A Momment of Realization...
As much as the political world wants to celebrate President-elect Barack Obama's astonishing victory, the truth is this: American Sports has always been ahead of American Politics, especially when it comes to race.
Baseball, football, basketball. Hockey, NASCAR, golf. Tennis, horse racing, soccer. "Black firsts" have happened, in most cases, generations ago. When you think about it, it's amazing that African-Americans are so mainstream in so many sports yet had to wait decades before one could crack the U.S. Senate (let alone the Presidency).
On the other hand, it's taken along time before we started seeing black coaches and GMs, and I can count on one hand the number of black owners there are out there.
Maybe black people were seen as "safer" if they're just swinging a bat or making a no-look pass. Maybe there's the gnawing, persistent myth that African-Americans don't make good leaders/managers that too many have accepted as fact or truth.
Or maybe it's that if politics, (like sports) adheres to the rules and don't bend or break them for any particular group, anyone is capable of accomplishing anything.
Baseball, football, basketball. Hockey, NASCAR, golf. Tennis, horse racing, soccer. "Black firsts" have happened, in most cases, generations ago. When you think about it, it's amazing that African-Americans are so mainstream in so many sports yet had to wait decades before one could crack the U.S. Senate (let alone the Presidency).
On the other hand, it's taken along time before we started seeing black coaches and GMs, and I can count on one hand the number of black owners there are out there.
Maybe black people were seen as "safer" if they're just swinging a bat or making a no-look pass. Maybe there's the gnawing, persistent myth that African-Americans don't make good leaders/managers that too many have accepted as fact or truth.
Or maybe it's that if politics, (like sports) adheres to the rules and don't bend or break them for any particular group, anyone is capable of accomplishing anything.
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