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With Barack Obama’s historic presidential win, many of us would
like to think this nation has taken a big leap towards social equality.
If this really were the case, then the spirit of Obama would translate
into the wide world of sports where players, coaches and personnel
alike are in need of a serious attitude adjustment. If Obama truly
represents change in the human form, then here are three sports that
could seriously benefit from following his lead. –gavin philip godfrey
Major League Baseball
Earth to Bud Selig! Where is the black baseball player? We can’t
find him and we need your help! You might have experienced some of your
best diversity numbers in years, but the drop in the percentage of
black players can’t be overlooked. Right now, the number sits at
a menial 8.2%, a steady decline from 2006’s rate of 8.4%. Quite
frankly, when Jackie Robinson broke MLB’s color barrier he
couldn’t foresee that 41 years later there’d be little to
no representation of black players in the game. Hey Mr. Selig, our
country’s embraced change, maybe the pasty-white world of
baseball can too.
College Football
Let’s shoot back to 1997. It was in this year that college
football set a record for black coaches – eight. Fast forward to
2008 and according to The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports
there are 119 schools competing in the Bowl Subdivision. With the
impending exits of Washington’s Ty Willingham and Kansas
State’s Ron Prince the total number of black coaches will be down
to four. Not only is the number shockingly low, it’s borderline
appalling when you consider the fact that 55% of student-athletes are
minorities.
The National Football League
Oh God, where do we start? It’s not like football players are the
most well-behaved athletes, but recently a lot of them – black
players especially – have completely lost their grip on reality.
Even after living in a world with 6 billion people, Terrell Owens still
seems to think the universe only revolves around him. Adam, Pacman
– whatever – Mr. Jones is fist fighting with his bodyguard
and will probably have to sign his soul over to Commissioner Roger
Goodell to avoid being banished for life. Oh yeah, did I fail to
mention that Kansas City Chief running back Larry Johnson has gotten
more press for his off-the-field assault charges against women than
what he’s done on it?
As
black men, it’s time they started using their fame and God-given
talents to make a positive influence within our community, instead of
continuing to distract us from our continued progress as a people.
