Air Force football coach: Racist, or media over-reaction?

...Caucasian kids and other 'decents' can't run...

There has not been a white tailback in the NFL for over two decades.

I've never heard anyone refer to other "descents," either. I suppose if you insert an 'of' giving you "of other descents", that would make sense. But then there still seems to be the suggestion that it's genetic.

That's the point. It is genetic.

kelticwizard wrote:

That's the point. It is genetic.

While it's true that the statistical correspondence of athletic prowess and African heritage is greater than, say, that of athletic prowess and European heritage, it is also true that people of African heritage are more likely to be poor with sports being one of a very small set of perceived options for escaping poverty. Impoverished people of European descent are likely to see many examples of similarly situated individuals who were able to improve their economic position through education, vocational training, etc.

"I'm gonna be picky as hell.

Mike Alstott is white, still playing, and he played tailback in the NFL, (or whatever you want to call it when you have only one running back to run the ball, which is most of the time).

When he was in the same backfield as the faster Warrick Dunn, who is black, Alstott switched to fullback or blocking back. But very frequently, Alstott was THE running back, and he had some good years in that position.

Craig James, white, played tailback, not blocking back, for several years for New England within that 20 year limit.

However, I'm not sure if there is anyone else on that list of white people who were in the backfield to actually run the ball, not to block for the black running back and carry the ball only once or twice a game to cross up the defense.

PS: Franco Harris was half African-American, half Italian. Although it is still unfortunately customary to call a half-black, half-white person black, (because the blackness was seen as "polluting" the whiteness), as a white person I hereby claim Franco Harris as white running back.

We need the help. "

"The political problem here is that Coach didn't know when it's wiser to keep your mouth shut. The point is this: whether what he said is true or not, is immaterial; it is still stereotyping. It is not useful to allege that members one race are, somehow. better (or worse) at a given task than members of any other race. It makes it look as though blacks are, after all, somehow "different" from whites. The problem isn't with what the coach said; it's that he said it at all. Discretion is the better part...etc. "

Air Force football coach: Racist, or media over-reaction?

Might make sense if you are talking about boxing. Boxing gyms are largely, though not exclusively, located in poorer neighborhoods. So there will be a correspondingly higher percentage of minorities.

But football is played and track is run at all schools, both wealthy and poor, predominantly while, black or Hispanic. Yet at the speed positions-running back, receiver, cornerback-we see black athletes almost exclusively. And what white athletes we see at receiver generally are known for their size and ability to out-wrestle the defender, not their ability to run past the opposition, although there a couple of white receivers who can do that.