Just Play, We Know What’s Best

Despite sports by design being inherently fair, the application and business of sports, is yet another subject of the jaded rules and positions designed to help few and hurt many. Though black players have become the face of the most popular sports in America, they seldom share the power when it comes to their respective sport. 

Sports, the actual play of the game, is by design based on meritocracy. Simply put, if you score the most you win. Except in Golf, but that’s why I don’t watch Golf – is Golf really a sport? Anyway, by sports, I mean competition against another human, and said human stopping you from scoring. So that does not include hunting, for the deer did not sign up to get shot, nor does said deer have anything to shoot back with. So, by sports, I mean Baseball, Tennis, Basketball, and yes even Soccer will count as a sport – all listed are inherently fair.

Once the game ends, there’s an entire business behind sport. The business of sports and its unfairness towards black people in positions of leadership has been a practice dating back to the inception of professional sports being one of great profit. For many black men and women in the business of sports, they’ve experienced an all-star performance from the perennial MVP candidate of racism. However, racism might be playing at a hall of fame level when it pertains to professional and college football.

Rolling Stone magazine did an outstanding piece on the mistreatment of black quarterbacks a few weeks ago. Their piece brilliantly highlighted the recent collusion of Colin Kaepernick by the league as just the latest in a long history of black quarterbacks going through treatment unparalleled to their white colleagues. While white quarterbacks who are products of the mediocracy factor stay in the league for years on end, black quarterbacks exhibiting the same statistical numbers or even better numbers lose starting roles, or their careers come to an abrupt halt. Black quarterbacks also have a smaller window of error than white quarterbacks. 

The most recent example was Tyrod Taylor of the Buffalo Bills being benched due to literally one game of poor play. By the way, the Buffalo Bills gave up 47 points on defense that game. But Head Coach Sean McDermott apparently had seen enough of Tyrod’s one bad game and decided to change his starting Quarterback in favor of his white rookie quarterback Nathan Peterman – though if the Bills season ended at the time they would have been in the playoffs. Peterman proceeded to throw five interceptions in the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers, more than Taylor had thrown all season, and despite the terrible performance Coach McDermott stated he saw “good things” from Peterman. He saw good things from a quarterback throwing five interceptions in one game over his starting quarterback who had the Buffalo Bills in the playoff hunt? A playoff berth this year would give the Buffalo Bills their first since 1999. Yes, that 1999, the same year Prince sang about and a year in which we listened to downloaded music from Napster at Boarders.

I cannot recall a time in which a white starting quarterback with a winning record was benched in the middle of a playoff race due to one bad performance for a rookie quarterback. This simply doesn’t happen to white quarterbacks.

It’s important to note this article is referencing only the quarterback position for a reason. For possibly in all team sports, the quarterback is the single most important position. It’s the one position in which all offensive plays start with. On a marketing note, the quarterback is the face of a football franchise. And on a football smarts note; the quarterback is supposed to be most cerebral of all players. The marketing and inherent leadership in which the quarterback brings is the crux of the reluctant reason in placing black players in that role. The same reasons why the NFL lacks black representation at the quarterback position, its younger brother, college football, employs the same practices regarding black quarterbacks. 

Countless black players are recruited in high school from top college programs as quarterbacks. Those players are offered scholarships many times on the contingency they change positions.

Why?

This is done for one simple reason, the primary college football fanbase. The most advent fans in college football are southerners, ironically the most recruits come from the south as well. College programs know their audience. Placing the typical 6’3 clean shaving white quarterback fares much better than the longer hair, or God forbid, dreadlock and/or braid wearing black quarterback.

The trials and tribulations of the black quarterback are one thing; but, it pales in comparison to the plight of a black head coach. The NFL has moved up a peg from laughable after the 2017 offseason hiring of the Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph and the Los Angeles Chargers hiring Anthony Lynn. Though roster composition in the NFL is currently 70% black, only 7 of 32 are holding the clipboard, Ron Rivera being Latino, brings the [minority] total to eight. These numbers are rather bleak given there are 32 teams; however, the numbers would be bleaker if not for the Rooney Rule. Instituted in 2003 and named after Pittsburg Steelers owner Art Rooney, the Rooney rule states teams are required to interview at least one minority candidate when searching for a new head coach. Attention is rightfully drawn to head coaches; however, the Rooney rule does nothing to solve non-head coaching positions. Look at the numbers… 80 of the NFL’s current 85 offensive coordinators, quarterback’s coaches and offensive quality control coaches are white, including all 37 with the word “quarterback” in their titles. See a pattern? 

When comparing college to the NFL, college is a much more ugly and unsettling. There are currently only 14 black head coaches in the FBS, which is Division I, a little under 11% of all colleges. 

What gives? Where’s the outcry and questioning on these lopsided numbers?

The numbers are no different in sports than in a sector like education. Most black students in public education are being taught with little representation by black teachers, especially black male teachers. A student is more likely to be taught by a unicorn, than a black male teacher, which makes up only 2% of the entire public-school system from coast to coast.

The numbers are horrendous and need immediate attention. The recent NFL player protest seems to be a stepping stone towards players finally placing a stake in the ground regarding their respect and voice to the owners and the fans. Despite backlash to the player protests, and possibly those protests being shaken up, football highlights are showing no signs of slowing down the showcasing of black players. Only time will tell if more black people end up behind the plays and decisions that make American sports so great.