Is it me,or am i starting to see more Black coaches in basketball?I think its great. What i want to see though,is stuff like this.More black coaches,owners of teams,etc.I really want to see more Black quarterbacks in the nfl as well.....
That is because basketball has historically had a much better PR strategy in terms of diversity and in terms of players transforming into team executives and other positions in the front office. You have guys like Joe Dumars, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Sam Mitchell, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing and (yes) Isaiah Thomas who were once players but are aligned with franchises. Many of them chose that as a career path when they were done playing. However, the NFL hasn't really had that. Apart from Doug Williams (the 1988 Super Bowl MVP), i don't really know many black retirees who are with a franchise. Of course there probably are but i don't know very many. Mainly because getting a job with a team in the NFL is much more difficult than the NBA. You need a pro license amongst other prequisites in a field which is already crowded. Of course this is not to say that i want every coach, owner or executive in football or basketball to be black but to simply say that people "choose the best person for the job" is not only sneeringly condescending, it's patently racist. Basically, there are no qualified blacks who can run shit - that's what that means in simple terms. And that's bullshit!!! As for the quarterback position, i hate to sound stereotypical and i'm sure i wrong to some extent but it's not a position blacks feel inclined to play or even favor and for some good reason. Historically, there haven't been many star, recognizable quarterbacks whether in college of the pros, give or take Warren Moon. If you look at it, many (if not most)black NFL players tend to model their style of play or even idolize a black legendary player and most of those players are anything but QBs, given the fact that blacks were never allowed to play the position for a long time. (Conversely, you won't hear a white kid say he grew up wanting to be like Emmitt Smith or Jerry Rice because most of the white players in the L, at least according to stats, play other positions but WR, RB or CB). More importantly, black kids tend to want to play position that they can utilize their assets more and (i won't be PC, it's a fact) :lol:, like it or not, many or most black players tend to be very fast and/or strong so they would prefer position that they can excel at with such attributes, such as wide receiver or half back. Quarterback, not so much. And because many players grwo up learning how to play a position, they stick with it.
I agree L.C. A lot of white kids that become QB's often have a background in baseball which helps them develop their throwing ability (we know participation in Little League for black kids has been on the decline for some time). Most young black kids will play football in addition to basketball, and maybe run track. There is a trend in football....generally white athletes play in the positions closest to the ball...(QB, MLB, and C....in the past...they played strong safety)...Notice that those are the "leadership positions"....QB's lead the offensive skill position players, Centers lead the off. lineman, MLB's lead the defensive front seven and safety's lead the def. secondary. But as the rise of black Qb's grows...slowly....one must wonder what has happened to all of the white CB's, RB's, WR's and OLB's
Thats why i want to see more Black players playing more leader-type of positions.I would love to see a good Black Qb playing as good as payton manning.Im tired of seeing the white guy get leadership roles,whether its in movies,or football,or whatever.There are more than enough good Black running backs. Time for some Qbs!!! 8)
they're coming.. look at the league now and you'll notice more black guys in leadership roles, on and off the field, than before.. I can't remember seeing any black QB's in the top spots, coming out of college this year tho. I watched the combine last month or so, and seen the usual suspects. Colt Brennan, and some other guys. Don't recall seeing a brotha...but I seen plenty of them as RBs/WRs
I agree with a lot of what you said, but at the same time disagree with a portion of it also. The absence of black quarterbacks in the NFL is a "system" problem that has been changing slowly. First, lets look at the fact that the percentage of black qb's is greater in college than in the NFL, and greater in high school than in college. However, highschools and colleges that have black qb's rarely if ever run the pro-set offense, which requires the qb to sit in the pocket and read defenses. They usually run the option or any variation of that that takes advantage of their qb's athletic ability (read: speed). Basically, making their qb's a runningback who occassionally throws. So when black qb's move from highschool to college (and college to the pros) they are repositioned from qb to runningback/cornerback/wide receiver because of their speed, athletic ability, and flexibility. White qb's, usually because of a lack of speed, run the pro-set offense. So they are that much more familiar with it as they move from highschool to college to the pros. A perfect example is Eric Crouch who won the Heisman at Nebraska. Because he ran the option in college no NFL teams wanted gamble on him at qb and tried to make him a defensive back. The experiment failed terribly, mostly I think because he didnt want to "give up" the qb position (where as black qb's have been switching for decades because they didnt have a choice.) Tim Tebo will be the next victim of this if he continues to be a "running" qb at Florida and doesnt switch to a drop back passer. There is a racial element to all this because there were blacks qb's who did run pro-set offenses in high school, but were still denied the chance to play qb at primarly big, white schools and had to go to primarily black schools (or small schools) to play qb (steve mcnair, doug williams, dante cullpepper.) Also if you have two kids, one who can run and throw and another who can just throw, its just easier to put the one skill kid at qb and the other at any number of positions. But gradually you are seeing black qb's running the pro-set or are allowed to play qb and still use their athletic ablility (michael vick...oops, bad example...vince young, troy smith and list of black qb's that are in the NFL now. And most importantly they are teaching black qb's in highschool how to read defenses so that they cant be denied the opportunity to play qb a your big major universities. Ladeezmancris you should be familiar with Jacory Harris. He qb'ed Northwestern High right out of Miami to an undefeated season and his team was USA Today's number 1 rated team all year and they were crowned the "High School National Champs" by USA Today. He ran a pro-set in highschool which led to him receiving a scholarship to U. of Miami to play qb. As a matter of fact, he read defenses so well in high school, he called his own plays and audibles (like Peyton Manning).
funny you would mention that.. my highschool QB was a black guy and I remember running the option in practice "often." Our coach specifically told us that he wanted receivers who stand up and give a decent block, over ones that were afraid to get physical with CBs/Linebackers. I mentioned this before, but our QB was probably the fastest guy on our squad. He ran the 40 in 4 secs flat, so as you can imagine, running the option was a no brainer.
Funny you mention that guy, i know someone who's tight with him. Yeah, to me he's Peyton Manning with dark skin, a slightly less powerful arm and speed. I remember him breaking, like, every record in Miami-Dade last year or so. Imagine this - dude threw more than 37 TDs and almost 3,000 yards. The guy is unusual of Miami-Dade Qbs (who are overwhelmingly black) in that he's a pocket passer a la Manning as opposed to the running QB in the mold of Young, Vick, McNabb etc. I won't even deny there's a racial element in the style of play but i think it's less so these days. There is a significant number of black QBs who play for big schools in California, Florida, Texas and many other states. And these guys are the conventional pro-set quarterbacks. But as you said, it's mostly because their coaches tend to want to milk their physical abilities like a mother and so they're not allowed to develop their passing game as much. That has being my ultimate criticism of Vince Young. Whilst he's as good and quick on his feet as a back, his passing leaves a lot to be desired. But i think he'll learn with time.
we already know there was/is something racial going on.. this was a big thing when Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy were playing in the superbowl.. we know for a fact, that black people as a whole, were kept out of professional sports at one period in time.. then slowly, we became phased into the leagues as time progressed.. as players tho... then slowly, assistant coaches and coordinators started coming in.. then, you started having those assistant coaches and coordinators (like Ray Rhodes, back when he was in Green Bay), move into Head Coach spots (with the Eagles). Supposedly, qualified black coaches were simply being "passed over" for those head positions, while white guys were being bumped into the lead. I remember hearing about that, while watching stuff on Dungy and Smith, leading up the their big game. Why wouldn't it be racial? Remember the "job ceiling" phenomena, where black people were only allowed to go so far, within their respective fields? Hell, some fields were cut off period... Why do you think we have affirmative action? To attempt to correct old habits, which are dying hard.
