Air Force coach's racial comments - Page 5

David Sklansky · #41 10-27-2005, 08:58 AM

What bothers me is that no one, not the coach nor any of the posters here, clarified the situation by noting that while the average speed of a black person is only very slightly faster than a white person, the nature of the normal distribution means that at the extreme tails, where elite athletes appear, the effect is exggerated far beyond what it is in the general populaion. (In other words while you might only be able to lay 6-5 that a random black guy can beat a random white guy, you might be able to lay 4-1 if there is no bet unless one of them breaks 9.5 for a hundred yards.)

JTrout · #42 10-27-2005, 10:29 AM

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What bothers me is that no one, not the coach nor any of the posters here, clarified the situation by noting that while the average speed of a black person is only very slightly faster than a white person, the nature of the normal distribution means that at the extreme tails, where elite athletes appear, the effect is exggerated far beyond what it is in the general populaion. (In other words while you might only be able to lay 6-5 that a random black guy can beat a random white guy, you might be able to lay 4-1 if there is no bet unless one of them breaks 9.5 for a hundred yards.)

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Yeah, that really bothered me, too. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

TomCollins · #43 10-27-2005, 04:43 PM

That of course explains why there are no super smart women.

CollinEstes · #44 10-27-2005, 04:59 PM

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It's also been proven that near the end of our relationship, my ex-girlfriend put on weight. Doesn't mean that it was a good thing to bring up.

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Nice.

Didn't Dusty Baker make some comments about how black and latin players can take heat (temp wise) better than white players? The double standard is if a white coach said the same thing people would be calling for his head. If Coach Willingham says that same comment do you think he loses his job.

You know Michael Irvin probably has said something along these lines before on ESPN and he wouldn't be fired, but Rush says one sterotype about black quarterbacks and he is gone.

judgesmails · #45 10-27-2005, 05:16 PM

I asked a somewhat similar question earlier in the thread. Along the lines of:

Suppose you attend a college football game and one team was 100% white and the other 100% black and that was the only information you had on the teams. Now you are offered an even odds wager for whatever amount you want on either team. Which team do you choose and how much do you bet?

(I did bet 4 units, my maximum football wager, on TCU vs AF as a pick 'em game last week, but I knew more about these teams than just the racial differences).

Josh W · #46 10-27-2005, 05:28 PM

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I wasn't making a comparison to your gym example. I was merely illustrating the fallacy of low sample set...and the fallacy of assumed intentions. You make two bad assumptions in your gym example.

First, you assume that because at your gym (at the time you happen to be there) there happen to be a disproportionate number of African Americans, it must mean that African Americans work out in higher numbers nationally than do other Americans. Your sample set is so small that it would be LIKE saying, "I know hundreds of people and none of them are Asian, therefore I do not believe in Asian people."

And even IF that first faulty assumption were luckily (for you) true, you further assume that this demonstrates that African Americans place higher importance on physical fitness, when in fact it could simply mean that African Americans enjoy exercise more than other races, or that African Americans have more free time than other races, or that they feel a need to be in better shape because they work more manual labor jobs, or any number of other factors that could lead to them working out in higher percentages than other races (if that is even true).

Your assumption that A (you seeing more black people at your gym in a white neighborhood) means B (the African American community places a greater value on physical fitness) is simply a bad one.

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Your point B is spot on...there could be many reasons why they are there.

But your A is still apples and oranges.

See, in my example, I'm dealing with a fairly homogenous subset (my city), and you are too (your friends).

however, in my subset, I'm seeing something contradictory to my subset, whereas you are seeing something consistent with yours.

I'm not disagreeing with you regarding the important issues at hand, mind you. I'm just saying you picked a completely erroneous analogy to bring the point to light.

No biggy.

Josh

RacersEdge · #47 10-27-2005, 05:30 PM

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What bothers me is that no one, not the coach nor any of the posters here, clarified the situation by noting that while the average speed of a black person is only very slightly faster than a white person, the nature of the normal distribution means that at the extreme tails, where elite athletes appear, the effect is exggerated far beyond what it is in the general populaion. (In other words while you might only be able to lay 6-5 that a random black guy can beat a random white guy, you might be able to lay 4-1 if there is no bet unless one of them breaks 9.5 for a hundred yards.)

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This is a good point, maybe it can save this guy's job. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] I looked at the ratio in the tails for a 5% difference in the means, and it was about 3-1.

Josh W · #48 10-27-2005, 05:31 PM

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What bothers me is that no one, not the coach nor any of the posters here, clarified the situation by noting that while the average speed of a black person is only very slightly faster than a white person, the nature of the normal distribution means that at the extreme tails, where elite athletes appear, the effect is exggerated far beyond what it is in the general populaion. (In other words while you might only be able to lay 6-5 that a random black guy can beat a random white guy, you might be able to lay 4-1 if there is no bet unless one of them breaks 9.5 for a hundred yards.)

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Yeah, that should bother you more than national (and international) racial tensions, propagating stereotypes, breaking down barriers, etc.

I think being able to prioritize things well is something that indicates level of intelligence.

Josh

TomCollins · #49 10-27-2005, 06:11 PM

Rush didn't even make a stereotype. He simply said the only reason anyone thought McNabb was any good was because he was black, and if he was white, hed be thought of as an average quarterback at best.

gumpzilla · #50 10-27-2005, 07:40 PM

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They do. Just not nearly as much as blacks and whites. Like, by a mile and a half.

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How do you quantify this? Can you present quantitative evidence to back this up? It would not surprise me at all to find that careful picking and choosing of "white" and "black" ethnicities could contradict this. The concept of whiteness as a catch-all for all Europeans is pretty recent, I think.

PS. I think DeBerry's comments were unwise, but also basically what most people think is the truth and not particularly insensitive.