There is an almost mythic idea of the physical superiority of the African American athlete. Black athletes populate sports such as football and basketball, and black superstars have risen to the top of their respective games; however, despite this dominance, African Americans still appear to have limited access to coaching, managerial and other leadership positions.

Are black athletes simply more physically gifted than white athletes? Why don’t we see more black coaches and GMs in the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball? Even more intriguing, why aren’t there more black pitchers or black quarterbacks?

Such questions seem to defy explanation, and those who have attempted in the past to provide an answer to these quandaries have been met with damning media scrutiny and public scorn.

In April, 1987, Los Angeles Dodgers vice president and general manager Al Campanis was being interviewed by ABC anchorman Ted Koppel to celebrate the anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s major league debut. When asked why there weren’t more black managers, GMs or owners in baseball, Campanis responded, “I don’t believe it’s prejudice. I truly believe that they [African Americans] may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager, or perhaps a general manager.”

These comments were met with public outrage and Campanis was fired by the Dodgers two days later.

Just under a year later, veteran CBS football analyst Jimmy ‘The Greek’ Snyder was fired from his NFL Today post after an interview where he provided his thoughts on black athletic superiority.

“[The black athlete] is bred to be the better athlete…this goes all the way to the Civil War when …the slave owner would breed his big black [man] with his big woman so that he would have a big black kid,” suggested Snyder.

More recently, ESPN brought in political pundit Rush Limbaugh to be a “celebrity everyman” on their Sunday NFL preview show. The normally bombastic Limbaugh was uncharacteristically uncontroversial during his stint with the network, until he said that the sports media favoured Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb because he was black.

This caused a major uproar, and Limbaugh was immediately forced to resign from ESPN.

These comments are, at best, insensitive and inappropriate, and at worst clearly racist. But is the outrage displayed by the media and the public justified? Without defending these comments, the question must be asked: is the uproar over these incidents simply a way to mask the racialized reality of the sports media and the public as a whole?

If one delves deeper into sports discourse, one finds that there are several divisions based on race that are embedded within common “sports talk;” the most pronounced of which is displayed in the verbal and written descriptions of NFL quarterbacks.

If we examine these descriptions closely, we find that white quarterbacks are most often described in terms of their mental faculties, where black quarterbacks are most often characterized by their physical abilities. Columnist Gregg Easterbrook once wrote that “sports is one place where racial tensions are under control; even, close to solved,” but is the playing field as level as Easterbrook would suggest?

Go to tsn.ca, and click on the NFL player profiles section: you’ll find a ‘scouting report’ for each NFL player. These reports are provided by Fantasy Sports Incorporated, a Toronto company that also provides content for websites such as thescore.ca.

Immediately, the distinction between black and white becomes evident. White quarterbacks such as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are described with words such as “decisive,” “intelligent,” and as great “field generals.” Black quarterbacks such as McNabb, Daunte Culpepper and Michael Vick are described most often as “tremendous athletes,” “strong,” and “fast.”

It should be noted that all NFL players are great athletes, and that all quarterbacks, whether white or black, need to possess intelligence and decision-making skills in order to be successful. The descriptions examined reflect that fact by listing a decent mixture of both physical and mental qualities for both black and white players.

The difference is made clear by which descriptors are mentioned first and most often; in that case, the racial distinction comes to the forefront.

However, there is a set of white quarterbacks who are initially and most often described in terms of their physical abilities. Players such as Chris Simms, Rex Grossman and J.P. Losman are all characterized by their athletic abilities before any mention of intellect or character.

The common dominator for this set of pivots is that they are all young and inexperienced; it appears as though once white quarterbacks mature and gain experience in the league, they shed the physical descriptors in favour of terms regarding their smarts, creativity and leadership.

In contrast, veteran black quarterbacks such as Steve McNair and Aaron Brooks-both with over seven years experience-are still stuck with being described as ‘excellent overall athletes’ and ‘running like fullbacks’.

This issue was in the news over the course of the 2005-06 season when Falcon’s QB Vick took offense to reporters constantly criticizing him for not being enough of a “pocket-passer” (instead of running around like he often does) and wanting him to play more like a “mature quarterback.”

Instead of wanting Vick to play more like a “mature quarterback,” should they be saying he should play more like a white quarterback?

It should be noted that the decisions made in creating content such as the descriptions mentioned above are for the most part unconscious; the basis of which is embedded in football discourse and not necessarily racist sentiments of individual writers, commentators and players.

If black athletes are confined to being described in terms of their physical rather than mental capabilities, it should not be surprising that African Americans have difficulty landing leadership positions where physical prowess is meaningless, and only mental abilities are valued. The stereotypes that are propagated at the level of the individual athlete continue to be perpetuated at all levels of the game; and such a strong cycle, at any level of society, can be extremely hard to break.