oxing champ in the sixties talked of how boxers are generally perceived to be the most feeble-minded athletes, and not just because of the nature of their contest but because many are black and Latino. "Boxing is a contest of intelligence and character," he said. "It is never perceived that way. It's not the person who punches the hardest that wins. It's the guy who punches when he has to punch and where he has to punch." (www.bergen.com/moresports/races.htm)Despite the enormous success of Kenyan marathon runners in the past 15 years, running remains a relative problem for the national sport of soccer. Unfortunately, Kenyans are among the world's worst soccer players. Despite the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars of the country's sparse sports resources, Kenya, is regularly trounced by far smaller countries in West Africa. In fact, there is no such thing as an East African soccer powerhouse. The same thing is true of sprinting. Kenya has tried desperately over the past decade to replicate its wondrous success in distance running at the sprints, to no avail. The best Kenyan time ever of 10.28 seconds in the 100 meters, ranks somewhere near 5,000th on the all-time list. This leaves many spectators questioning the training capabilities of these athletes. Some say that they are not living up to their potential as excellent running machines. This stereotype holds true within others sports. (http://www.salon.com/news/sports/olympics/2000/race/index.html)Sadly, black athletes have had to contend with these stereotypes that would limit their opportunities to fill on-field leadership slots, the so-called thinking positions, such as quarterback or head coaches. But the current crop of black quarterbacks leading their teams to the playoffs has helped to dispel these thoughts. In 1999, two of the top three players in the NFL draft were black quarterbacks. The story line for last year’s NFL playoff games revolves around five "min...
