Sunday, April 8, 2012
Diversity in Sports
Last week I was watching Outside the Lines on ESPN. Jeremy Schaap was doing an interview with Ted Koppel. They were talking about an interview that Koppel had done in the late 1980s. He had interviewed Al Campanis, the then Vice President and General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Koppel had asked why there were no black managers, general managers or owners in the MLB. Campanis responded with the fact “that blacks lack the "necessities" to become field managers and top-level club executives.” This obviously caused an uproar in the MLB. Within a few days Campanis was forced out of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. Koppel said that he wasn’t expecting anything like this to come from this interview.
ABC news was trying to commemorate Jackie Robinsons 40th anniversary of his debut in the major leagues. Do African-Americans lack the necessities to be an effective and successful at skilled positions? No. Clearly everyone knows that there are black managers and white managers who are successful. As long as there are people there will be different races and ethnicities. And as long as there are sports or a platform for people to compete against, people will always say that one is better than the other.
The NFL implemented the Rooney Rule in 2003. This rule makes sure teams interview and consider minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation positions. The NCAA also has taken steps to combat the typical stereotypes about “dumb jock” who are African-Americans.
Clearly race has been a hot topic for the NCAA in recent years. One issue people bring up is that there are such few black coaches at major college football programs.
In the Handbook of Sports and Media, Raney and Bryant found that black athletes received less coverage then there white counterparts. The study looked at Division I basketball programs and found that there were far fewer articles on black players even though they played just as much. The problem with this study was that it surveyed from 1954 to 1986. That is 30 years of analysis that is almost 30 years in the past. Today with the media players can create their own media with social media sites. Some good and some bad.
Players know are being paid more than ever and they are being scrutinized even more. The media today can control what they say and how they say it. Raney and Bryant also claim that minorities are underrepresented on television as well. A study from the 1992 Olympics found that there was not one feature piece on and Asian-American or a Native-American. Is this because there are less Asian and Native American athletes or is it media bias? The study also found that European-American athlete's features were much more in depth than the African-American pieces. Does this happen out of coincidence or does the media make the decision to do fewer in depth pieces on African-Americans?
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First of all, I believe that both of these studies are very out of date so I don’t know how much we can trust their statistics. The times have changed since both of these studies however African Americans are now struggling with a different type of media bias. African American athletes are getting very similar coverage to white athletes however; they are not receiving the same positive connotation as white athletes. In a recent study done by Andrew Carton, a professor at Duke University, reveals that the media portrayal of race in sports favoring white athletes. In his study, Carton examined the portrayal of college quarterbacks in newspapers only to discover that there is a consistent pattern of associating losses with failed leadership when quarterbacks are African American but attributing it to native athletic ability when they win. Meanwhile when white quarterbacks succeed, the media will give credit to their leadership and when they fail, the media will blame it on their lack of native athletic ability. Although both African American and white athletes get similar coverage in terms of quantity, the quality still lacks unbiased judgment.
ReplyDeletehttp://research.smeal.psu.edu/news/media-portrayal-of-race-in-sports-reveals-biases-in-the-corporate-world
I completely agree with Brian's point. The studies are very old and really aren't reliable. But I found the study by the Duke professor very interesting. Really thinking about it, I can put a name to each scenario. How many times have you heard Mike Vick led the Falcons or Eagles to victory due to his feet, but lost due to his decision making? Quite frankly, all the time. It's amazing the way the media plays such a big role in this issue.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely... I agree with both statements made that these studies are clearly outdated, however, this does not imply that I believe that there is no validity to the studies. Today, there is more diversity in sports than ever before. Our culture has evolved so much from early decades that segregated different races. Although I have seen a major difference in sports in regards to diversity it does not mean there are not still issues with it. There is still a slight difference the way the media treats the white athlete and the athlete of a different race. The main difference I see in this matter is tha athletes of different races are often shown in the media with negative exposure and sometimes do not always focus on the positive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with pretty much everything that has been said so far. Those studies are definitely outdated and coverage has gotten better but still lacks a little more equality. However, I feel it's been getting more and more equal as the days go on. I don't know if that is because I watch more of my individual team coverage or what but the face of my teams are split between white players and minorities. Media outlets like ESPN seem to find something scandalous and run with it, attempting to fill up every segment of every show everyday with it. Rarely do I see them talk about something awesome that an athlete has done. It's filled with controversy and they milk it for everything it's worth (i.e. Brett Favre, Tiger Woods). I don't think race matters as much anymore. If an athlete screws up it's going to be all over the media and those are the stories we see more often than not.
ReplyDeleteI think race remains to be a very controversial issue in our society and sports are certainly not excluded from this. I learned in my History of Baseball class that once the color barrier was broken when Jackie Robinson’s debut with the Dodgers a strategy called position stacking was used to limit African American players. Managers and owners would only play African American players at certain positions to limit the number of African American players on the team. Also, the positions regulated to African Americans were positions that were considered to need less mental ability and more physical ability. I think currently we can see this in football with the position of quarterback. In 2003, Rush Limbaugh commented on African American quarterback Donovan McNabb and how the media wants him to succeed because he is African American. Limbaugh went on to say NcNabb received a lot of credit that his teammates should get because he is an African American quarterback. Position stacking was used in football as well as baseball and the quarterback was a white position. We can see through Limbaugh’s comments that the historical racism in sports has not been completely alleviated.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that you brought up the Rooney Rule, Will. When I first heard it existed I couldn't believe it. It seems totally hypocritical to me. Their intention is to alleviate racist hiring standards, but doesn't forcing teams to interview minority candidates have racist undertones? Nobody forces NFL teams to interview white people. I think the Rooney Rule implies that the NFL thinks minority candidates are inferior otherwise the league would assume teams would interview such candidates on their own terms. The Rooney Rule and the related issue of affirmative action remind me of the Morgan Freeman interview on Sixty Minute. He said the best way to deal with racism is to stop talking about it. Maybe that way future generations at least would be brought up to see race as less of a divider. I think overt measures such as the Rooney Rule just reinforce racism though rather than solve it. Here's the link to the interview I was talking about.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3cGfrExozQ
I agree with all of these statements so far as well, our country has made great strides regarding diversity, but like other aspects in society, there is always room for improvement. I think that the studies mentioned above are great examples of how single-minded our country has been and I also find it unfortunate that issues regarding diversity existed during the 80’s. It is sad that athletes and coaches still have to try to break the color barrier that so many people in society still recognize, and even though the media has helped break the barrier down, in some instances in professional athletics it can be seen.
ReplyDeleteWill says, "As long as there are people there will be different races and ethnicities." And even though he is correct, there will always be people who will criticize each and every race. Yes these studies are outdated, but it also shows how far society has come in the last twenty years. To me, I can't think of sports without diversity. It seems that the most racist people, are the most jealous people; they criticize athletes and managers over the talents they lack themselves.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with a lot of what you're saying. My roommates don't like watching the NBA because all they see when they turn it on is "a bunch of thugs playing one on one". Donovan McNabb has been in the news for as long as he's been in the league, most of it because people crush him for not being a "big time" quarterback. But how much of that criticism is because he's black? Had he one JUST ONE Super Bowl, he would probably be the greatest African-American quarterback of all time. But all he did was take his team to five NFC Championship games and one Super Bowl. He might not have been a big game quarterback, but not many qb's could do what he did. And plus, he was the best player on the offense for most of his time in Philadelphia, and not too many quarterbacks cold have succeeded in Andy Reid's offensive system, throwing the ball 65% of the time. So much of his criticism is unwarranted in my eyes. Most feelings towards minority athletes stem from the media, and not just negative ones. Jeremy Lin is an example of how a story can blow up in no time just because he had a few good games. But it makes for a great story. Asian kid from Harvard finds success with the NEW YORK Knicks after seeing limited playing time in the d-league and on other NBA teams. Media companies were probably drooling when that happened. They have just as much to say about diversity in sports as any owner who makes a stupid comment on national TV.
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