Reddit reviews Taboo : Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It

A correlation in a number of sports that are only similar in that they require a specific type of athletic performance , over a number of countries.
I don't want to argue what is considered race and what not, but I don't think you can deny that there are physical differences apparent to the eye, as in skin colour, hair,etc between people of west african decent and european decent. I don't think anyone can deny a genetic correlation between does traits?

So why are people so adamant to deny that there are also differences in athletic performance, for specific athletic exercises, especially when there seems to be a strong correlation within a specific group?


I have not read this book but the author seem to draw on a large amount of scientific data that seems to support what I have said.

"because before WWII, Jews dominated the basketball court."

http://www.amazon.com/Taboo-Athletes-Dominate-Sports-Afraid/dp/1891620398

> Also, simply take a look at the MLB, the NHL, the AVP, the MSL, MMA. Or should I just cherry pick two of them, like you did, instead of looking at professional sports as a whole?

I picked the NFL and NBA for two reasons - 1.) They are the two leagues that I follow most closely, and am able to speak most authoritatively on, and 2.) because they are the two leagues that put the most emphasis on explosive athleticism (I clarify "explosive" because you can make the case that hand-eye coordination and technical footwork are elements of athleticism, but I do not refer to these traits when I refer to athleticism.)

I firmly disagree with the idea that black people are more successful because they train harder. For one thing, the difference between white and black people in basketball and football does not appear with skills that one would typically train. Blacks are not better at shooting the basketball, passing, dribbling or footwork. Nor are they more accurate passers of the football, more adept at catching the ball. The differences arise in athleticism - black people are quicker, faster, and better jumpers. What's more, this is true from an early age. Playing or watching sports with kids who are only 13, 14, or 15 years old, it is already clear that in general, the black kids are more athletic than the white kids.

The black kids are not trying harder than the white kids, but yet they are clearly more athletic. For example, in my high school, one kid was the best 100 meter runner in the state, and became a national-caliber runner. Unsurprisingly, he was black. However, he didn't train any harder than anyone else. In fact, he didn't even run track until it was suggested to him that he join the team, because he was clearly a fast kid. After not even a season of training, he was the fastest runner in the state. There were plenty of kids that were training far harder, and for a longer time than he was, but were not nearly as successful. What's more, there were several other kids in my high school who joined the track team their junior or senior years just because it was clear that they had good speed. They were all black, and within a season, they had formed the state-champion 4x100 team. I think it's worth noting that I went to a private, Catholic school that was 90-95% white. Yet the four best sprinters in the school were black, as was the best player on the football team. I somehow doubt that was a coincidence.

There are millions of white kids who would love to be top-level basketball or football players in the United States, but the top-level players are overwhelmingly black. Why? It's not because the white kids aren't trying hard enough. To say so is wrong, and insulting to white kids everywhere. While by no means the final word, this book attempts to explore the issue from a biological standpoint.

> Which makes more sense? That black Americans train harder in the NFL and NBA and 100-meter dash than other races because of cultural pressure which produces the best athletes in those sports, or black people are just naturally more athletic than all of the other races...but range from non-dominant to non-existent in most professional American sports leagues because of some random fluke no one understands?

That question is both a loaded question, and inherently flawed. Even when they don't compose the overwhelming majority, black people are represented in greater numbers than their share of population in many sports, including cricket and soccer (citation). Blacks are over-represented even on the U.S. soccer team, with a number of black players, including Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Charlie Davies, Robbie Findley, Edson Buddle, Maurice Edu, DaMarcus Beasley, and Oguchi Onyewu, to name a few. And that's in a country in which soccer is more of a niche sport than anything, yet blacks are still over-represented. I doubt that's due to cultural pressure. What if soccer was the dominant sport in America, and all the kids aspired to be soccer players? Most likely, the soccer team would have even more black players. As to why no African teams win the World Cup? Most likely because those countries are incredibly poor and lack the resources to fund and develop a top team. Even so, teams from the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon have had success ont he international scene lately.

TL;DR: Black people do not train any harder than white people in the sports that they dominate. Also, they are still over-represented in sports that are not as popular, which seems to dispute the idea that it results from cultural pressure.