Amidst the ignorance and controversy of Rush Limbaugh’s comment on the media’s need for black quarterbacks to succeed in the NFL, something could actually have been taken from what he said.
Limbaugh exposed an issue that is very sensitive to most people – race, or more specifically, race in the sports arena. Surprisingly, amid all of the hoopla surrounding the controversy, no one mentioned the obvious lesson to be learned from it.
Clearly the thing to be drawn from this is that 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 comradery in the locker room, on the field and in the stands. Hell, it’ll be about money before race plays a major role.
Football as well as 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 the importation of athletes from outside cultures to the United States – further showing the lack of relevance of race in sports.
Players are scouted and signed based on their athletic abilities, not on the color of their skin. Do you think players care whether the head coach is black or white?
Probably not.
Rules that suggest a minority be interviewed for a head coaching position are useless. No organization should be forced to follow such a preposterous rule. That is like forcing Major League Baseball to integrate blacks in the league.
When it is time for more minorities to be put into leadership positions, it will happen. Minorities were not forced into the professional leagues, owners that wanted to win realized there were better athletes in cultures other than their own. It was not because of some league mandate.
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 from Washington, D.C. He can be reached at young85138@aol.com.