Scoop Jackson's article from Espn the lack of black sports editors

"Here's your ball, Mr. Lupica . . . and your niblick . . . "

 

"We're 10% of the population and 90% of the Final Four"- Chris Rock

Why is it that when viewing the lack of white point guards or wide receievers or cornerbacks or running backs we all conclude that it's all about merit and open competition? Yet when Jackson and Rhoden point out the lack of black sportswriters, editors or upper management black sports authority personnel it's all about race?

Maybe the NFL can't find 24 white guys who are over 6'2" and can run a 4.4 40. I mean there's only 70 million white guys in the country.

 

That's such a ridiculous and dangerous lie. If anyone of those kids expressed even the slightest interest in a journalism career (in high school or in college) there would be people falling over themselves to offer programs and nurture their development. There would be special programs, special internships, special mentoring, etc.

 

Scoop Jackson.. Rob Parker..... hmmmm

 

Love when these topics come up.


Carry on.

 

I wonder why Asian-Americans' unemployment rate is half that of African-Americans'.

I mean, aren't they ostensibly just as discriminated against based on exterior?

 

Actually, no, they're not.

 

Scoop's stats are an indictment of the inner-city and black culture, not the industry. The reason there are more black NBA players than black sports writers is because there are about 500 black boys at every urban high school in America who have been told that they have "what it takes" and turn making it into "The League" their one and only goal in life. And I'm not talking about street agents. I'm talking about parents, grandparents, uncles, etc.

Of course, 99.9 percent of them don't make it. And 99.9 percent of them end up being 30 years old, broken, and complaining about all the people who cheated them along the way to their NBA dream.

Trends will change in all professional fields, including this one, when inner-city parents and guardians stop feeding this vicious cycle that teaches boys that a spot on a roster in "The League" is the only noble career.

 

When I was sports editor at my college paper, I went to the meetings for several pre-dominantly black groups, begging them to come work at the paper. I did everything I could to sell them on it. I talked with kids in my classes, in the dorms, everywhere. These are college students, many who didn't have much of a clue what they really wanted to do in life (like most college kids, regardless of race), students with plenty of time to explore their options, see what they want to do, and many which were interested in sports.

Know how many responses I got? One, and he never called me back.

Bottom line, as stated earlier, it's hard to find candidates because there are lots of great opportunities out there in other fields. I still think we can do more a lot of the time. More hard work should be done to encourage minorities, not just to be writers, but to be copy editors, designers, everything, but I think we (by we I mean the sports journalism field, not we white folks) need to start looking even earlier than we do now. We concentrate on getting them in college. We need to get their attention in high school, before they get to college and decide to be engineers or lawyers or doctors. Why would someone want to go into those fields anways? Financial security is overrated.

 

let's see.... didn't we cover this elsewhere?

the pay and hours suck.

 

Yes they are.

 

I'm sorry, was there any more column after the "more than 300 of US don't exist" line, because I fell off my chair went through the floor and stubbed my toe.