big teams fell it might have done something to the other teams psychologically, especially if they felt more pressure to perform.
ReplyDeleteMy other issue with them racializes these occurrences is that there is no evidence that proves blacks or whites are more athletic or excel at one activity better than another group. This is the excuse, given by white people, when they cannot compete equally with a black athlete. In reality, the black athlete may have trained harder than the white player or any number of other activities that could explain the disparity in some instances other than race.