Vox Article/Interview on Race in Sports (OT)

[julio]

Longish interview at Vox with Ben Carrington, a professor of sociology and journalism at the University of Southern California and the author of Race, Sports and Politics. Formally about Colin Kaepernick's experience, but IMHO it speaks to larger issues about how we all tend to perceive athletes of different races. Well worth reading, and worth some introspection after reading. Couple of clips:

Ben Carrrington:

A big part of the history of US sports is this idea that sports in America are preserved for white men. That this is how sports were founded; this is how they were understood. Anyone who has gained entry into sports who aren’t white men, and that includes women, that includes people of color, had to do so with a kind of deference. And they had to be grateful that they were allowed onto our parks, onto our pitches, onto our courts, because these are our spaces.''

Sean Illing (Vox interviewer/writer):

Something that I’ve noticed as a white guy who watches a lot of sports is the language commentators and analysts use to talk about white and black athletes. Race is always there, always looming. People call white quarterbacks “heady” or “hard-working” or “coach on the field,” and black quarterbacks are “mobile” or “athletic” or “explosive.” We’ve got all these stereotypes that are constantly reinforced with this coded language.

As I said, the piece is principally about Kaepernick and the NFL, but I think it's relevant to all major sports in the US. It's relevant, also, to how we think about the athletes we follow; for example, do we view a Nick Williams through the same lens we view a Scott Kingery? Yes, I know that we think we do (or perhaps we want to believe we do?)... but do we, really?

[VoteForKalas]

Thanks for sharing, julio. Very interesting

[schillingfan]

I pay little attention to watching minors, though I follow the discussions. I thus had no idea that Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr were black or that Scott Kingery was white. Their names are generic. Thus, the only lens I had was comments read or made by others. However, the things said about Williams suggested he was black as those are the kinds of comments made about black players, particularly in baseball.

If I were to play sociologist, I'd suggest that we have come to assume that white players are less talented than players of color, so they have to work harder to make it and the other guys just rest on talent. It illustrates a common problem we have in labeling groups of people such as races, athletes, artists, feminists, conservatives, gays and liberals and making generalizations about the group. People are individuals and we shouldn't make assumptions (most particularly negative ones) based on the label that's been slapped on the group.

Racism is based on our need to differentiate our "tribe" from others based upon some presumed superiority. In sports it results in whites being smarter (not making dumb moves), better leaders, harder working (not lazy). The adjectives reflect this need. It was very unusual to hear the Phillies promote Freddy Galvis as a team leader.

[Austinfan]

Something that I’ve noticed as a white guy who watches a lot of sports is the language commentators and analysts use to talk about white and black athletes. Race is always there, always looming. People call white quarterbacks “heady” or “hard-working” or “coach on the field,” and black quarterbacks are “mobile” or “athletic” or “explosive.” We’ve got all these stereotypes that are constantly reinforced with this coded language.

It's a bit more complex than simple stereotypes.
Kaepernick is an athletic QB who has trouble making good reads, so did Vick.
If they were slower, white QBs with that issue they wouldn't be "heady," they'd be "unemployed."

There are a number of factors involved, some are racial, but other are incentives:

1) an athletic black QB will often play in college systems that employ his athleticism, and will be recruited by those coaches, conversely, a coach running a pro style system might prefer a strong armed, less athletic QB who'll be less tempted to use his athleticism and will go through his reads. There are athletic white QBs, such as Rodgers who played in pro systems, but Steve Young was an athletic white QB who had the same problems as the "stereotypical" black QBs until he sat on the bench in SF for a few years and learned how to play QB.

2) college coaches make a lot of money to win, and not develop QBs, so if they have an athletic QB, they'll often simplify the scheme so he can use his athleticism, not have to make complex reads and contribute immediately - this is optimal for the coach who may only have the player three years, but not for the QB if he wants to play in the NFL. It also means a lot of college QBs these day have mediocre arms but great athleticism and don't know how to play out of the pocket.

3) However, the rise of the spread offenses has caused most college QBs to come out with bad fundamentals, while the read option has increased the value of athleticism in QBs. So what was once a black stereotype has become an issue with almost all college QBs. One reason Eagles went gaga over Wentz, and not just his size, athleticism and arm strength, was playing in a pro style system even though it was 1-AA football, he had to adjust to a faster game, but they could gauge his "football intelligence" and ability to go through his reads.

Self-selection has an impact, let us say your a black QB with a big arm and great athleticism, coaches will sell you on being the "hero," in a scheme where you can go and make plays, and you may pass on Stanford and Alabama, where you'll play out of the pocket, hand the ball off a lot, and be told to run only in emergencies. It's more fun to play QB for Auburn, but better for your NFL career to play for Stanford.

[allentown]

I don't agree about QBs. When I was growing up, blacks were accepted as being good NFL players, but whites, including sports media people spoke openly, rather than very covert dog-whistling, that blacks weren't smart enough to be QBs. That sentiment was certainly proven wrong. Sports also has boxing's long search for the Great White Hope. The Phillies announcers, media, management have a history of speaking of and treating Hispanics differently... AND the Phillies were the LAST team to integrate and the team which was nastiest to Jackie Robinson. I remember the treatment of Richie Allen -- couldn't stay/eat with his AAA Phillies team, then all the fuss when he wanted to be called Dick, because he thought it sounded more adult. Curt Flood retired rather than come to Philly. That was our reputation -- for a looong time.

[phillychuck]

I don't follow the minor leagues closely on other teams, so that when I go to games in LV, Reading, and Lakewood I'm often surprised by the height, weight, or race of players on the other teams. Their stats remind me of certain MLB players I remember, and if those players are a certain race or height or weight I expect the minor leaguers who have similar stats to look the same. Often they don't.