Ah... Jason Williams, Jason Seehorn... um...

Several years ago the sports world asked the following question: what happened to the white American athlete?
The question came up in response to the emergence of Jason Seehorn as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. He was also the only white cornerback in the NFL. The fastest players in the league, as a group, play corner. There also no white runningbacks (not fullback) and olny a hand full of wide receivers. So without conceding the inherent superiority of Black athletes (Ha-ha), is there something else that can account for the fact that there has only been one white NFL cornerback in, at least, the last 10-15 years?
Looking around, those who asked the question, also noticed that the white American athlete was disappearing from major league baseball and almost extinct in the NBA. Again why? Outside the, you know, inherent superiority of the Black or Black-Latin (in the case of baseball) athlete, the following assertion emerged: the young white athlete had given up, or if the glass is half full, "rebelled"
Amy, Chad, Kore, Holly, Josh, and Kirk had grown tired of the big "3". The over-zealous coach, the boot camp regiment, the senseless competition against the more physically gifted "Black kids"... why not just have fun? You know... Dude chill out?!! Hence, the rise in the so-called extreme sports- biking, skateboarding, snowboarding and the like. Rebel or soft? A friend of mine explained it this way, he said, "Yo Cal... you know why America will never dominate in soccer? Because, in the non-American world poor people play soccer, but in America it's the rich suburban kids". So perhaps this softness, or rebellion is the natural by-product of success. But what does this say about the future of this country? If drive, invention and innovation, come from a lack or need, what happens to a group of people who have so much?

Let's look at the three biggest events of the first week of the Olympics-

Michelle Kwan drops out of the Olympics;
The favored US Men's Downhill team doesn't medal;
Lindsey Jacobellis blows the gold in snowboardcross by trying to do an unnecessary trick on her second to last jump.


Compare these feats against the recent and not so recent past-

We looked on in awe when Jordan fought through a flu and led the Bulls to victory in the NBA finals. We cheer when teams like the Yankees and USC live up to their expectations and jeer teams like the Bills and players like Peyton Manning when they don't. Deion Sanders, Dennis Rodman, Joe Namath, Magic and Jordan put on a show, but they also won, and won big!


On the other hand,

Michelle Kwan begs and pleads to get on the team, then after a fall or two in practice gives up and quits.

The US Men's downhill star and gold medial favorite, Bode Miller, came in fifth in the downhill and didn't qualify for his next race. Assessing his performance so far he said that he didn't care about medals and could walk away from the sport of ski racing at any time without a single regret.

Then you have Jacobellis who instead of winning, tries to get freak on the second to last hill and winds up not only falling but also losing the race (coming in second). She said it was "about having fun" and "playing to the crowd". No! It's about giving your best effort and trying to win.



No rebels here. These cats are soft and the decline of America has begun.


P.S. Go J.J Reddick and Adam Morrison!