Reply #44: I certainly wasn't suggesting racism on your part; but the coach

[onenote]

seems to be viewing things through a racial prism. First, as you point out, there are factors other than speed that impact a team's performance. I'm sure USAF has trouble recruiting the top prospects. The speed of its white players probably doesn't measure up to that of the white players at the schools that have defeated USAF. So if the problem is speed, suggesting that more African-American players would rectify it is bull.

Second, the subtle, but nonetheless real, undercurrent of his remarks is a sort of "woe is me" position: if only I could get more minority players we'd be better, but of course, we're a service academy with really high standards and African-Americans don't meet those standards. You may disagree, but I think that is the undercurrent of his remarks that is particularly offensive. I notice that USAF lost to Navy -- and both schools have pretty much the same percentage of minority students.

onenote