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Twitter Backfires on NBA Players
Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher, who is also president of the NBA Players Association, is a pretty sharp individual and has represented his side well in the ongoing lockout. But even smart guys can make dumb mistakes, and Fisher made a doozy as the NBA was canceling the first two weeks of the season.…
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Howard vs. Morehouse: A Victory for DC
Erik Moses escaped into his RFK Stadium office for a brief respite Saturday afternoon, but not before someone asked him about the cheerleaders, who wanted to know if they should perform on the grass or the dirt surrounding the field. “Sometimes I wonder why I got a law degree, when all I do is put…
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Black Quarterbacks' Intelligence Still Scrutinized?
Nearly 60 years after Willie Thrower became the NFL’s first black quarterback in the modern T formation, players from Donovan McNabb and Vince Young to Doug Williams and Warren Moon have faced aspects of the same debate: “Do they have what it takes upstairs?” The question lurks and lingers even today, notwithstanding their success in…
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Morehouse's Dress Code: Anything Goes, But Not Everywhere
By Deron Snyder Morehouse College is among our most venerable HBCUs, alma mater to prominent African Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee, Howard Thurman and Lerone Bennett Jr. The nation’s largest liberal arts college for men, “the House” has conferred bachelor’s degrees on more black men than any other college. There are…
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Caste Football Takes Up the Cause of White Athletes
By Deron Snyder Have you noticed that NFL linemen tend to be very large, while NBA centers are invariably very tall? And marathon runners are usually slender, while jockeys stand short? The only shock about those observations would be if someone failed to notice. You can’t watch football or basketball without picking up on the…
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Black Quarterbacks Are Almost Ho-Hum
Here’s a good measuring stick for progress in the National Football League: The league not only welcomes African-American quarterbacks who are good to great but even makes room for the merely average, the truly suspect and one major reclamation project. Donovan McNabb, who guided the Philadelphia Eagles to five NFC Championship games and one Super…
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Right-Wingers Aren't the Only Patriots
I love fireworks, cookouts and trips to the park as much as anyone, and will gladly partake in those events on the Fourth of July holiday. But surely there are others like me, who find it strange (ironic? hypocritical? comical?) to celebrate July 4, 1776, as U.S. “Independence Day,” when African Americans’ forefathers and foremothers…
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Hooray for the Grads, but What About the Others?
“I believe the children are our future Teach them well and let them lead the way Show them all the beauty they possess inside Give them a sense of pride to make it easier Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.” Most of us can sing along with that familiar tune,…
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Puck Dreams
Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 257 pounds, Dustin Byfuglien is easily envisioned as a pro athlete in football, basketball or baseball. But unlike most African Americans in major team sports, the Minneapolis native found his soul on ice. Byfuglien (pronounced BUF-lin) scored three game-winning goals in the Western Conference semifinals, including the winner on May 23,…
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Since When Did Character Count in Sports?
Folks are judged by the “content of their character” less frequently than the norm in certain professions. Take big-time sports, for instance. The most-valued traits for athletes are usually based on prowess, such as their time in the 40-yard dash, or their jump shot, or their ability to hit a curveball, or their serve, or…
