College athletics in black and white
Today's article by Rob Daniels about A&T's baseball team is interesting. One thing I wonder is when we'll start seeing a lot more Latino players on college baseball teams.
When it comes to athletics, race usually blends into the background. What matters is performance.
I noticed something that struck me as odd when I recently reviewed my tape of the 1993 NCAA championship basketball game between Carolina and Michigan.
Now, there's been plenty of talk about the striking similarities between the 1993 and 2005 championship Tar Heel teams. But here's a difference that I hadn't thought about before:
In 1993, 10 of the 14 Carolina players who saw action in the title game were white.
In 2005, all nine were black.
Does that surprise anyone else?
Maybe true Tar Heel fans just see Carolina Blue.
Comments (2)
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Doug,
There is no doubt that sports fans are able to ignore race when their teams are winning, particularly when they're managing to win championships.
With college athletics, it's potentially more complicated though.
A lot of people claim that they believe that college admissions should be based solely on academic merit.
These individuals definitely do not believe race should be taken into account.
Some of them at least say that they believe that legacy and potential athletic contributions should not be considered either.
With teams whose fans expect and demand championships, however, I wonder if their fans would accept losing players (who don't actually measure up to their colleges' general academic standards) if that meant sacrificing any chance of being able to compete for championships (or even basic victories).
I do not know how the players on this year's Carolina basketball team measured up to Carolina's academic standards.
I do know that some schools admit athletes who otherwise could not gain admission based on their academic credentials.
I also know that there are white Carolina fans out there who love their majority black Tar Heel basketball team.
Some of these fans will cheer on the black players (as long as they're winning!) but turn around and tell racist jokes against black people.
If they're not making fun of the way they think black people talk or act or think, they're expressing a generally unfavorable or sterotypical view of black people.
(Carolina is no different from any other majority white school that sometimes fields majority black athletic squads.)
You made this statement: "When it comes to athletics, race usually blends into the background. What matters is performance."
That is probably accurate during an athletic event, but that does not mean that parties involved (players, fans, etc.) allow race to disappear permanently.
As your comment suggests, race is always there, lurking in the background, but temporarily we're able to ignore or forget about it, particularly in the heat of sprited athletic events.
Sports can make subjects that usually matter suddenly not matter for at least a little while.
And nothing is more powerful than winning--winning can make a great many things that normally matter all of a sudden seem very unimportant.
By any means necessary . . .
. . . as long as we're winnning!
Sincerely,
Hardy
Posted on June 2, 2005 12:46 AM
Hardy,
Thanks for your typically insightful comments.
I think admitting athletes who may not meet normal academic criteria -- and it is very difficult for out-of-state students to gain admission to Carolina -- is OK as long as exceptions also are made for other students with exceptional talents in one area or another, such as art, music, debate, drama and so on.
Certainly, the graduation rates of Carolina athletes are very good -- equal to that of the student body as a whole, if not better.
Posted on June 2, 2005 5:04 PM