The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • Times News Services
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Sports
    • NFL
    • NBA/WNBA
    • MLB
    • NHL
    • Tennis
    • Golf
    • Motorsports
    • Soccer
    • NCAA
    • Olympics
    • Outdoors
    • Other
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Military History
    • Life
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Themes
  • Communities
  • Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Videos
    • Two Guys
    • Birnbaum on Washington
    • Liz Glover
    • Amanda Carpenter
    • Morning Briefing
    • Documentaries
    • Joe Giganti
    • Video Game Minute
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • Sports

    KNOTT: Pollin honored as a D.C. treasure

  • Sports

    Jamison lights fire under Wizards

  • Politics

    Uninvited White House guests met Obama in line

  • Sports

    Wife aids Woods after SUV crash

  • National

    Volunteers for drug trials hard to find

  • Business

    Dubai debt crisis rocks U.S., Asia markets

  • World

    Piracy threatens fishermen in Yemen

Friday, October 28, 2005

Air Force coach guilty of speaking his mind

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen
  • Videos

More Stories

  • Atlantis, crew of 7 back on Earth
  • Uninvited White House guests met Obama in line
  • iPhone lands in Korea
  • Wife aids Woods after SUV crash

By

Air Force Academy coach Fisher DeBerry has apologized for voicing a need to recruit more black athletes to fill the speed positions of his football team.

This is not too far removed from a basketball coach expressing a desire to acquire taller athletes in the frontcourt.

Both prototypes on the sports wish list fall under the heading of, "Duh."

Perhaps the objection to DeBerry emanates from the ideal to have a color-blind society, a hopelessly impossible goal because of the highly visual nature of humans. You might as well be pining for the day that Vogue magazine routinely splashes plus-size models on its covers.

If DeBerry is to be faulted, it is for stating the obvious. He should have spoken in code and left it at that. He should have said, "Our football team needs to get a whole lot faster."

Now everyone would have known what he meant, because everywhere you look in the major college programs or in the NFL, the speed positions inevitably feature black athletes.

When Jason Sehorn was a cornerback with the Giants, he was a player of some distinction only because he happened to be the only white player at that position in the NFL. If he had been black, the casual NFL fan probably would not have known his name.

The dropping of race on the sports table remains tricky stuff in part because of the gotcha mentality that exists in the 24/7 media marketplace. There is this insatiable need to fill space, and there are only so many topics on a given day that rise to the level of worthy. A nugget of something or another sometimes has to suffice as water-cooler material.

Like Pavlov's dog, members of the national press are conditioned to perk up at the mention of race, no matter how innocently it has been deployed, as in the case of DeBerry.

He said he could use more players of color at the speed positions?

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Ask a Question

You Report

Do you have another point of view, photos, audio, video or more information about a story?

Top Stories

Most Read

  1. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  2. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  3. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  4. Wife aids Woods after SUV crash
  5. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
More Top Stories »
  1. Grade-schooler unearths fossil at dinosaur park
  2. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  3. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  4. HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure
  5. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  2. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
  3. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  4. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  5. Finance mavens gloomy
More Top Stories »
  1. In tobacco-loving Virginia, bars give up the habit
  2. Fenty's approval in D.C. divided by race
  3. Drug lords finding safe haven in Bolivia
  4. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  5. Global Warmists exposed

Most Commented

  1. Climate 'czar' says hacked e-mails don't change anything
  2. EDITORIAL: The global-cooling cover-up
  3. Climate czar rejects doctored data claims
  4. EDITORIAL: Hiding evidence of global cooling
  5. PRUDEN: Trouble afoot for high priests
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: The duty of a nation to obey God
  2. Crashers probe may become criminal investigation
  3. HOLMES: Behind Obama's overseas allure
  4. Obama taking emissions goal to summit
  5. 9/11 families sharply split on civilian court trials

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan

Blogs & Columns

  • Hot Button Blog

    RNC: Breast cancer recommendations may lead to 'rationing'

  • Belief Blog

    Evangelicals OK civil disobedience

  • Out of Context

    Foods that might kill libido

  • On the Fly

    United lifts some 'award' blocking

  • Technology

    Facebook wins round against phishing spammer

  • Redskins 360

    Hall out, Rogers will start

  • SNOBlog

    Beyond 'Woody'

Videos

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.