Lance Armstrong has just as many unanswered questions regarding performance-enhancing drugs (and drug masking agents) as Barry Bonds. However, the media lightly scrutinizes Armstrong’s allegations and his accusers are often labeled as jealous competitors. One reason often cited for the light reporting on Armstrong is that Americans don't really care about cycling. If that’s so, why is Armstrong a celebrity at all? Why are we “living strong” and wearing his bracelets? It’s not just the comeback from cancer. Thousands of people comeback from cancer, but only Armstrong has won repeatedly on cycling's biggest stage, the Tour de France. So, cycling does matter in the U.S. if you're winning and setting records. Ben Roethlisberger has been accused of sexual assault more times than Kobe Bryant. Tiger Woods cheated on his wife, but Roger Clemens cheated on his wife, used performance-enhancing drugs, and lied to Congress, but somehow he escaped the Tiger treatment. The comparisons could go on and on, but the question remains: why are the most hated athletes all Black men? Below are just a few reasons why Black athletes are more hated than Whites.
Racism: People will undoubtedly say that none of this has anything to do with race and the usual accusation of "pulling the race card" phrase will appear. Funny thing is that unless someone with a white hood, burning cross and hurling the N-word is caught on YouTube, racism can never be the cause for anything remotely racist anymore. It’s like racism has been limited to racial epithets and acts of violence, while everything else can (and will most likely) be explained away. Well, I'm sorry to say that racism still exists and to think that somehow sports is immune is really wishful thinking and just plain ignorant. Every one of the Black athletes I've named in this article has received some sort of communication (i.e., email, standard mail, in-person comments, etc.) from someone calling them the N-word, other racial slurs, or general comments containing racial undertones. If you ask any of the White athletes listed if the negative communications they’ve received involved their race, I'm willing to bet your annual salary that it never comes up. This is not to say all of the negative comments and feelings directed at the Black athletes involve only race, but this does point out that none of the criticism of White athletes has a racial component.
White privilege/bias in the media: For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, please see the following short essay by Peggy McIntosh: White Privilege As I mentioned earlier, the majority of sports writers are White. Of course, many in the media will be defensive because they do not feel they have any bias or prejudice. I’m sure each can claim that, "one of my best friends is Black," however that’s as odd and irrelevant as ever. There are plenty of men who have wives and daughters, but they can be just as sexist as single men with no kids. The point is that we all have biases and prejudice, so the first thing we have to do is realize our biases in order to control or eliminate them. We have to ask ourselves if we are receiving facts, or opinions based on someone else’s factual interpretation. Receiving unbiased facts allows us to generate our own viewpoints and opinions, while accepting another person’s opinion as fact tells us what to think and may reinforce a preconceived thought with little to no factual analysis done by the reader or the author. (Please see Fair and Accuracy In Reporting's (FAIR) short memo on how racial bias persists in the media.) To really illustrate the point of conscious and unconscious bias, consider this scenario: Just imagine if women's sports were mostly (90%) covered by male reporters. Do we really think that male bias and privilege would not be a part of the information we receive? Do we really think that some of the female perspectives wouldn't be lost by having 90% of the information and news reported by men? Now couple that unintentional bias with generations of sexism and gender discrimination in American society, which we’ve all been exposed to at some level. Under this scenario we would receive quite a bit of gender bias within the coverage of women's sports. The same is true in the media coverage of major sports involving men – Black men who are reported about and analyzed by mostly White men.