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So true!! In addition, the owners and media are making billions from their performances. Thus the factual reason is it's all about winning and the money!! NFL & NBA will recruit anyone regardless of color if they feel they will gain wins.
You can say the same about any company; they are all there to make money and will hire anyone that can make them money. But we all know that does not happen.
I think I kind of see where the OP is coming from. Okay, you look at large urban police departments that have a large % of white officers. You see the "community leaders" come out and say they want a department that is representative of the population. What if whites said that they want the NBA/NFL to be 13% black? Would that be racist?
Personally, I don't care for basketball after Jordan retired. The thug culture has taken over the game.
I still watch football, though.
Baseball is wearing thin on me with teams like the Yankee's, Angel's and Dodger's just basically buying all the talent.
I think I kind of see where the OP is coming from. Okay, you look at large urban police departments that have a large % of white officers. You see the "community leaders" come out and say they want a department that is representative of the population. What if whites said that they want the NBA/NFL to be 13% black? Would that be racist?
Personally, I don't care for basketball after Jordan retired. The thug culture has taken over the game.
I still watch football, though.
Baseball is wearing thin on me with teams like the Yankee's, Angel's and Dodger's just basically buying all the talent.
I should have worded this post a lot better. For example, prevailing thought is that all men are created equal as an entire race, (intelligence/strength/attributes) but individually we vary.
Otherwise you have some level a racism if you think one race as a whole/average has a higher average given attribute than another race. (I would argue this isn't true, but this is prevailing thought.)
Now when you apply statistics to any given population under this assumption you will get an ratio of desired talent that is roughly the same as the population demographics.
If we have 100 million people, 33% white, 33% black 33% asian; we should get equal amounts of geniuses, athletes, average people (attributes), tall men, small men, skinny men and fat men.
So we could surmise that unless there is an external factor, we should have any sporting league that somewhat resembles the general population.
In this scenario, the numbers for an NBA/NFL in these demographics should have a roughly equal amount of players representing each race in the NFL/NBA.
In reality we have 70+% whites, 13% blacks, 5 or so % asian, which if you agree that all men (as a whole) are created equally should somewhat match the population breakdown. However it is almost completely inverted which completely decimates any general population to actual professional player in NBA/NFL correlation.
The only remaining question is not IS there racism, but WHY is there either a justified racism or a perceived superiority in having black athletes over the remaining population to chose from?
If the NBA can hire solely based on talent and skills without an affirmative action program, why can't business.
If athletes can be judged 100% on performance why can't us individuals when it comes to hiring ? Do we really need to bend the rules for slow or less talented people ?
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You're forgetting the cultural factor. Let's start with basketball. Basketball has been associated with black culture for awhile now. Often, a young kid growing up in the projects attending some dead-end school saw being a baller as his only way out. So instead of concentrating on his studies he spent all his spare time playing street ball at the local court. Meanwhile, his richer white counterpart is focusing on his schoolwork, and sport is only a bit of fun between studies. Who is more likely to say get a scholarship to go to college to play basketball?
As for football, there doesn't seem to be that cultural factor so something else must be going on. I think it's because many blacks see sport as a way out of the 'poverty trap' or to fame and fortune, so focus themselves on that and develop their athletic abilities. While I don't fully subscribe to the whole 'white man can't jump' idea, African Americans MIGHT have a slight physical advantage, BUT that is far outweighed, IMO, but just natural individual talent and training. Larry Bird was a great basketball player, not just a great white player.
Yet, I myself have asked this same question and questioned whether the recruiters/teams are playing favourites? Perhaps, subconsciously, they've imbibed the idea that blacks are probably better players? Then again, most of the whites you do seem seem to be foreign imports, often from Eastern Europe, so what gives there? Maybe whites also think that basketball is an AA domain? It'd be interesting to trace the shift of how basketball went from being mostly white up until the 1950s to mostly black today. I mean even in the earliest days of the NBA blacks were fairly well-represented, moreso than in other spheres of society, so I think there's a cultural element here.
So being poor somehow makes you a good athlete? Or gives you more advantages than having resources? Yawn....pathetic misdirection.
Thanks for playing into racism, when we have quota based hiring on nothing more than being a specific race/gender to get preferred treatment over a majority candidate (and potentially superior skilled).
You brought as much to this discussion as a vegetable.
No no no. Guess its a good thing I wasnt ever on the debate team. I have a tendency to think others are on the same page I am.
NO, being poor doesnt make you a good athlete.
But lets say you are in a severely disadvantaged situation. I am sure I do not need to describe what I mean. You really want to get out of there. But you dont have the resources to get to school and get out of the hole. But you can maybe play a little ball. So you make that your priority. You really, really work at it and you hope you can maybe get a scholarship to attend a school and thus get a chance at making something of your life. On the way, you get really really good. You get to the NFL or the NBA and you make a lot of money. And darn, you are not a nobody from the ghetto or the hood or whatever. You are somebody. Now if you have half a brain, especially if you play football, you get out before your body and mind are pulverized. And if you do, you have some education, a way to get another piece of the pie.
I never meant to insinuate that there are so many blacks because they are naturally better. I was just suggesting a reason why there are so many.
As for having more resources, well, should I go to school and become a doctor who can make millions, or should I become a football player, make millions and get my brains beat out????
There is no racism in these leagues. It is a business. Hire the best guys. If they happen to be black or orange or polka dotted and can make you a lot of money, who cares what color they are? Play ball!
I think the proof in the pudding is in the NFL, not the NBA.
As TriMac mentioned, basketball is played and taken way more seriously in black dominated areas. So, in general, they produce better players. The Europeans are starting to change that though. They eat and breathe basketball.
But for the NFL positions requiring more athleticism than size, halfback and wide receiver, there are very few whites represented. I know about Welker and Jordy Nelson. But just as many whites grow up playing football as blacks. Seems to me, all things being equal, there'd be at least a few white tailbacks in the league.
Blacks are just more athletic than whites when it comes to those American sports. Whites are more athletic than Asians probably.
There is no racism in these leagues. It is a business. Hire the best guys. If they happen to be black or orange or polka dotted and can make you a lot of money, who cares what color they are? Play ball!
All businesses exist to make money; in theory they should always be hiring "the best", yet it is obvious that businesses in the past, and some presently, do practice discrimination.
If the NBA can hire solely based on talent and skills without an affirmative action program, why can't business.
If athletes can be judged 100% on performance why can't us individuals when it comes to hiring ? Do we really need to bend the rules for slow or less talented people ?
This is an excellent point and what I was alluding to in my first post.
Sports are not burdened by the same EEO regs as normal businesses; there would be no way a normal business could get away with the hiring practices sports have. For example, Fedex could never get away with hiring the best and strongest for its box handling, they tried and were sued; they had to lower their standards because the 75lbs weight limit was creating an impact against females in hiring.
Imagine if the NBA had to adhere to the same EEO reg BS as normal businesses (and government) do.
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In addition, the owners and media are making billions from their performances. Thus the factual reason is it's all about winning and the money!! NFL & NBA will recruit anyone regardless of color if they feel they will gain wins.
