Posted on 04/20/2018 1:16:38 PM PDT by ethom
Major League Baseball just observed the 71st anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the race barrier, but it seems little has changed since 1947 when he endured appalling racism. ESPN's Howard Bryant (in photograph) claims that if Robinson was still alive today, "He would be facing the same sort of vitriol that Colin Kaepernick is facing today." Bryant made these and other pointed remarks about race on The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap radio program. Oh, and statistical analysis is racist.
It's not surprising that Bryant, an African-American and senior editor for ESPN The Magazine, said race relations haven't improved in the U.S. since the 1940s. It's good for business. He is the author of a racially charged book that will be released in early May.
In "The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism" Bryant deals with the "radical politics" of Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos that is being reclaimed today by "social justice warriors" LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and Carmelo Anthony.
During his interview with Schaap, Bryant mainly focused on race and baseball. Just under 8 percent of major leaguers last season were black, and Schaap asked Bryant if it's just a matter of personal choice. Bryant responded that it's a choice made by baseball and then switched the topic from black athletes playing baseball to the low numbers of black executives employed in professional sports:
"If you're talking about front offices it doesn't make a difference what sport it is. You're always going to be talking about the black body over the black brain. The black body produces. The black brain does not get a lot of opportunities in sports. Look at the number of black general managers in basketball -- 80-percent black league -- and how many GMs are there in basketball? Black executives in football? It's same thing."
It's not just the hiring of executives that makes sports racist either, according to Bryant. The increasing sophistication of the sport is ... yes, racist:
"I believe in baseball that analytics are the equivalent of racism because baseball has created a new barrier to entry. Now you have to have an Ivy League degree to get a GM job in baseball. Only two GMs in baseball right now are ex-players. ... If you're an African-American, being an ex-player is not gonna help you anymore because now you gotta be an Ivy leaguer. Eight percent of the Ivy Leaguers are African-Americans."
Finally coming around to the issue of how many blacks are choosing baseball over rival sports, Bryant complained that baseball is an expensive traveling sport that black families cannot afford. He said public baseball programs have disappeared and baseball scouting has been overhauled to the detriment of blacks.
"Baseball used to look for unfinished products out of high school and it wanted to develop talent in the minor leagues," Bryant said. "Now they want a finished product. Baseball prefers its players to be coming out of college, and if you're going to look for black players in college you're not going to find them. Only two percent of NCAA baseball players are black."
― Booker T. Washington
This guy is 100& chock-full of bovine excrement.
And he appears to think black men are stupid.
...100%...
“Think” you mean . . that sort of mindset isn’t “thinking”
It’s racist child’s play . .
Their Obsession Continues . . .
No wonder they’re permanently ensconced at the bottom of the socio-economic barrel
Go ahead, Bryant, bite the hand that feeds you. People will leave sports and not come back.
Just under 8 percent of major leaguers last season were black,
Well, blacks are only 12 percent of the population, so what’s the problem?
And how many Dominicans have black blood?
I’d say most, as well as Cubans and Venezuelans
“How to Lie with ‘Statistics’” by Howard Bryant . . WITF he is
I’m sure that Bryant, the racist, will focus next on the dearth of white players in Basketball...
We’re starting to get a little silly here.
This sort of nonsense just reveals the destroyers are still hard at work.
If people don’t start getting their bell rung for stuff like this, it will only get worse.
Numbers are racist!
24% of NBA is white. They need more Filipinos and Asians
Baseball hasn’t figured out a way to change the rules to favor one groups strengths over another. Jumping high comes in handy, but is not as important as covering the field and judging a balls trajectory. A strong armed pitcher is great, but it takes years of practice, and basketball is more fun for the casual athlete, so blacks play at b ball instead of grooming themselves to play baseball. That is why so few black athletes in MLB, and it really is a shame. I wonder where the base stealing outfielder like Griffey Jr, or the next Vida Blue will come from. I miss these superstar types. I really do.
Well IMHO factoring in his abilities, Willie Mays was the greatest all-around ballplayer there ever was.
I am in total agreement.
“You’re always going to be talking about the black body over the black brain. The black body produces. The black brain does not get a lot of opportunities in sports.”
While most of the “brains” in sports (say, the stats nerds) make 6 figures, or less — most of the “bodies” make 7 or 8 figures.
Brains grind away in obscurity, in back offices; while bodies bask in all the glories of fame and fortune.
Aha! So THAT’S the genius.
.
So, what I gathered is that the Ivy Leagues are racist. Those holier-than-thou bastions of upper-crust arrogance that think they should be dictating to the rest of us are a bunch of hood-wearing Klansmen. Barack Obama would be appalled to learn this.
It could be that college football and college basketball have greater visibility than college baseball - more so now than in the 1970’s...I recall Danny Murtaugh starting 9 black players for the Pirates.
As Glenn Hoffman said, “Pawtucket seemed like a much bigger city on the way up than it was on the way down.”
Bryant himself has presented some statistical analysis here - is he a racist?
My other question is, “Do you have to be an Ivy League grad to be a baseball General Manager these days?”
I find it hard to believe, and agree that it’s bad policy on MLB’s part if it’s actually true.
I guess Baseball is going to have to go out on the streets and kidnap Negros to play and to manage baseball. Merit is racist so it has to be de-emphasized or simply eliminated and should be because there is no such thing. Everyone is exactly llike everyone else. All differences are plots by a coterie of Conspiring White Men to keep the Negro in his place.
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