Do the New England Patriots Prefer White Players?

TruthLamp ^ | 11/17/2014

[MinorityRepublican]

Does the front office of the New England Patriots prefer to have white players on its roster? There is circumstantial evidence that may be the case.

While the racial makeup of an NFL team in any given year has its share of random fluctuations, the New England Patriots have seemingly had a suspiciously large amount of white players on its teams during the Robert Kraft-Bill Belichick era.

Wes Welker, Danny Amendola, Danny Woodhead, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Tom Brady — all have been some of the more prominent “faces” of the franchise in recent years, and they all happen to be white.

[ConorMacNessa]

Thanks for the info, Vlad - I guess you could say that all generalizations - wait a minute!

John Thompson graduated from St. Anthony High School in Washington, D.C., where I spent my Freshman and Sophomore years - well before he attended.

Yes, it was an overstatement on my account, but I have heard from his mouth (on TV, many years ago) that he actively sought out black students and did not look for white students. I don't have a problem with that, but I wonder what people would say if an opposing team had put five Caucasians on the floor against him.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces which guard my country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[Sgt_Schultze]

I noticed that in Boston, they keep their poor blacks a long train ride outside the city.

[catnipman]

Seems to be working for them. Still, I think they should focus more on hiring less white players and less on winning more Super Bowls.

[Red Steel]

Havlichek was 6th man during the Bill Russell years.

[EveningStar]

IIRC, Phillies were the last baseball team to integrate.

It was the Boston Red Sox, Pumpsie Green, 1959.

[Mears]

” they keep their poor blacks a long train ride outside the city.”

---

You mean like Dorchester and Mattapan (which are part of the city)? You consider that a long train ride? Ridiculous.

.

[Dr. Sivana]

They have black players in the organization and actually had the first black player ever in the NHL:

Good to know. For those who thought I was being a bit of a jerk, my comment was COMPLETELY tongue-in-cheek. The comments about all the white Celtics was just being silly, as these guys actually won championships . . . and I'm nominally a Lakers fan! Truly racist management would rather lose with white guys than winning with black guys. Nothing wrong with winning with white guys.

This whole thing reminds me of what Casey Stengel said when the Yankees picked up Elston Howard:
"Well, when they finally get me a nigger, I get the only one who can't run."
(Howard of course was a catcher, and running catchers are a rarity.)

[kpbruinfan]

Actually, the very first black NHL player, Willie O’Ree, played for the Boston Bruins in 1958. The Bruins also had Grahame Townshend and currently have goaltender Malcolm Subban, who was their backup tonight against the Islanders. There have been other blacks on the team but their names slip my mind right now.

The premise of this article, by the way, is preposterous.

[Henry Hnyellar]

Apparently. Or that the Celtics were the first to start 5 blacks Or the first to have a black coach. And that KC Jones was also a coach later. Or that they were the first to draft a black player.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Most of the teams with the highest percentage of white players are in snow country. With all of these “historic” and “monster” snow storms we’ve been experiencing lately, it could be that the teams are just picking players who blend it better with the environment. Or something like that.

[EveningStar]

"first to draft a black player"

[sipow]

Probably just betting on a strategy based on players that can make smart decisions on the field rather than just brawn.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Look, I know lots of people, including myself, did not want the Cheatriots to win the Superbowl. This, however, is going too far.

[Radix]

I grew up in a city just like the one you described. That was half a century ago. Even the mixed neighborhood that I grew up in had many more whites than blacks, for a time.

Boston is nothing like that anymore.

In the 2010 count, 27% of Boston residents are foreign born. That number ain’t about Irish immigrants neither.

Boston may still not have the % of non whites as other bigger cities, but it has been a non white majority for quite a few years now. The student population may skewer the appearance to some, but as one who works in the city, I can honestly say that the demographics here are radically different than just 3 decades ago.

[Travis McGee]

Maybe they just like talented and smart players?

[onyx]

Precisely and they haave the smarts to acquire those players!

[Leto]

As far as the Celtics go, They were the first Professional Franchise to have 5 black players starting and Black head Coach, Bill Russell.

The idea that Belicheck prefers players based on race as opposed to the ability to help the team win is ludicrous.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Does the front office of the New England Patriots prefer to have white players on its roster? There is circumstantial evidence that may be the case.

But not very much. The 2014 Pats had 31 black players and 18 white players (another 5 players were in the 'neither' category). Several other teams had more white players, and no NFL team had more white players than black players.

[arthurus]

Do the New England Patriots win games? Is it possible that they have made good skill and development hires, er, draft picks without throwing race on the scales? Is it possible that it worked out that way? The odds of flipping a coin a thousand times and getting heads in a ratio of more than 50% or less than 50% are small. The odds of getting four or five heads in a row are actually quite high.

[Dr. Sivana]

Please see my Post #87