Favoritism for talent

Daily Press, Victorville, CA ^ | October 3, 2003 | Kris Reilly

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Contrary to what Rush Limbaugh may think, the Philadelphia Enquirer does not call up Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid the night before a game to tell him who will start and who will sit.

But Limbaugh is right about one thing: Donavan McNabb is given credit for Philadelphia's success because of prejudice and bias.

It's an ugly bias that has been prevalent in the NFL and other sporting leagues for years. This bias has kept millions of hopefuls from getting a chance in pro sports over the years.

Conversely, this form of prejudice has allowed many people, regardless of what other qualities they may have, to play in the NFL and other professional leagues.

I am, of course, talking about the "talent bias."

It works like this: Some people can pitch, shoot, hit, skate, pass, punt, kick, run, jump, tackle or block effectively. Other people cannot. The ones who can perform some or all of these athletic tasks exceedingly well have something known as "talent."

The talent bias has been at work for years in the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and every other sport you can imagine. Even back in the old days, when racism pervaded in pro sports, it proved to be weaker than the talent bias.

You see, Branch Rickey didn't sign Jackie Robinson because he was an integrator, he did it because he was biased. Biased toward talent.

After Robinson's success with the Brooklyn Dodgers, other baseball franchises started to become more prejudiced against untalented players than against African-Americans.

Other sports soon followed the trend, until even the most white-dominated position in football — quarterback — fell prey to the talent bias.

There are still plenty of white quarterbacks, but sadly there are no quarterbacks in the NFL who are devoid of talent.

So when Limbaugh asserted that McNabb has been credited for the Eagles' winning ways because of the color of his skin, he was a little off the mark.

The fight to prove that African-Americans could play quarterback was won years ago by Warren Moon, Doug Williams and Randall Cunningham.

If Limbaugh wanted to comment on affirmative action in the NFL, he could have limited the discussion to coaching.

The league is actively trying to recruit minority coaching candidates and hasn't tried to hide it. Whatever your position is on that movement, at least we know it actually exists.

But a secret media conspiracy to promote African-Americans in a position that they already have come to dominate? Please, Rush.

Here's the real reason McNabb is preceived as a star quarterback: he can throw, run and just flat-out make plays. These are the attributes commonly associated with athletic talent, or what the kids like to call "mad skills."

Because of these abilities, McNabb and others like him are given opportunities the rest of us can only dream of.

And for those of us who have to watch professional sports because we aren't athletically gifted enough to play them, the talent bias is the cruelest prejudice of all.

New Noise appears on Fridays. Kris Reilly can be reached at 951-6275 or via e-mail at kris_reilly@link.freedom.com