{"id":104032,"date":"2016-08-21T18:45:54","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T02:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=104032"},"modified":"2016-08-21T18:49:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T02:49:48","slug":"the-nfl-is-racist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=104032","title":{"rendered":"The NFL Is Racist"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRANDO SIMEO STARKEY writes for ESPN<\/a> (hat tip<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Rookies selected in the 2016 NFL draft have hit the practice fields in preparation for their first preseason games this month. The league\u2019s scouts, meanwhile, are already preparing for next year, scouring university campuses for background information on new prospects. Trainers, tutors, even the waitress at a player\u2019s favorite restaurant \u2014 all attract the scout\u2019s eye as potential reservoirs of good dirt.
\nDespite that thorough sleuthing, though, anecdotal evidence and academic studies suggest that the league\u2019s evaluation process is riddled with racial bias. It\u2019s not explicit, where teams purposely treat black prospects one way and whites another. Instead, the draft is warped by implicit racial bias, as scouts and coaches evaluate players without being aware of the unconscious racial attitudes and stereotypes rummaging through their brains.
\nAn associate director of player personnel at a Power 5 conference school who asked not to be named, provides a common example: Scouts assume that black players hail from single-parent households \u201cunless we tell them otherwise,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIf they come in initially, and they want to know about a junior for next year,\u201d they assume a black player has no relationship with his father, he said. About one black prospect, scouts asked, \u201cWho should we talk to? Should we talk to his brother? Should we talk to his mom? Should we talk to his grandma? Should we talk to his high school coach?\u201d
\nShould we talk to his father? That question went unasked. Yet, when dealing with a similar white prospect, scouts inquired, \u201cShould we get both [mom and dad] in the same room at the same time? How should we approach?\u201d
\nSimilarly, when ascertaining potential substance abuse issues, scouts ask different questions for white and black players.
\nAbout whites, \u201cThey want to know if he\u2019s a drinker,\u201d he said. \u201cHow many times does he go out a week?\u201d is a common question. They \u201cnever\u201d ask if a white player failed drug tests.
\nYet, \u201cwhen they talk about a black player: \u2018Has he failed any drug tests?\u2019 \u2018Is he a smoker?\u2019 You know, things like that. Some scouts will be like, \u2018We have a couple on our team and we don\u2019t need to put another one in the locker room. That\u2019s just going to ignite that flame again.\u2019 \u201d
\nThe associate director said he believes scouts behave \u201cunconsciously,\u201d discerning no racial bias in their queries. And \u201cit\u2019s not like it\u2019s just white scouts saying it. It\u2019s black scouts as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

…Yet, many NFL front offices see no systemic problem.
\n\u201cExceptionally good,\u201d said Bill Polian, retired Hall of Fame general manager for the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts, when asked to gauge how well the NFL, as a whole, drafts. \u201cThe vast majority of players in the first, second, and third rounds make teams. Some contribute more than others, but there are mitigating factors involved there. Coaching changes, system changes, injury, which is by far the biggest mitigating factor, which, to date, no one can predict.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BRANDO SIMEO STARKEY writes for ESPN (hat tip): Rookies selected in the 2016 NFL draft have hit the practice fields in preparation for their first preseason games this month. The league\u2019s scouts, meanwhile, are already preparing for next year, scouring … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blacks","category-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104032"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104035,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104032\/revisions\/104035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}