Discuss.

It's just one of those questions-- like, "why are actors better people than the rest of us?"-- I guess the world will never know.

Depends on the sport.

Long distance running, hard to beat the East Africans.

Olympic Wieghtlifting, dominated by white guys.

Team sports, culture, $, and location play a big roll, like football in Brazil, Baseball in Cuba.

Mental games are a free for all.

It's genetics, dieting and hard work. A lot of it is genetics alone though, African Americans tend to have more fast twitch fibre muscles, which is good for sports which require quick bursts of speed ie. basketball, sprinting, football and etc.

OP= al campanis?


FWIW, I'm gonna be monitoring this topic really close, if it gets close to being completely distasteful, I'm locking it down

yikes

Honestly, and I'm dead serious, I think the only reason blacks don't dominate every sport is because they are just not culturally into certain ones as "whites" are.

That having been said, all the other races aren't doomed. Look at what Greece did to the USA. The better you play as a team, the more you can outlast individual talent/ability.

i think the cultural aspect is very significant, but i'm pretty sure there have been genetic differences found between people of different origins. and since those origins often are significantly correlated with one race, that race has better/worse abilities.
i believe there are genetic differences for instance why people of african descent (regardless of race) are often better distance runners. since they're generally black, this makes blacks better distance runners.

for things like baseball, we can see how the large percentage of latino players is probably a cultural thing.

Its genetic. Slave owners bread slaves to be bigger and stronger.

black men have huge c0cks that give them a better center of gravity, thus giving them better overall balance

Dont follow you... al campanis?


Kdawg, i understand this is a touchy subject, wasn't trying to be provocotive, only open up some lively discussion on the state of sports in America today.

yeah, Al Campanis. Google it dummy

I see. However, i was refering strictly to athletic ability, not managerial prowess.


Ron you're pretty active today.

sigh, I believe Al Campanis said they are bred to be bigger, faster and stronger b/c they put the big blacks together.


you asked why are they more athletic. Thats one theory. I already gave my theory.

White slave owners bred them that way, obv.

Well mister, according to the always reliable Wikipedia, Al
Campanis said that blacks "may not have some of the necessities to be, let's say, a field manager, or, perhaps, a general manager" in a live interview. He may have also said something about being "bred", but I don't know for sure.

just did a little google myself, I guess Jimmy the Greek said the breeding thing

Why do people hesitate to say it's a direct result of slavery?

I don't necessarily think this is true; African blacks are also extremely athletic (relatively, of course). I think a lot of it has to do with the evolutionary enviroment. In other words, people in Africa had to run away from cheetahs and lions (making a big generalization) , so they evolved to be faster, jump higher.

No offense, but, I laughed really hard at this.

None taken. However, in Africa, it is difficult to farm, so natural selection would select the fastest runners, strongest, and most nimble (the best hunters).
The humans that migrated on up to Europe, who eventually became what we now know as the Caucasions (sp), were not selected as much for athletic ability.


Keep in mind that this is happening over tens of thousands of years.

no doubt

And then keep in mind that you bring those people to America, put them through physical hell to weed out(kill) the 'weak'..intentionally 'breed' the larger, stronger, better workers and there you are.

DD, is there actually much support for the theory of slave owners selectively breeding their slaves? I've heard that idea bandied about, but I've never seen any serious intellectual discussion/support of the notion.

Its a combination of genetics and environment. Ther is a big difference between Africans and African-Americans. Africans may be very competetive in the long distance running events, but they completely suck at short distances. The opposite is true for African Americans. Even in the long distance events, there's plenty of people from other races that are just as good as the Kenyans.

As someone pointed out, when you talk about sports, you have to include all sports. Whites almost completely dominate swimming and its not Blacks arent trying to compete in this event. Field events like the shotput and discuss are largely controlled by Whites. I think people are confusing "speed" with "best athlete." Thats not always the case.

If blacks and whites played all sports with equal participation, sports (with maybe a few exceptions) would all be primarily black. Tennis, golf, etc. whould have a majority of black players.

First, you have no evidence to back that up. I find it hard to believe that the genetic makeup of the races is different enough to make ONE race better at ALL sports.

Second, suppose it is true. You falsely assume that Black would be better with equal participation (largely given by Golf and Tennis in your example). Did you ever think that Whites DONT participate equally with the sports that Blacks dominate? Black coaches have frequently mentioned that its difficult to get Whites to partipate in high level basketball because they incorrectly feel Blacks are superior.

Third, while I dont believe that Blacks are faster/stronger overall than everyone else, even if you do suppose that it is true that does not make a good athelete. Hand-eye coordination also play a big role. I've seen plently of guys who are strong and fast who suck at any sport where hand-eye coordination skills are involved. Why do you spinters do not play football? I'll be impressed if you can come up with some reason Blacks would have superior hand-eye coordination.

Soccer is a sport that immediately comes to mind. Its the most popular sport in the world and is tremedously popular in Africa. Last time I checked, the World Cup was not dominated by African teams. Nor are the great teams from Europe or South America (where Blacks live and play Soccer just as must as everyone else there) dominated by black players. What is your explanation for why blacks do not dominate Soccer?

Your quasi-cultural relativism is admirable, and kind of cute in a way. However, you are so so wrong I don't even know where to begin. Explain this: 15% of the U.S. population is black, though only 15% of the NBA is non-black. Basketball is also a sport that requires a lot of hand-eye coordination. This enormous discrepancy CAN NOT be simply dismissed as "oh, black people like basketball more", or "whites think they aren't as good". Quite the opposite in fact, until 20 odd years ago. Take football, which is America's most popular sport, loved by white and black people. However, I can count on one hand the number of white defensive backs (a position that relies mainly on speed and quickness) that have been drafted in the last 5 or so years. As for soccer, you are right, popularity of the sport has soared recently. As Africa gets more and more involved they will get better. In 25-30 years we will see the World Cup dominated by African nations.

Your arguments are without merit because you are not looking at populations. If a only one third of white people particpated in a given sport, and 100% of blacks, then the black-white ratio of professional athletes in that sport should be (about) 1:1. However, more than a third of whites are exposed to basketball, and less than 100% of blacks are. STILL, the NBA is largely African-American.

I doubt you will find many people that agree with you in saying that all races are equal in athletic ability.

Its kind of funny because I feel you are so wrong. And BTW, Soccer popularity has not "soared recently." It's been the most popular sport in the World (including Africa) for a long time. Africa has played Soccer for a long time and they still stink. Wouldnt Soccer, where gifted runners are valuable, be a sport where Blacks should succed (according to your logic)? It appears you are largely thinking about the USA (which makes your arguments without merit). Think global here. Other counties have athletes too.

And about basketball, those stats dont mean much. There are a variety of cultural issues at work there affecting those numbers in the USA. You want proof, our USA team of mostly Black players has lost in 3 international tournaments in a row. And BTW, everytime they've been beaten by a bunch of White guys. And dont tell me its because they play "smart" basketball (partially but not competely true). I've seen those other good teams from Europe play. Those guys are streetballing out there (I guess they saw the And1 tapes). And they arent just shooters. They'll elevate and dunk on your *** (ever seen Ginobli play). Those teams have tried to out muscle and OUTRUN our team USA with large success. And those African teams with all those great athletes are among the worst in international ball.

And Popluation???? By your arguments, there's no way countries like Greece, Spain, or Argentina should ever feild a basketball team competive to the USAs black athletes. Hell, basketballl isnt even the most popular sport in those countries. It's a distant second to Soccer. How the hell are they finding all these talented White guys? Gotta be more than just luck. There is a large cultural shift in basketball right now. The White guys are starting to believe they can play and beat the Blacks. Seriousely, those numbers you posted are going to change. Basketball junkies have seen this coming for a long time.

And I never said all races were equal, but rather there is absolutely no evidence of superiority. The races are different, but overall I dont think the differences are enough to declare one athletically superior to another. Saying Blacks are better because of "how many white DBs are in the NFL" is silly.

Could be. Slave masters used to breed only the biggest and strongest slaves. Survival of the fittest.


That, or, they grow up running away from the cops.

Again...source?

Coming from a swimming background I can say that there are very few African Americans competing at the club, high school, college, and international level. Around where I live especially around the San Jose area there is several pools all around poor areas and wealthy areas, but there is still hardly any participation within the African-American community, and I don't know what the reason is. On the National scene the top American sprinter named Cullen Jones is black, but other than him there is not really any nationally ranked African Americans

I'll admit it, I was wrong there about swimming. Not sure what I was thinking. I think I got recreational swimming and competive swimming confused. Doesnt matter. Even though I have no idea about the international swim scene, I believe you are right.

Don't be an idiot sir. Slave owners would much rather have skinny, smart slaves.

Most of you are completely wrong. Black people are genetically more athletic than white people, that's a simple fact. East African's are genetically more capable at long distance running, and west african's are more powerful and explosive.

In the US the vast majority of your slaves came from west africa, so that's why african americans are sprinters and running backs and not marathon runners.

European soccer leagues have a higher proportion of blacks than whites, after taking into account the numbers of people playing the game at grass level. If you had watched the world cup, you couldn't have failed to notice that Ghana and the Ivory Coast were far more powerful than the European teams.

It's actually pretty amazing that most of you have this viewpoint. It's obviously a sympton of American insularity, and is no big deal, but it has made me chuckle.

Should there be a SW here? Exactly what side are you chosing here? I was about to rip it to pieces, but I then I thought I may have missed something. You had just the right type of info to throw me off.

okay, this thread has reached the retardation phase like I thought it would. seriously, don't bring any of this jimmy the greek crap in here again. if you don't know who he is, use wikipedia