Study Shows Black Players Whistled More Than Whites (Laugh of the Day)

ESPN ^ | 02 May 2007 | ESPN

[popdonnelly]

According to affirmative action, only 12% of NBA referees need be African-American.

We already have government control of who gets jobs, there’s no need for ESPN to get into the act.

[Alberta's Child]

I'll bet fouls against black players are more likely to be called than fouls against white players, too.

Which means ESPN has simply jumped on the Sharpton/Jackson bandwagon of ignoring "black on black" crime. :-P

[Red Badger]

I bet Asian players are the least to get foul calls............just a guess........

[CholeraJoe]

But why aren’t there more Black players in Major League Baseball?

[PurpleMan]

Good question.

They get all the fouls they want in baseball.

[Joe 6-pack]

*Study sponsored by the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

[NorthFlaRebel]

FWIW,

As of February of 2004, the NBA's black-player population was 77 percent, while the white-player population was 21 percent. Of the white players, 55 percent were American-born and 45 percent were international players.

That's the most recent I could find.

[PurpleMan]

That’ll get you fired from WFAN and MSBNC

[psychopuppy]

lol, I thought this said Black Prayers...man oh man, I need to check my eye-glass prescription...

PP

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

This article in a recent (NJ) Star-Ledger got me incensed.

Link.

I sent a long letter to the writer, Dan Graziano. Here is what I wrote:

Dear Mr. Graziano, Your article in the Sunday Star-Ledger is replete with half-truths and innuendoes, while ignoring some very obvious contrary evidence:

Let’s start with the title: “A New Color Barrier.” Surely in the days before Branch Rickey gave Jackie Robinson a chance to play Major League Baseball, there was a color barrier. But, please, let’s not confuse a barrier with a situation that has developed via choice. If young black athletes are drawn to basketball or football rather than baseball, that is hardly a reason to speak of a “barrier.” In the 1920’s, there were a great many boxers in this country who were of Jewish or Irish extraction. There are hardly any now. Is that because of a “barrier?”

You spent a lot of ink stating that part of the “problem” (the dearth of black players) “Starts At The Top.” The claim is that because there are no black owners and only two black managers (and one general manager,) that somehow translates to fewer black players. That is patently nonsensical. In your article, you point to the fact that in the mid 1970’s, more than 25% of the players were African-American. Gee, Dan—how many black managers were there in that era? How about GM’s?? Owners??? Yet these lily-white executives had no qualms about stocking their teams abundantly with players who had more melanin than they themselves did. Did the Civil Rights Movement somehow go backwards in the last thirty years? Tell that to Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey.

For more counterexamples, one merely has to look to professional basketball and football. The NBA is about 80% African-American. Do the white NBA owners have more of a grounding in the Civil Rights Movement than the white owners in Major League Baseball? Does the NFL ownership somehow feel that they can “control” their black players (65% of the league) better than the Baseball Owners can? Geez, about a quarter of the Cincinnati Bengals were arrested last year. They weren’t overly represented by white guys, were they? Who is more likely to be involved in drive-by shootings, bar fights, wife beating or drug possession?

You printed Gary Sheffield’s quote without providing any comment or analysis: “You see white players and Hispanic players because the people in charge feel like they are easier to control. Blacks who are real blacks, we know how it is.” I’ll tell you how it is, Gary. You’re a great player and despite a reputation for being a bit outspoken, you’ve managed to play for several teams in each league, because you can hit, hit with power, and throw as well as anyone around. And if a young kid shows similar ability, any white owner in the league would be thrilled to have him. If someone can throw like your uncle, Dwight Gooden, I have a feeling there’d be a place for him as well, despite the current “color barrier.” And guys like Gooden and his teammate, Darryl Strawberry were given many chances by many (white) owners because they were great ballplayers.

Getting back to the statistics, once again: the black population of this country is about 11%. Major League baseball is 8.4% black, according to your article. Is this a terrible injustice, being off by a few percentage points? Does the fact that blacks were once over-represented by double their percentage of the population in the 1970’s suggest a problem? Is something nefarious afoot?

The NBA, as I mentioned before, is about 80% black. That’s is more than seven times their proportion of the general population. In football, blacks are represented by about six times their level of the overall population. Are white people upset about that? I’m not. Every single cornerback in the league is black. Is there a barrier that prevents white guys from playing that position?

Am I upset, as a Caucasian-American, that the NBA and the NFL have very few people of my race? I couldn’t care less. Just as long as everyone has an opportunity to play based upon his merits and qualifications. There are not too many Asians playing in the NFL, although an awfully high number of them are playing stringed instruments in classical orchestras, where you will find few blacks. People should be allowed to follow their muse and play whatever sport (or instrument) they choose. If barriers exist that are real, rather than those which occur by choice, they should be addressed. But just throwing out a bunch of statistics and then imputing from them some sort of conspiracy is just poor and lazy reporting.
Sincerely,

Here is the response from the writer:

Sir, I thank you for reading the story and for taking the time to write me so extensively with your thoughts. I'm sorry you didn't like it.
Dan Graziano

Here is my reply to him:

Mr. Graziano, It’s not that I didn’t like it. I just didn’t agree with it.

I believe we have to get away from the knee-jerk reaction promoted particularly by liberals and the so-called Politically Correct that a relatively low percentage of participation in a particular field is evidence of discrimination.

I am interested in your opinion as to why the 64 starting cornerbacks in the NFL do not count one white face among them?

The follow up question is why isn’t that a problem?

Although it is hardly my place to tell you what to read, I believe you might benefit from taking a look at almost anything written by economist Thomas Sowell (who happens to be black.) His masterpiece, “Race and Culture” is particularly enlightening.

---------------------------------------------------------

He did not answer me.

[TexasCajun]

Maybe Colored referees are racist against Non-Colored players and call fouls on them and not against the 'Brother'.

So who is really the racist referees?

[PurpleMan]

Good writing. Unfortunately, you were pissing up a rope trying to get him to care about what he said.

[PurpleMan]

Check out this article:
Race Baiting, Affirmative Action, and the Average White Guy

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=20506

[CharlesWayneCT]

Could we be impolitic and ask the question though?

Could it be that the white players are less comfortable committing hard fouls against the black players than the black players are against themselves?

Or that black players come from a background where they learned a more aggressive style of basketball where fouls were not called, and that’s how they play?

Except we are ignoring one part of the story: That the foul discrepancy supposedly increased when there were white referees.

Then the impolitic question is: Where the white refs unfairly calling fouls against blacks, or were the black refs just letting more fouls go? If the blacks were already fouling more than whites for the reasons given above or because of position, a ref that called more fouls would show an increase in the difference between white and black fouls.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Good writing. Unfortunately, you were pissing up a rope trying to get him to care about what he said.

You're absolutely correct, of course, but I still think that such drivel should not go by without being commented upon. Once the argument gets into the realm of logic and facts, libs run away like thieves in the night. Rush's name for them--"the drive-by media" is incredibly accurate.

Thanks for the Human Events article. The author's take was eerily similar to mine. Probably because we both were using logic.

[cdga5for4]

Kirk Hinrich may beg to differ with this study. He’s white, one of the better young players in the leauge and, unfortunately a fouling machine. Kirk can foul with the best of them.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Is Hinrich of German ancestry? Maybe they should commission a study on the post-Nazi anti-Kraut movement among NBA referees. (I hope no Ivy League administrators are reading this. I think I may have inadvertently created a course title for the fall semester.)

[OB1kNOb]

REFERATIONS NOW !!!

(new term courtesy of ZMan).

[Capt. Jake]

Wow! This proves that Rasheed Wallace has been right all along. The man actually never has committed a foul.

[burroak]

Not to mention they have more gun toting posses escorting them into arenas.