Here's the entire article sunshine mentioned.
<h1>Out Of The Running</h1>
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They will
usually accept the backhanded compliments without complaint: "Hey,
you're pretty fast for a white dude." They will smile when they get
tagged with a nickname like Eminem or K-Fed. (Get it? They're Caucasian
guys trying to do what African-Americans tend to do better.) White
running backs will take all the good-natured teasing you've got, and
they'll ask for only one thing in returnâ€"the football.
Doesn't
seem like much, does it? Just give them the ball and with it the chance
to prove that productive rushers come in more than one shade. But
coaches don't seem to have that handoff in their playbook. You're more
likely to see Bill Belichick dance the hokeypokey on the sideline than
find a white tailback in the NFL. There isn't a single white feature
back on any of the 32 teams; through Sunday the Bengals' Brian Leonard
led all white rushers in carries, with 24 (for 66 yards). White running
backs break through slightly more often on the college level, where
Stanford's Toby Gerhart is third in the nation in rushingâ€"but there is
only one other white back, Nevada's Luke Lipincott, among the top 50
ground-gainers. Of the BCS teams Stanford is the only one whose primary
running back is white.
Maybe you're thinking that the
racial imbalance is because Caucasian backs just can't keep up. You
watch Adrian Peterson and Maurice Jones-Drew and say, "Find me a white
runner who can do that." But there's plenty of anecdotal evidence to
suggest that white backs haven't been competing just against other
players; they've also been battling the perception that they're not cut
out for the job. Four years ago Gerhart was a hotshot at Norco (Calif.)
High, visiting USC on a recruiting trip with fellow runners C.J. Gable
and Stafon Johnson, who are black. The Trojans told Gerhart they would
love to have himâ€"as an outside linebacker or a fullback to block for
guys like Johnson and Gable.
That's a little like being
told the leading role is going to another actor, but how'd you like to
be his bodyguard? Says Norco High coach Todd Gerhart of his son, "Even
today with all he's done I had a linebacker coach say to me, 'You give
me one year with him, and I'll turn him into Junior Seau.'"
Gerhart
eventually got his college chance, but others, like Dillon Romain, are
still waiting. Last spring Romain seemed to have the necessary
credentials to attract droves of college recruiters. He's big enough
(5'11", 210 pounds) and fast enough (4.46 in the 40 according to
Scout.com, a recruiting website), and as a senior at powerhouse Don
Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J., he rushed for 1,435 yards and 25
touchdowns, earning the state's Gatorade Player of the Year award. Each
of the previous 10 winners of that honor earned Division I
scholarships, including three current NFL players, Broncos quarterback
Chris Simms, Bears tight end Greg Olsen and Jaguars offensive tackle
Eugene Monroeâ€"but not Romain. When he received no D-I offers by
national signing day, he decided to take a postgraduate year at Blair
Academy in Blairstown, N.J.
For those who do reach the
NFL, the path doesn't get any easier. In 2003 Brock Forsey was a Bears
backup who started one game in place of injured starter Anthony Thomas
and was spectacular, rushing for 134 yards and a touchdown on 27
carries. The next week Thomas returned to the lineup and Forsey went
back to the bench, getting only three carries. He never started another
NFL game. "It's hard to tell exactly what happened," says Forsey, who
starred at Boise State and is now an executive at a title and escrow
company in Nampa, Idaho. "No one ever said anything about race. But
there may be some preconceived notions out there. A white guy from
Idaho isn't what you have in mind when you envision an NFL running
back."
Evaluating players shouldn't be about what we
envision but what we see. That lesson should have been learned from the
decades of discrimination against black quarterbacks at colleges and in
the pros. Despite the obvious parallels, no one seems to be as
concerned that white tailbacks are getting the same treatment. "I did
dozens of interviews about the lack of opportunity for an
African-American to be a QB back in the 1980s and early '90s," says
Richard Lapchick, director of the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in
Sport at Central Florida, "but this is only the second time I have been
asked about the lack of opportunity for whites to be running backs."
Maybe that's because racism isn't the culprit here; it's mostly white
coaches and talent evaluators who are choosing black running backs over
white ones. But it doesn't make the color line any less real.
It's
not that football needs to aim for some acceptable distribution of
races throughout the field, and it's not that every white would-be
tailback who is passed over or directed to a different position is the
victim of stereotyping. It's about equality of opportunity, just as it
has always been. The sports world may be enlightened enough not to
immediately dismiss the idea of African-Americans as quarterbacks or
coaches anymore, but maybe we haven't come as far as we thought. Maybe
we've just found a new demographic to discourage. The dashing of dreams
is always an ugly thing, no matter what shade the dreamers come in.
Talk Back
If you want to comment on Point After or suggest a topic, send an e-mail to
PointAfter@si.timeinc.com
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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1163298/index.htm
Edited by: Colonel_Reb 
