And As If to Validate Bryant Gumbel, Shani Davis Makes History Winning The Gold In Speed Skating

I think Bryant Gumbel was saying "If we as blacks get the chance to compete, we will do well. Here's an example that just happened today.

TORINO (AP) -- Shani Davis knew what he was doing. Davis became the first black to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history Saturday, capturing the men's 1000m speed skating race. Joey Cheek made it a 1-2 American finish, adding a silver to his victory in the 500m.


Men's 1000m

Full Results
DAVIS 1:08.89
CHEEK 1:09.16
WENNEMARS 1:09.32

Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands captured the bronze.
Chad Hedrick, skating the weakest of his individual events, put up an early time that stood until Davis bested it in the 19th of 21 pairs with a clocking of 1 minute, 8.89 seconds.
Four other skaters passed Hedrick as well, leaving the Texan in sixth place - still an impressive showing considering he was skating the 1000m for only the seventh time in his career.
Davis came under scrutiny for skipping the team pursuit - especially when the Hedrick-led squad was knocked out in the quarterfinals, doomed by a slow skater who might not have been on the ice if Davis was available.
But Davis, world record holder in the 1000m, wanted to focus on his signature event. It certainly paid off.
After crossing the line and spotting his time, the first guy to break 1:09 on the slow Torino ice, Davis thrust his right fist in the air. As he coasted along the back straightaway, he raised both arms toward the roof of the Olympic oval, then put his hands on his head in obvious relief.
There were still two more pairs to go - four skaters, all capable of knocking him out.
Cheek went in the next group and came the closest, fading a bit at the end for a time of 1:09.16. Five days earlier, he dominated the shortest race on the schedule and donated his $25,000 bonus to a charity run by speed skating icon Johann Olav Koss.
This time, he'll hand over a $15,000 check to Koss. Dutch stars Wennemars and Jan Bos went in the final pair, but neither caught the Americans. Wennemars grabbed the bronze in 1:09.32, with Bos another tenth of a second behind, but only good enough for fifth.
Davis and Hedrick were the most intriguing figures on the ice.
Davis has dominated the 1000m on the World Cup circuit and skated the fastest time ever last November in Salt Lake. Hedrick is dominant at the longer distances, but decided to skate the 1000m at Torino in hopes of challenging Eric Heiden's record of five gold medals at one Winter Olympics.
Hedrick passed the first test with a dominating win in the 5000m, but his hopes of picking up a medal in team pursuit were essentially dashed when Davis decided not to skate. The U.S. was upset by the Italians in the quarterfinals, even though Hedrick was clearly the strongest skater on the ice.
NBC ImageAmerican Shani Davis won his first Olympic medal with a victory in the men's 1000m on Day 8.
Asked after the 1000m if he was happy for Davis, Hedrick replied pointedly:
"I'm happy for Joey."
Davis showed no immediate emotion after the last two skaters failed to beat his time. He was cooling down in the warmup lane, skating slowly with his arms behind his back.
Finally, he smiled and waved to the crowd. As he came to the other end of the rink, Davis found Wennemars waiting. The two rivals gave each other a big hug in front of the orange-clad, predominantly Dutch crowd, prompting the biggest cheer of the night.
Davis then donned a Chicago White Sox cap - a tribute to his hometown, specifically the South Side. He grew up there always wanting to skate, shrugging off friends who wondered why a black kid growing up in the city of Michael Jordan and Da Bears would want to don a tight-fitting suit and compete with a bunch of white dudes.
That wouldn't be last time he bucked the norm.
Davis and his mother, Cherie, have engaged in a long-running feud with U.S. Speedskating - even refusing to allow his biography to be displayed on the group's web site. Davis seemed to be doing his own thing in Torino, avoiding the media and the rest of the team.
"I think I've seen him a couple of times on the other side of the rink in the last week, week and a half," American teammate Casey FitzRandolph said.
Before the 1000m, there was even talk Davis would skip the mandatory news conference for medalists - even if he won. His agents scurried into action, hoping to cut off a public relations nightmare.
Davis said he's got a businesslike relationship with Hedrick - nothing more, nothing less.
"I haven't really witnessed any drama," Davis said. "We stay at the same duplex. He's on the top floor. I'm on the first floor. I mind my business and he minds his business."
Vonetta Flowers became the first African-American to win Winter Olympics gold at the Salt Lake Games four years ago. She was a pusher on the two-woman bobsled team, someone who helps get the machine going and hops along for the ride.
Davis won this gold entirely on his own.
"It showed that all the hard work and all the sacrifice paid off," he said. "Kids in general, if you put your mind to it and you believe it, you can achieve it.
"You cannot give up - even if the road is a tough road."

Bryant Gumbel's Right About Blacks and The Winter Olympics - It's Not A Racist Comment

On this week's edition of HBO's Real Sports, a respected sports television news magazine, it's host Bryant Gumbel was recorded making this comment:

"Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don't care about them and won't watch them. In fact, I figure that when Thomas Paine said that "these are the times that try men's souls," he must've been talking about the start of another Winter Olympics.

"Because they're so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the winter games look like a GOP convention.

"Try not to point out that something's not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what's called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won. And try to blot out all logic when announcers and sportswriters pretend to care about the luge, the skeleton, the biathlon and all those other events they don't understand and totally ignore for all but three weeks every four years. Face it -- these Olympics are little more than a marketing plan to fill space and sell time during the dreary days of February. So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they're done, when we can move on to March Madness -- for God's sake, let the games begin."

This speech by Gumbel has set off a firestorm of criticism from a number of writers, all white so far. Indeed, the fact that a group of writers who happen to be white are complaining only works to make Gumbel's point. But before I continue on that, let's coldly look at what he's saying.

First, I watched the Winter Olympics, and I like doing so. I've never thought of the partcipants as the "World's Best Athletes" but as the best in their athletic field of choice -- the idea of the "World's Best Athlete" to me is someone like Strongwoman Shannon Hartnett, who lifts very heavy objects or my new friend Shana Bagley, who was coaxed into the same field by Hartnett and can lift a 350-pound tire...And is just about 5-4 and well under 200 pounds. Women who can do that are the World's Best Athletes to me. (Oh, they're both white, by the way.)

But then, they are also in the Summer Olympics in weight lifting -- so Gumbel's right because they're not in the Winter Olympics regardless of race.

On the matter of race, there's a nasty misuse of the term "racist." To be racist is to put someone down because of their race. What Gumbel was stating was that because Blacks are not in large numbers in the Winter Olympics, thus making the event less than diverse, it's impossible to claim that the participants are amoung the World's Best Athletes because the entire field of people who could do that sport well regardless of color is not represented.

Let's face it folks, he's right. That's being race concious, not racist. He's not saying whites can't be great athletes, just that you can't say you've got all of the best if they're mostly one color.

It's sad that what he said has been twisted by the unintelligent writers out there. They should be asking how the Winter Olympics could be diversified. To ask this question is to take on the very foundation of economic and social discrimination that still exists, yet must be destroyed.

I guess that task is too much for some people.

New SBS NBA Business Blog!

The business of the NBA's covered in our new blog! Just click on the title of this post to see it.

The Decline Of The Black Athlete - Dr. Harry Edwards in 2001

If you click on the title of this post, you can read a classic interview with UC Berkeley Sports Sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards. In this 2001 talk, Edwards predicted many of the problems blacks in sports face today. He also correctly saw that social diversity would become a major concern for some and objective for the world.

Yahoo! And FIFA Launch Official 2006 FIFA World Cup Site

From IEG Sponsorship:
SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- With soccer fans around the globe anxiously awaiting the Final Draw on Friday, December 9 in Leipzig, Germany, Yahoo! and FIFA have teamed up to deliver the Web's most dynamic football experience at FIFAworldcup.com.

The newly re-launched official Web site of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany offers an unparalleled one-stop shop for fans of the world's biggest sporting event, and will include real-time coverage of both the Final Draw and the 64 matches of the Tournament; exclusive vintage video highlights; and a wealth of information about Germany and the specific host cities. In addition, FIFAworldcup.com has added three new language versions this week -- Portuguese, Italian and Korean -- and is now available in a total of seven languages.

On December 9, fans around the world will be able to follow the draw and comment on the results through a live and interactive chat application, which is sponsored by Emirates Airlines. Not only will fans find out where and against whom their favorite team will play next summer, but they will also be able to read reactions, quotes and analysis from experts in any one of FIFAworldcup.com's seven language versions. For coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the site will be available in Portuguese, Italian, Korean, English, French, German and Spanish.

According to ESPN's Michael Lewis, NFL's Top Three Coaches in 2005 Are African American - A Historic First

There's also a study floating around that reports black coaches in the NFL are statistically more likely to win. To read Lewis' full column, click on the post title link
____________________________________________

While acknowledging the jobs Mike Tice, Mike Holmgren and Jon Gruden have done coaching their respective teams, a convincing case can be made that the three leading candidates for NFL Coach of the Year are (in order) Tony Dungy, Lovie Smith and Marvin Lewis.

Dungy's Colts are four wins shy of becoming the first team to go through the regular season unbeaten in more than three decades and the first since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978. If Indy makes history, I'd have to think Dungy would be a lock for Coach of the Year.

In just his second year in Chicago, Smith's Bears are tied for the NFC's second-best record behind a defense that is second to none and a quarterback who is in his first season. In any other year, Smith would be the guy.

Lewis has coached the Bengals to their first winning season in 15 years and has them on track to win the AFC North. In just two-plus seasons, he's succeeded in changing the losing culture in Cincinnati, a transformation evident in Chad Johnson's recent comments regarding the Bengals' chances in the AFC title game at Indianapolis (good, according to Johnson). For turning that franchise around, and so quickly, Lewis might be the coach of the decade.

All so deserving, and … oh, by the way, have I mentioned that Dungy, Smith and Lewis all are African-American?

No, I hadn't. Because you know what? The fact that arguably the three best head coaches in 2005 are minorities is, while historically significant, purely coincidental. Just as (news flash!) race with regard to performance is totally inconsequential.

At this point, frankly, anyone who isn't completely color-blind is blind, deaf and dumb.

Look at what Romeo Crennel is doing with the Browns, what Dennis Green will (eventually, let's hope) do in Arizona. His team has struggled this year, but Herman Edwards remains the only coach in Jets history to take them to the playoffs three out of four years. Is their complexion the reason why these coaches have the magic touch? Absolutely not. They're good coaches. Not qualified or capable minority coaches. Just good coaches. Period. Dungy likely will make history this year by becoming the first black head coach to guide a team to the Super Bowl. Huge. But Dungy doesn't need to reach the Super Bowl to validate himself or his African-American peers as quality coaches.

By now, even with the bottom-line numbers still skewed (six out of 32) you'd like to think that the concept of a "black coach" is going the way of that of a "black quarterback." The latter is something we don't even notice anymore, it's so common. As one executive who likely will be interviewing head-coaching candidates this offseason said, "When you're in the position I'm in, you don't look at black or white. You look at, 'Can the guy coach?'"

2005 NFL Ticket Sales Leaders (Through Nov. 26th)

NFL TICKET SALES (THROUGH Nov. 28)

TOTAL TICKET SALES
Washington Redskins
535,934
New York Giants
471,249
Denver Broncos
456,927


AVERAGE PER GAME
Washington Redskins
89,322
New York Giants
78,542
Kansas City Chiefs
78,379