Tuesday September 21 2010 – 1:51pm Eastern – Toronto, ON
Yes, I believe the results of the recent Qscores.com survey are skewed by racial undertones. How else can you explain why Ben Roethlisberger and Brett Favre aren’t in the Top 5, but Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco are?
Favre and Big Ben have been the subject of ridicule, boredom, hatred, and disgust – off and on – from sports fans in the U.S. for more than a year now. Favre’s sins are nowhere near as bad as Roethlisberger’s but his ongoing saga is ‘hated’ indeed.
The Steelers QB appears 8th on the Most Hated list but has arguably (and allegedly (I guess)) done far worse than anyone on this list outside of Michael Vick. In fact, some would say Big Ben’s transgressions are indeed WORSE than Vick’s, but I digress.
Here’s the Top 5 (actually, 6) from that list … all African-American:
1. Michael Vick
2. Tiger Woods
3. Terrell Owens
4. Chad Ochocinco
5. Kobe Bryant
6. LeBron James
From a basketball-only perspective — not speaking racially — I’m a bit bewildered as to how James makes it onto this list if the survey was conducted, as we’re lead to believe, in March 2010. Based on this summer and how he departed Cleveland, I have no doubt that LeBron is ‘hated’ by many … but in March 2010? Hmmm.
And Kobe … well … I’m sure the events in Denver from a number of years ago I still fresh in many folks’ minds.
Owens and Ochocinco being included in this list — and appearing so high — is beyond me. ‘Disliked’ for their bravado and arrogance, sure. But HATED? C’mon.
How ’bout (as other sites have mentioned as well) guys like Rogers Clemens – who lied to U.S. Congress about his steroid use – or Kyle Busch – who was dropped by a sponsor because of his attitude and poor sportsmanship?
Many, including me, smell something fishy going on here and many of us have theorized that if this survey was conducted in primarily African-American homes or neighbourhoods the results may have been different.
However, to be fair, those theories may be countered by the following info …
My colleague, Lance Kennedy, contacted the folks at Qscores and they stated that their survey is “Totally representative of the U.S. population; 12% African American 88% non-African American.”
A quick Google search verifies those numbers (based on the U.S. population in 2008 (304.1 million people)):
White – 75%
Hispanic or Latino – 15.4%
Black or African American – 12.4%
Some other race – 4.9%
Asian – 4.4%
Two of more ethnic groups – 2.3%
American Indian or Alaska Native – 0.8%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander – 0.14%
That still doesn’t change the fact that this “Most Hated” list could be racially-skewed, but it does at least confirm that the survey appears to be reflective of the demographics and general make-up of the U.S.
For what it’s worth … based on all of the names I’ve talked about … without and judgement on race, this is what I believe the Top 6 *SHOULD* look like:
1. Ben Roethlisberger
2. Michael Vick
3. Tiger Woods
4. LeBron James
5. Roger Clemens
6. Brett Favre
What do you think?
* Plus, for more on this … if you missed my chat with ESPN’s Scoop Jackson from earlier today, I encourage you to give it a listen: http://www.fan590.com/media.jsp?content=20100921_113835_7980
———-
We diverted away from basketball – slightly – to talk about this issue. But it does involve NBA’ers … and race – or racism – is something that could always be touched on within basketball talks or life discussions in general!
Have a good one folks.
E. Smith
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I completely agree with you Eric. Thanks for making the point — a lot of people would be scared to.
- nickWhat worries me is how quickly people these days (and I’m sure this will be reflected in the comments) dismiss discussions of racism as “playing the race card.”
Race is still very much an issue and it’s refreshing to see someone in the media being willing to discuss it.
There are a couple of flaws with your list:
1 Roger Clemens is innocent until proven guilty. His trial is pending.
2 Brett Favre allegedly returned to play because his teammates and ownership “begged” him to come back.
I do agree that “big ben” should be on the list
- Davei think jose conseco should be on the list ahead of favre
- kevinHey Eric
- MJI think I might agree with some of what you’re saying but I wonder if you’d still feel like there were racist undertones if the answers had been that people just thought poorly or disliked these guys and not ‘hated’ them?
You know where I sit on the Kobe Bryant rape issue.
First, he denied even having sex with her then later said it was consensual. Police later finding her blood on his shirt may have helped change his mind?
After details of the case, including her name and other personal details were somehow “leaked”, prosecutors declined to continue without her testimony. No kidding.
How much did Kobe agree to pay to avoid the personal lawsuit and settle out of court?
It sounds almost Michael Jackson-esque in the rush to “pay for innocence”.
Interesting that you raise race issues as well.
Kobe Bryant’s attorneys suggested in open court that the Los Angeles Lakers star may have been falsely accused of rape because he is black.
Of course, that must have been it….
How do you put Roethlisberger number 1 and yet not include Bryant at all???
Racism or just Lakers fan :-)
Rapists and other sexual/physical abusers go ahead of steroid users for me.
- GaryHey Eric,
- GerryCompletely off topic -
Congratulations on your new morning show. I’ve followed your work on the Raps games and with Jack Armstrong in the afternoon and you are a voice of sanity and reason in an often crazy world.
I listened to parts of the morning show today and you treated the guests with respect and gave back intelligent comments.
Keep up the good work.
What?! No hockey players, Eric?
- jimI think that your list might be more racially-skewed than that of those “ugly americans”.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that the the people in the group being asked, are in no way influenced by race. They are only influenced by the traits that people find undesirable in other people; dishonesty, cruelty, vanity, stupidity,…etc.
What might affect % numbers, are the numbers of the group that is the subject in question.
In the NBA, afro-americans account for just over 80% of the players. In the NFL that number is 75%. Afro-americans make up about 1/3 of the rosters in MLB. (Forget hockey: this was an american survey).
Considering the above numbers, and considering the fact that the NFL is by far the most prevalent sport, a truly un-racist survey SHOULD result in a list with a majority of afro-american athletes. That should also hold true with the most-loved list (although that list seems to contain more ex-players)…
And Eric…Brett Favre?!
His only crime is that he doesn’t know when to quit. By all accounts, he’s a great team-mate. He’s not a dog-killer, or a rapist, or a posturing prima donna, or a steroid user, or a cheating adulterer, and he’s not Lebron-James-stupid in the way he leaves a franchise.
I think that the Yanks got it more right than you did Eric.