Race & Sport

4 Pages 1089 Words

Michael Jordan draws large audiences to every game due to his amazing playing style, and he is called "the god of basketball." Tiger Wood has won golf tournaments many times, and the media reports his score everyday during the game no matter how he plays. Michael Johnson is the fastest runner in two-hundred-meter races in the world. Ichiro Suzuki became one of the best leading hitters in Major League Baseball (MLB) during his rookie season. There are many races living together in America. Therefore, America is sometimes called a melting pot of races. In the sports' world, it is a slightly different story. In that context, have you ever thought about the relationship between race and sport? Why do black athletes sometimes dominate a particular sport, such as basketball? Why are there many Asian and Hispanic players in MLB?

According to Sociological Dynamics of Sport and Exercise, there are three possible theories that might cause racial differences in sport participation. The first one is "biological reasoning," which means all differences come from genes. According to this theory, the reason that black athletes dominate National Basketball Association (NBA) is that black athletes tend to have advantages in physical features compared with other races, such as height. The second one is "a cultural explanation." This can be said that the difference between races and their potential abilities comes from each different culture. Some races of athletes work harder than others due to athletes' cultural thought, and that kind of thinking process might influence their efforts. The last one is called "an environmental argument." As this label indicates, athletes' circumstances influence their future abilities. This theory could explain that Kenyan athletes are strong in long distance running competition because it is in their daily lives (James E. 151). These theories seem very reasonable; however, I think things are more complicated in the rea...