Sports Fights in Black and White

March 26, 2008

Here’s a sports axiom–the level of fighting tolerated by a sport is inversely proportional to the number of black folks in the sport.
Don’t believe me? Let’s order by proportion of black players. Going greatest to least.
Basketball
Football
Baseball
Hockey
Now, let’s look the levels on which fighting is tolerated in sports. Going from greatest to least.
Hockey
Baseball
Football
Basketball
Challenge that assumption as you like, seeing how it’s difficult to measure tolerance. However, I think that’s a pretty solid premise.
With that in mind–have you noticed how ESPN has handled this here recent hockey brawl?
On Monday, I saw that SportsCenter was teasing some hockey fight that “[I] won’t want to miss.” It was then described as a YouTube sensation. Once the video came on, it was clear that the spectacle wasn’t the massive brawl itself, but the sucker punch that Jonathan Roy was set to deliver to his unsuspecting goaltending counterpart.
This was a punk move to the nth degree. Granted, I don’t understand how this dude was just leaning against the goal while someone skated at him during a brouhaha, but being a sucker doesn’t mean you deserve to be suckerpunched. Dude skates off the ice, starts another fight, then throws two birds to the sky on the way to the locker room.
This was teased as “can’t miss” action for at least half an hour.
In the segment, it was mentioned that Roy apologized for his actions. Nope. Turns out he apologized for cursing on camera and the birds. No apology for the actual fighting.
The next day, Roy and his coach, father Patrick Roy, were suspended along with others involved in the brawl. It seems the elder Roy encouraged his son to run up on the opposing goaltender.
All of a sudden, the fight was bad, bad, bad. I wish I had a clip for you, because it was a complete 180. The language of ESPN’s coverage changed completely over 24 hours, as if someone had to remember that, you know, fighting is supposed to be bad.
I mean, I don’t remember this being billed as can’t-miss fun on ESPN. Nor that whole Artest, Malice in the Palace thing. And say what you want about Artest and the other Pacers going into the stands, but you gotta at least say that fight was fair. Think it’s deplorable to fight a fan? Is it somehow better to fight someone that isn’t doing anything to you? Didn’t think so.
I mention this because of a conversation I had with someone about the Lebron James-Gisele Bundchen cover of Vogue. The gentleman was asking me if discussions of race were being set back because some complained about a cover that most white people didn’t think was racist in any way. To me, the problem was that no one saw that there could be an issue. No one at Vogue thought maybe, just maybe, having a scowling black man scoop up a pretty blond white woman might look a little wrong. The folks at Vogue didn’t mean harm. That doesn’t obscure the fact that, on some level, harm was done, considering how undeniably that photo mirrors a dreadful stereotype of black men. I’m not set to protest at Vogue over this, but something was amiss.
There is danger in writing off the things people don’t notice as being no big deal. I’m frequently amazed at how much some white people don’t notice when it comes to issues of race, and even more frustrated by the defensiveness offered in response to legitimate discourse on race in America. An attack on racism isn’t an attack on white people, nor is it even necessarily an attack of a person that offers a racist statement. An attack on racism is just that–a resistance offered to the most pervasive force in American society, the one that has defined this country’s history like no other.
The difference in the way this hockey brawl was handled vis-a-vis the Miami-FIU debacle or the Malice in the Palace wasn’t even subtle. The media was ready to call FEMA to stop Artest and Stephen Jackson. But the biggest media outlet in sports salivated at the thought of showing the world a hockey fight whose centerpiece was an act of cowardice.
These are the things that everyone has to notice. They’re right in our faces. So many acknowledge racism in the abstract, but they don’t ever seem to notice it when it’s right in front of them. On some level, someone on the back end realized that celebrating this brawl might not be the best look. We still need to consider why anyone thought it was a good look in the first place.
The difference in the ways violence is covered across sports is racist. From the coverage of Chad Kreuter’s trip into the stands in Wrigley Field to retrieve his cap to Rob Ray demolishing a fan that came on the ice, there are examples to prove the way fighting is covered is different based on which sport we’re dealing with. Call the ordering exercise above a coincidence if you like, but I think you’ll be wrong if you do so.
No, these aren’t groundbreaking observations. That doesn’t mean they should remain unspoken, though. These are the subtle, problematic things that continue to fuel the ridiculous perceptions of black people, and these are the things that must be discussed openly and honestly.
And now.

Comments


Jason Clinkscales

November 28, 6496, 11:55 am

As one of the few people (let alone black people) who actually pays attention to the sport of hockey, I cringe every time there's some sort of fisticuffs. While the major sports we love are rather physical, the NHL tends to go overboard with it. As WABC (New York) sportsanchor Scott Clark said after showing the Roy's display "and they call this hockey." I'm with you on this one, though I have never been able to articulate this thought on paper or web, but with conversations in my circles. I always thought that baseball seems to skate away without criticism in this regard, but in a very inconsistent manner. I mean when the Yankees and Red Sox had their little scuffles since it was 'juicy' and 'part of the rivalry'). When the Oakland As and Texas Rangers had their infamous moment, it might as well have been Armageddon. Granted, the latter got real ugly, but still, in general, when a bunch of guys stand around and pose real tuff, it seems as if some people can't get enough of it. This is also a sign of the major condescending tone that ESPN and others have towards hockey over the past few years, but there aren't too many people who care enough to change that, whether they are fans, TV execs or the league itself.


dewfish

November 28, 6497, 11:55 am

great article. nowadays it seems like perception is reality.


Vee

November 28, 6498, 11:55 am

I agree with you on one point. "These are the subtle, problematic things . . ." There's is NOTHING subtle about the violence covered in hockey compared to the violence covered in sports where there are more people of color. I'm not a hockey fan, but for as long as I briefly glanced at hockey I know the culture of violence is a part of the game. So I am not surprised to see or hear people fawning over hockey fights. And they're FAR MORE BRUTAL than an MMA match or Boxing match. Some hockey players have been knocked unconscious and put into a coma for weeks. Hit in the back of the head with a hockey stick, an illegal move in most combat sports because the blow can be fatal. But as soon as Kobe lays his hands on Chris Childs? Or some one decides to shove the Spurs Bowen . . . they're so uncontrollable, they should be grateful and appreciate this wonderful opportunity to make millions and play professional basketball. The hypocrisy is obvious and the proof is self-evident. However, the Lebron-Gisele Vogue cover?? I'll pass. I can see how and why people may feel the image evokes King Kong and many historically stereotypes about African American men . . . but I'll just chuckle and ignore it. I don't see anyone protesting Vogue and I fail to see how this will even be a significant newsworthy item 1 month from now. At the end of the day, it is simply some ones opinion.


JTS

November 28, 6499, 11:55 am

Excellent post, Mr. Jones. Vee, I think you're missing the underlying point on the Vogue cover. It's not that we as an audience need get enraged in the aftermath (although some might say we should), but the very fact that this cover passed through untold numbers of hands at Vogue, and no one, at any point, thought that maybe it should be reconsidered stands as a testament to where racial discourse stands at this day and time. There were many shots of LBJ and Gisele that could have been used. At the end of the day they chose the one they did, and that says a great deal, whether the public wants to see it or not.


Wise

November 28, 6500, 11:55 am

Correlation is not Causation. Fighting was no more acceptable in basketball or football when they were lily white. Soccer is predominately white and fighting isn't tolerated in the sport. The media is quick to condemn the soccer-related brawls that take place in Europe. History and tradition are responsible for the differences between sports, not race.


Keith Russell

November 28, 6501, 11:55 am

Congratulations, Vee. You've just provided everyone with a perfect example of what happens when you get all of your hockey news from ESPN. It's the one major sports league they don't carry, so they take shots at it all the time. Otherwise, people might (gasp!) turn off ESPN for Versus. ESPN loves to muddle the difference between an honest hockey fight, involving two willing participants trading punches, not sticks and skates, and punks like Jonathan Roy, Chris Simon, and Todd Bertuzzi. Watch an entire NHL game, not just ESPN's cherry-picked "highlights," and you'll see plenty of vigorous full-contact competition. Maybe you'll see a fight, maybe not. Your odds of seeing an incident, however, are far, far lower than seeing the Broncos offensive line throw a knee-hunting cut block.


dan

November 28, 6502, 11:55 am

I think this is a crock. For one hockey is a sport that needs fighting to keep the game clean. If they outlaw fighting there is gonna be more injuries involving stick. Its a fact. Now Football is anothe violent sport and the NFL tries to cut back on it. Baseball if you call the meetings between teams in the infield fighting , go ahead. Bsketball isnt a violent game, never has been. I am getting tired of this race baiting. Just because you say it may be racist doesnt make it so


max

November 28, 6503, 11:55 am

Very interesting write up. I was trying to think about ways in which this occurs in non-sports fields, and I think some very strong parallels can be drawn here between the treatment of fighting in various sports, and the penalty differences between cocaine and crack. These are the same drug, but one form is consumed by poor people, and the other by less poor people. A reactionary media frenzy were the nascence of our current draconian standards. Why does this occur? It's easy to peg those laws as being racist, but perhaps that's too strident a term. I would argue, that both the treatment of fights across sports, and the enormous differences in the manor in which similar drug offenses are punished stand as examples of something different. You know fuck it both of those things are mad racist, and I can't even front.


kubek do yerby

November 28, 9634, 11:55 am

You’ve just provided everyone with a perfect example of what happens when you get all of your hockey news from ESPN. It’s the one major sports league they don’t carry, so they take shots at it all the time.