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Yes, the Bill Gates could have been an NBA star if he had dedicated himself to it explaination. You really believe that a lot of corporate executives could play in the NBA if they worked at it?

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Not necessarily corporate executives; and I suppose it's a cute way to frame it (choosing the notoriously scrawny/nerdy looking Gates as an example of your typical executive).

But sure, there are, of course, some people in all walks of life who could have been professional athletes had they dedicated themselves. Basketball is a bit of an outlier, as most people of average height are at a great disadvantage to those who are taller.

What Grey is arguing (and I agree with) is that young black people have a stronger impetus to dedicate themselves to athletics than do white people -- again, for reasons that I think are many and varied.

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As I pointed out in a previous response, there are places in this country where football is king. If you are good at football you are a God. The kids in those places (overwhelmingly white communities) work year around at football. They have as much desire to play in the NFL as anybody can have, yet they don't make it. Why not, if all it takes is desire and work?

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If Friday Night Lights (the book, not the movie) is any indication, top notch college programs will tend to shy away from recruiting kids from the 'Football is God' type communities because they feel those kids' potential have been fully-tapped; as there is so much focus on football, and the coaching standards are inevitably higher, many college coaches feel those kids are already playing at their highest possible level and have nothing more to offer than what they're currently displaying.

Also, an intense community focus on football doesn't necessarily mean the kids are playing, practicing, or training any harder than kids where high school football isn't at the heart of the community.

Secondly, Friday Night Lights also detailed (quite clearly, in my mind) that urban areas in Texas (downtown Dallas, for instance) are quite full of school districts that have large minority (in many cases, overwhelming minority) populations that have the same kind of intense focus on high school football as the more rural communities of Texas do (like Odessa).