Booing and Black Athletes

[Don Wassall]

A topic that we've discussed from time to time is the dynamics of booing. My experience in watching sports is that the fans, who arevirtually all white, are almost always quicker to boo a white athlete and are also much less forgiving of them over time. It's been that way since I was a kid and the Pirates fielded a team consisting of all blacks and white third baseman Richie Hebner. Hebner was a .300 hitter with a very likeablepersonality, but he was booed mercilessly while the black players never were.


There are various factors at work here, both conscious and subconscious. One of them is that whites are always more sensitive about what they're saying and doing around blacks.Most whites act differently towards blacks than they do towards whites in the same situation.


Blacks also seem to be more sensitive about being booed or "disrespected" in any way by fans. The now infamous brawl among Pacers and Pistons fans is an extreme example.


The reason I bring this up now is because I just ran across an article about why Serena Williams didn't take part in the just concluded prestigious tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California. She's not there becausewas booed there four years ago and still isn't over it.


Talk about thin-skinned! The Williams sisters are known for their arrogance, and also for almost routinely pulling out of tournaments at the last minute because of sudden "injuries." A couple of white tennis sisters who acted anywhere at all as prima donna-like as the Williams girls do would be relentlessly pilloried and mocked by the media and booed by a portion of fans on a regular basis.But poor Serena just can't get over the very occasional hard time she receives from tennis fans.


[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=201375 3[/url]

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I have to agree with you Don. I have seen this before at college football games. A black QB who isn't performing never gets booed, although people may talk about him in the stands. A white QB will always get booed as well as talked about in the stands and on the radio. It's crazy to hear a teams own radio announcer favor the black guys over whites. Take any given LSU game where there is a white QB who has a black backup. The announcers and fans will demand he be carted off in favor of the black. This happened with both Josh Booty and Matt Mauck. LSU is a crazy place with the worst fans in the world, and they (mostly white) seem to be leading the charge for blacks. I would never play ball there or coach there.

 

[white lightning]

Thanks for the info C.Reb.I don't think I will be going
to any LSU Games anytime soon.That disgusts me but it is
getting common all over.Wake up white america!It is too
bad because the late great Pistol Pete Marivich was a
star there many years ago when times where alot different.What a shame.

 

[Bart]

The booing of whites or being overly critical of them in comparison to blacks is a result of our conditioning. Blacks are never responsible for their failures, white society is to blame. So, subconsciously as a group we willscourge fellow whites and exonerate the poor hapless blacks.In essence the collective guilt foisted upon us causes us to over compensate or atone for our misdeeds. We feel it is only fair to scorchwhite athletes who benefit from racism.


On the other hand we lavishly praise blacks and elevate them above fellow whites. Beauty pageants are a fine example. How many times have we seen two or three black girls on a stage filled with beauties and somehow they always seem to place as finalists or win? You know dang well, Condoleeza Riceor Whoopi Goldberg would never finsih out of the top three.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Good points Bart. It is part of our conditioning and the myth that their failures are all our fault.
Whitelightning, your right. LSU used to be a big pro-white program. Not anymore. It is a shame that all of the last all white teams of the SEC are now the most black teams in the country. I'll bet the SEC has fewer white starters than any major conference in the country. There are a couple of exceptions here in the South though, those being Vanderbilt and Arkansas.

 

[sport historian]

During the 60s, both white and black athletes were booed. Frank Robinson was booed fairly often during 1965, his last year in Cincinnati. Red's GM Bill Dewitt felt he could trade Robinson, partly because of this. This turned out top be a disastrous trade, F. Robinson for pitcher Milt Pappas and two minor players. You don't trade a big hitter for a pitcher. It usually doesn't work.


Richie Allen (later Dick Allen, he was called Richie when he played for the Phillies) was very heavily booed in Philadelphia during 1964-69. The fans in places like Boston, Philadelphia, and New York seemed to boo players they didn't like, black and white, through the 60s. This is my observation. The players then seemed to be able to take it and still perform.


I discussed the LA Ram black qb James Harris of 1974-76in another thread. When the Ram fans booed him a few times, Harris claimed racism and the black press in LA took this up. I knew then that Harris would never make it.


I remember an older columnist (forgot the name) wrote that he had seen Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, and Roman Gabriel booed in the LA Coliseum. Y.A. Tittle and John Brodie got in even worse in San Francisco. The columnist noted that Harris didn't get it as bad as these famous white qb's did.


Don has a point here. I doubt that white fans today would boo black players as they did a generation ago.The booing in those dayswas NOT especially "racial," in my opinion. Richie Allen, perhaps the Barry Bonds of his day (think what Allen could have done on steroids), was a relatively likable guy. I recall a Nashville Tennessee writer who wrote that Allen was apleasant fellow to talk to.

 

[Bart]

My perception has been that East Coast citiesespecially Phillycan be pretty harsh on players. Wasn't Mike Schmidt raked over the coals? Richie Allen was his own worst enemy.He may have been pleasant when he wanted to beI guess . He reminds me of a cross between Albert Belle, Bonds and Sheffield to name a few. Foundsome interesting quotes about Richie Allen who later changed his name to Dick ...whichseemsa more appropriate name.

An enigmatic superstar who baffled teammates, fans, and the front office with his bizarre behavior, Dick Allen was Dennis Rodman before it was cool. Allen's off the field flare and penchant for controversy overshadowed his great baseball skills. Allen broke in as Richie Allen, winning the 1964 National League Rookie ofthe Year Award. But within a few short seasons he had rebelled against that name, and insisted on being called "Dick."

His disruptions in the Philadelphia clubhouse led to his trade to the Cardinals in 1970, and in turn his trade to Los Angeles in 1971. By 1972 he was on his fourth team in four years - the White Sox. While there, manager Chuck Tanner soothed the talented star's ego long enough for him to win two home run titles and the AL MVP in 1972. From 1964 to 1972 Allen slugged at least twenty home runs each season, driving in 100 or more three times.

He led the AL in home runs and slugging in 1974 despite bolting the team in September to return to his ranch and tend to his horses. The next season he was back in Philadelphia where he polarized the clubhouse, tainting such young players as Mike Schmidt and Garry Maddox. In the 1976 playoffs against Cincinnati he sulked and complained while the team lost. His final season saw him shipped to Oakland.

Allen's attitude problems, misconstrued or not, have left him outside of the Hall of Fame, despite his worthy credentials.
On the defensive side Allen was used anywhere his teams could hide his shaky glove. He played more than 800 games at first base, 650 at third, and 250 in the outfield. It was with his bat that Allen made his living. After his playing career he retreated to his ranch, where he maintained a breeding farm. A horse lover, Allen once said of Astroturf, "If horses can't eat it, I don't want to play on it."

 

[Colonel_Reb]

The problem is that now people are afraid to let their feelings be made known for fear of being called something. I'm usually pretty vocal, whether a white or black is screwing up, but I have noticed many people who were scared to yell if it was a black who was playing horribly.

 

[sport historian]

One more observation about Dick Allen, if I may. When he was traded to the Cardinals in 1970, he got a trememendous ovation the first time he played in St. Louis. In fact, I don't think he was ever booed for the rest of his career as he bounced from team to team. He went back to Philly for a couple of years. but had declined as a hitter. Yes, he was a butcher afield at every position he played. I mentioned him as the case of a black player being heavily booed as he was in Philadelphia from 1964-69.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

That's a good example sport historian. I've never heard of the guy personally, seeing as how my game is really college football and that I wasn't born until 1978, but still it makes a good point.

 

[Charlie]

White fans who attend heavily Black sports are predisposed to favor Blacks over Whites. Someone who favors Whites over Blacks, or is simply neutral, has long ago abandoned major sports like football and basketball when it comes to spending gobs of money for tickets and hot dogs.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I can't totally agree with you Charlie. I think there are still many white fans who want whites to play that still support mainly black teams, especially in college.

 

[foreverfree]

Richie Allen (later Dick Allen, he was called Richie when he played for the Phillies)

I still call him Richie.

John

 

[Don Wassall]

Speaking of Richie Allen's name change, we could probably make upa decent sized list of black athletes who decided to change their name, or the way their name is pronounced. After Tony Dorsett won the Heisman Trophy he decided he wanted to be called Anthony Dorsett, with the accent on the second syllable of his last name. Previously he was always Tony Dorsett, emphasis on "Dor." The Anthony part didn't stick but the change in pronunciation of his last name did.


Keenan McCardell decided a few years ago that the last syllable in his last name was accented rather than the second one.


Then there are the ones who changed from "slave" names to Muslim ones, like Cassius Clay, Lew Alcindor, and the former pre-game show announcer on NBC, Ahmad Rashad, who was an NFL WR with the last name Moore I think it was. There are others.