Sports, Race, and Society
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by Ron Sen, MD
Racism in America and in sports remain a sensitive topic. Jon Entine tried to address the relationship between race and sports in his book Taboo. Entine tried to assess both physiology and the cultural backdrop in relating the success of certain athletes, such as marathoners from the Rift Valley. I thought his lesson was that if an individual enjoyed a certain genetic makeup, coupled with the determination to become successful in sport, they might have the opportunity for success. Needless to say, if you wanted to be a marathoner but had the obesity gene, that's not going to make your job easier. But I digress, and that's not really what I want to talk about.
J.A. Adande wrote an article on ESPN.com about the Celtics and the racial climate in Boston. He reviewed the history of the Celtics and the color barrier in basketball, the evolution during the so-called Larry Bird era, and how things have changed over time. I considered the article fair, but the article has generated over a thousand fan replies.
I believe that prejudice (race, color, gender, sexual preference, religious) has diminished in America over the last 30 years, but by no means has it resolved. Red Sox' fans favorite player (overall) is Big Papi, because he has the ability to reach out to the fans emotionally, in addition to swinging a big bat.
When I went to a nearby shopping mall, I was struck by the number of fans wearing Patriot jerseys. As a matter of fact, most of the white guys were wearing MOSS jerseys and most of the black guys wore BRADY jerseys. The only Patriot jersey I ever owned had COATES on the back. If I had another one, I'd rather have the MOSS shirt.
The Celtics aren't more or less relevant because they have more African-American or Caucasians. People have taken notice because they have better players and better team play. Doc Rivers didn't change, but his talent pool did. The Celtics have had a series of BWSs (big white stiffs) like Raef LaFraentz and Travis Knight. They weren't stiffs because they were white, but because they had no post game and eschewed the paint for the three-point line.
As a college student in Cambridge, I went to play basketball with a roommate's 'friends'. Basically, they tried to beat the hell out of me physically because I was different (Chinese-American). I just wanted to play basketball not make any kind of statement. Sports couldn't change my skin color or the look of my eyes.
The varying responses to the performance-enhancing drugs scandal in baseball illustrates how differently fans react. Presuming that both Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens took steroids, I don't see how their cases differ, except that one hit and one pitched. Some argue that there is no paper trail for Clemens, just hearsay from Brian McNamee. The rumor mill says that the smart guys always paid cash...The local media is more focused on Clemens than Bonds, not because of race, but because he became a Yankee. Had he not, then perhaps the discussion would be much different.
In a Utopian society, we would all have equal opportunity from the cradle to the grave. We're not there yet. In Levitt and Dubner's classic Freakonomics they point out how advantage doesn't necessarily turn out well. We'll see out how the Bonds, Clemens, and other allegations turn out over time. A Presidential election will show how far we've come.
And while we've become a better society, I still think we have a long way to go. And I have a lot more faith in sports fans than politicians to help us get there.
