FanNation - The Republic of Sport

After week of a okay All-Star weekend and terrible luck in breakin out into the TD scene(1-8, I'm coming back with a new approuch tho), I decided to come back to what I enjoy doing the most. Before i start my topic let me start by saying the Rashad Lewis deal was asanine, La Russa is an Idiot, I have Jon Kitna as my fantesy starting QB and I can't wait, and that it is hard to belive that Beckam didn't beat LT in Who's now. Just for fun I got Brady 85%, VY in the upset 70%, Parker in the upset 55%, and Shaq with 70%. And i am Definately writing a blog and having a throwdown about why Kobe Bryant is More Now than A-Rod.....

But once again in baseball, particulaly Gary Sheffield, the issue of race has came up. It seems more often that MLB is the target of race issues than any other sport. Wheater its Barry Bonds saying Boston is racist or Torri Hunter saying that MLB needs to get more black players, it seems that year in, year out at least 2-3 incidents that invovle race and the MLB.

When looking at sports as a whole, SI and ESPN always shine a brighter light on race. But unfortanetely they are still going for rating so alot of times more light than they should on certain topics (NBA Referee fouls, MLB "black" % of players, Imus) instead of obvious problems that hardly talk about (the lack of black head coaches in Division-1 football, the lack of black sports writers, Young Black athletes getting in trouble with the law). It seems they would rather get peoples reaction than to try to solve and actual problem.

Many times when issues come out athletes act pretty much act generically. They disagree with what Imus said, they say thier should be more black players in MLB, they say that blacks should get a better opprotunity to coach in the NFL. Most would be responsive but not too many set out to actually make the changes. Yes, they donate to charities but no one is making a Tommy Smith like effort...

I personally do not mind. If Lebron James wants to stay silent about the AIDS epidimic in Africa,  then he should. It not athletes responsibilities to use thier skill and exposure to solve world problem, its thier right. And like too many are hearing today, they also have the right to remain silent. Thats why I applaud Gary Sheffield a bit, not so much for what he is saying but for saying something...

..But I would applaud him much louder if he had a point. Around two months ago Gary Sheffield said the reason they're not more black players because Latin players were easier to deal with then black players...umm okay. So what is the solution to that Gary? Are you going to live with that fact or are you taking a stance? Do you think some sort of fixing is needed? It seems like an invalid reason to bring that up. Yes the number of american born black players has been declining but if thier is actual problem that Sheff needs to be fixed, then he should more solution oriented than reactive. Whats the point of accusing Joe Torre of prejudice? What does that do besides shines an ugly light on Joe Torre and make some people think that black players are hard to deal with....

I do honestly think that Sheff has some idea what he talking about when he's talking about. Anyone who has been anywhere for 19 years is bound to see things that they think needs to be fixed. For all we know he may have some validity to what he is saying, but its pointless unless you have a point. I don't think other athletes need to speak out but I do wish that they did as long it has a point.....