College Sports Fans

If you haven't heard, Coach Fisher DeBerry held a startling and even offensive press conference this past week. The most controversial part of the press conference is as follows:

"It's very obvious to me the other day that the other team had a lot more
Afro-American players than we did, and they ran a lot faster than we did. ..
. Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian
kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they run
extremely well."

Obviously, this type of comment receives a lot of media coverage and Coach DeBerry had to make a formal apology, but surprisingly there wasn't a huge outcry from the black community. In fact, Michael Wilbon, a black writer for the Washington Post, commented on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption, "The politically correct police would go into hysteria to say this guy has anything to apologize for. Nothing to apologize for, as far as I'm concerned. . . . He didn't say anything out of place."

Coach DeBerry's comments did not reflect racist undertones but rather undertones of frustration. In order to fully understand his comments, one must first understand the context of his comments in terms of his legacy, this year's Air Force Season, college recruitment, and the game to which he was referring.

Coach DeBerry has been the head coach for the Air Force Falcons for the past 22 years and is one of the winningest coaches in the Academy's history. This season, however, the Air Force Falcons are 3-6.

The opponent to which the coach responded and made his comments about was Texas Christian University. TCU and the Air Force Academy have had a long line of tradition as far as football is concerned. TCU and the Air Force Academy ended their seasons in a tie game in the 1958 Cotton Bowl in the only undefeated season the Academy has ever produced. Ever since that infamous game, whenever the two teams meet each other they have an informal reunion to commemorate that long ago game.

Since that 1958 Cotton Bowl, things have changed for TCU as well as in the world of college athletic recruiting. While TCU may be able to recruit the best talent for its athletic squads, the Air Force Academy's priority is not to recruit the best athletes but rather the best service men and women. As such, most top athletes choose to attend universities that do not have a service requirement after graduation, do no have the rigorous academic requirements of the Air Force Academy, and have greater public exposure. It's possible that the coach's comments came not from racist intentions but rather from frustration and an embarassing loss to TCU (48-10).

Other proponents of Coach DeBerry's comments, including other NCAA coaches, suggests that there is some truth, at least statistically to DeBerry's comments. According to Jon Entine, the author of Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We Are Afraid to Talk About It, since 1999 when Kenyan runner Noah Ngeny broke Sebastian Coe's 1,000 meter record, all commonly-run track distance records belong to runners of African descent. What's more is that 95 percent of the top times in sprinting are held by runners who can trace their ancestry back to West Africa.

Even if Fisher DeBerry's comments were true they were inappropriate at a time when the process of comparing and ranking people whether it be intelligence, speed, or any other type of skill and then relating that skill to race was thought to be outdated. Coach DeBerry's comments were inappropriate, but were shortly followed by appropriate action both on the Coach's part and on the part of the Air Force Academy.

If you have ESPN 360 (the broadband service of ESPN) you can watch Michael Wilbon's comments on Pardon the Interruption relating to Fisher DeBerry's statements.

Also, the Air Force Falcons are playing Army this Saturday on ESPN Classic and TCU is playing Colorado State but will not be available for broadcast.