on a serious note, the discrimination against white players in football is so ridiculous at this point that i have trouble taking the NFL seriously most of the time.
i know too much about the game to believe most managers and coaches put the best players on the field. i estimate the NFL market for players is not even 75% efficient anymore, whereas the NBA market is probably 95% efficient. there is not much discrimination in basketball.
the league had to put a new rule in this year, to prevent stupid black players from spiking the ball after routine plays.
the NFL has wanted a 100% black league for years, and now they are close to getting it, complete with the corresponding decline in the level of play.
It bwas pretty funny,but turnabout is fair play. How about a poem dedicated to black plastic surgeons? He's on TV and much adored/but never got passed by the Board/ Tho women to his office flock/What they recieve may be a shock/like Dorothys friend who crows does scare/parts of you are there and there and there and there! :)
12/4/07, 12:19 PM
ben tillman said...
The poem wasn't bad, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned about white tailbacks is a greater tendency to fumble. It could be the smaller hands. Hester, of course, has big hands.
12/4/07, 4:18 PM
Anonymous said...
I notice they don't have any silly poems about all the white boxers knocking out black boxers recently. 16 of the 20 belts from middleweight to heavyweight are held by whites.
As for white RBs, just give them a chance and they will succeed. But the best white high school RBs are often moved to other positions as they are seldom allowed to play in college (much less the NFL).
12/4/07, 5:16 PM
Anonymous said...
Ben Tillman,
Do you have any stats to prove your points about fumbling? The only white tailback in the NFL (Brian Leonard) never fumbled while at Rutgers or in his first year with the Rams. If we compare white receivers to black receivers, the blacks are more likely to have butterfingers.
"i know too much about the game to believe most managers and coaches put the best players on the field."
Yes-all of those coaches at prominent football schools and in the NFL, whose job performance is ruthlessly scrutinized and whose teams must perform at a high level or they get fired, have all decided to put lesser players on the field.
Seriously, if there is some well of untapped talent out there, some enterprising coach/GM would scrap it up. Why wouldn't they? People like to win, and you (usually) win with better players. Which also means you get to keep your job.
12/5/07, 9:05 AM
Steve Johnson said...
Jonathan wrote:
Seriously, if there is some well of untapped talent out there, some enterprising coach/GM would scrap it up. Why wouldn't they? People like to win, and you (usually) win with better players. Which also means you get to keep your job.
Close but not quite true. For years analysts from economists to interested laypeople have argued and made pretty convincing cases that football coaches are systematically over-conservative. The major example is punting; coaches don't go for it on 4th down nearly enough. The thinking is more "play to avoid blame" not "play to win". If you lose and there are no odd decisions (like not punting or playing a white tailback), no problem, your team wasn't good enough. If you lose and you did things that are uncommon, you're out of a job and not likely to be hired ever again (other coaches don't like guys who implicitly show them up by doing things differently so assistant jobs wouldn't be forthcoming).
- Steve Johnson
12/5/07, 11:27 PM
TCO said...
Steve: take a look at parkour and free running and David Belle. Lots of cool videos on you tube. Give me your insights on that.
"Who says poetry is dead?"
10 Comments -
LOL. pretty good actually.
on a serious note, the discrimination against white players in football is so ridiculous at this point that i have trouble taking the NFL seriously most of the time.
i know too much about the game to believe most managers and coaches put the best players on the field. i estimate the NFL market for players is not even 75% efficient anymore, whereas the NBA market is probably 95% efficient. there is not much discrimination in basketball.
the league had to put a new rule in this year, to prevent stupid black players from spiking the ball after routine plays.
the NFL has wanted a 100% black league for years, and now they are close to getting it, complete with the corresponding decline in the level of play.
12/4/07, 12:36 AM
Ouch, horrible poem. It doesn't scan at all. (Might actually be NOI.)
12/4/07, 12:40 AM
"the league had to put a new rule in this year, to prevent stupid black players from spiking the ball after routine plays."
I thought that rule was inspired by my NY Giants' under-achieving white tight end Jeremy Shockey.
12/4/07, 8:40 AM
It bwas pretty funny,but turnabout is fair play. How about a poem dedicated to black plastic surgeons? He's on TV and much adored/but never got passed by the Board/ Tho women to his office flock/What they recieve may be a shock/like Dorothys friend who crows does scare/parts of you are there and there and there and there! :)
12/4/07, 12:19 PM
The poem wasn't bad, but one thing I haven't seen mentioned about white tailbacks is a greater tendency to fumble. It could be the smaller hands. Hester, of course, has big hands.
12/4/07, 4:18 PM
I notice they don't have any silly poems about all the white boxers knocking out black boxers recently. 16 of the 20 belts from middleweight to heavyweight are held by whites.
As for white RBs, just give them a chance and they will succeed. But the best white high school RBs are often moved to other positions as they are seldom allowed to play in college (much less the NFL).
12/4/07, 5:16 PM
Ben Tillman,
Do you have any stats to prove your points about fumbling? The only white tailback in the NFL (Brian Leonard) never fumbled while at Rutgers or in his first year with the Rams. If we compare white receivers to black receivers, the blacks are more likely to have butterfingers.
12/4/07, 5:19 PM
Jody wrote:
"i know too much about the game to believe most managers and coaches put the best players on the field."
Yes-all of those coaches at prominent football schools and in the NFL, whose job performance is ruthlessly scrutinized and whose teams must perform at a high level or they get fired, have all decided to put lesser players on the field.
Seriously, if there is some well of untapped talent out there, some enterprising coach/GM would scrap it up. Why wouldn't they? People like to win, and you (usually) win with better players. Which also means you get to keep your job.
12/5/07, 9:05 AM
Jonathan wrote:
Seriously, if there is some well of untapped talent out there, some enterprising coach/GM would scrap it up. Why wouldn't they? People like to win, and you (usually) win with better players. Which also means you get to keep your job.
Close but not quite true. For years analysts from economists to interested laypeople have argued and made pretty convincing cases that football coaches are systematically over-conservative. The major example is punting; coaches don't go for it on 4th down nearly enough. The thinking is more "play to avoid blame" not "play to win". If you lose and there are no odd decisions (like not punting or playing a white tailback), no problem, your team wasn't good enough. If you lose and you did things that are uncommon, you're out of a job and not likely to be hired ever again (other coaches don't like guys who implicitly show them up by doing things differently so assistant jobs wouldn't be forthcoming).
- Steve Johnson
12/5/07, 11:27 PM
Steve: take a look at parkour and free running and David Belle. Lots of cool videos on you tube. Give me your insights on that.
12/6/07, 4:56 AM