Sports and Race Don't Mix

By Travon McCall
Black College Wire

Amid the ignorance of Rush Limbaugh's comment on the media's need for black quarterbacks to succeed in the NFL, and the controversy over it, something could actually have been taken from what he said.

Photo credit: rushlimbaugh.com Rush Limbaugh

Surprisingly, no one mentioned the obvious lesson to be learned from the controversy: There is no place for race in sports.

Like religion and politics, they just don't mix.

In football, the only color that matters is what's on the jersey.

If you haven't noticed, nothing brings people of all races together better than football. Football is not about whether my quarterback is black, but whether my teammate has my back during the game. Football is about the brotherhood and camaraderie in the locker room, on the field and in the stands. Hell, it'll be about money before race plays a major role.

Football, and other sports, should be colorblind. We must remember that professional sports are in essence a kid's game and very much an extension of our childhood.

The competitiveness of sports is what drives us to import athletes from other cultures to the United States -- further showing the lack of relevance of race in sports.

Rules that suggest that a minority be interviewed for a head coaching position are useless. That is like forcing Major League Baseball to integrate blacks in the league. Minorities were not forced into the professional leagues, owners who wanted to win realized there were better athletes in cultures other than their own. It was not because of some league mandate.

When it is time for more minorities to be put into leadership positions, it will happen. If our society continues to try integrating race relations into the athletic spectrum, then it will certainly take away the innocence of sports.

Travon McCall, 19, is a sophomore broadcast journalism student at Florida A&M University from Washington, D.C. He writes for The Famuan and can be reached at [email protected].

For further reading:

Writers Lacy, Smith played big role in baseball integration (Major League Baseball Web site)

Posted Oct. 15, 2003