Locals named to All-State team
June 5, 2012
Clutch hitting pushes LSU to Super Regional
June 5, 2012I had no shortage of topics to choose from for this week’s Casey’s column.
With the NBA Playoffs in high gear, the NCAA Baseball Tournament in Super Regional status and the NHL playing its Stanley Cup Finals, the sporting world is dominating both local and worldwide headlines.
But instead of going mainstream, I’m going to stray from the norm this week and introduce you all to a headline that will not receive national attention – even though in my estimation it should.
Just down the road a little more than 200 miles in the small town of Lorman, Miss., Alcorn State University announced that it has hired Jay Hopson as its head coach.
Stick with me – I know you couldn’t identify Hopson from the man on the moon.
Neither can I.
But the significance of the hire is this: Hopson is a white male.
Alcorn State is a historically black university.
His hire marks the first time a white man has been hired to be the head coach at a historically black school.
Society’s racial lines are now thinner, if by even a millimeter.
Please note while reading that I am just a 24-year-old journalist who just so happens to also be a white male.
The things I’ve seen with my own eyes are nothing compared to the things those 10, 20 and 30 years older than me have experienced.
But even within my young age, I’ve lived in a sports world that is not nearly as colorblind as it should be.
It is for that reason why I believe Alcorn State’s hire deserves a pat on the back for a job well done.
Because the hire represents more than a former Memphis, Marshall, Southern Miss and Michigan assistant coach getting his first crack at being a head coach.
It marks a change for the better in our continued progression toward equality and unity within both society and also the world of sports.
If you’re an optimistic reader, I know you are now going to tell me that the world of sports is colorblind and is rid of most of the racial issues that still plague our society.
Is it really?
Sure, practically all sports are open to both white and black players.
But are players of all races truly given the same treatment?
I think we still have a little bit of work to do in order to claim that to be the case.
When I was a kid, black football players were more abundant than white players on collegiate and NFL gridirons.
Today, that is still the case, as they make up 70 percent of the league’s players, according to a recent study conducted by ESPN.
But even with a more than 2-to-1 edge over their white counterparts, why don’t more black players play quarterback within the league?
Sure, the numbers are growing around the NFL (a clear sign of societal progression), but the age-old stigma remains in place.
That stigma is that young, athletic players are asked to play wide receiver and running back at early ages because it is perceived that black players are less likely to have the leadership skills and mental capacity to lead an offense the same way a white player would.
Is that a fair way to think?
Absolutely not!
But statistics don’t lie and if some sort of underlying subconscious bias wasn’t in place, we would see more equality within that position, right?
Likewise, look on the sidelines of the NFL’s 32 teams.
There are currently 27 white head coaches compared to just 5 who are black.
In a sport where 100 percent of coaches are former players and 70 percent of former players are black, why are just 5 out of 32 coaches black?
Again, if one can’t see the hidden undertones in that mathematical equation, one needs new contact lenses.
The above examples are more statistic-loaded, but some other sporting stereotypes show that the racial lines still exist.
For example, why are all white men assumed to be un-athletic in basketball until they prove otherwise?
Likewise, why are all white running backs considered to be slow and/or power runners?
Why are black baseball players (not named Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder) considered to be pesky leadoff hitters who steal lots of bases?
Why is it that in a two-quarterback system (one white quarterback and one black) that the white player is labeled a “game manager” and the black player is labeled a “playmaker?”
Lastly, why on a prep basketball team with 10 whites and two blacks are the two blacks considered by everyone (even those who have never watched the team play) to be the standout players?
I’m not claiming to be unflawed and the peak of racial perfection.
But even I can see that our world needs to be better.
That’s why Hopson’s hire is a step in the right direction for us all.
That’s why LSU’s hiring of Trent Johnson, Johnny Jones and Nikki Caldwell (all black coaches) within the Tigers’ basketball programs are steps in the right direction.
Anything we can do today will help us have brighter tomorrows.
When I was a child, Cam Newton would have never played quarterback.
But today, he’s an All-Pro-caliber player who will take the NFL by storm for the next decade.
I don’t know about you all, but that makes me pretty happy.
Kudos to Alcorn State.
In this week’s busy sports world, it is the Braves who get this week’s gold star for sporting excellence.
