[JayLear]

The problem is not that he made this obvservation. Your parallels to sprint runners and the "majority" of athletes are certainly, as a whole, correct. I think where we get into trouble as a society is making generalizations such as this. "How do we get better? We need to get more black players, because they run faster!" How about, "We need more team speed!" Pretty much says the same thing, without the stereotyping.

This is a problem because as a society we're SUPPOSED to be at a point now where we don't see people for their color. I don't think it's a problem when offering it as a description. "He's the black guy over there!", to me is basically like saying, "He's the guy with the red hair over there!". But statements like what this coach said are what make people look like idiots. Doing things like looking at a black guy and assuming that he must be really good at basketball. Think about it -- maybe he's never picked up a basketball in his entire life, but he happens to be an exceptional lawyer. Or a guitar player.

Statements such as this, while seemingly harmless in concept because they're largely true, end up perpetuating stereotypes in our society that make it very difficult for us to move forward and see things beyond what they're "supposed to be".

The team doesn't need to get blacker -- they need to get faster and more athletic. Believe it or not, they don't mean the same thing.