The Rarity of Humility

My name is Patrick and I am one of Merrick’s classmates. I write my own blog about sociology, but I also enjoy sports and decided to do a guest blog for Merrick this week.

Phil Humber, a Chicago White Sox pitcher, ended an almost two-year drought in perfect games by Major League pitchers on April 21. Only the 21st game of its kind in MLB history, Humber's ended with a wild pitch on a 3-2 count. The umpire may have been partial to letting Humber have the perfect game, as he made a controversial call that Brendan Ryan, the batter, had swung at the pitch. 

Regardless of the details of Humber's perfect game, his post-game comments were remarkable. Referring to the list of pitchers with perfect games, he stated, "I don't know what Philip Humber is doing in this list. No idea what my name is doing there, but I'm thankful it's there."Humber famously spent much time in the minor leagues, switching between various teams, before finally finding success in this game.

Humber's situation recalls that of the Chicago Bulls' John Lucas III, who played for nine different teams in four countries between 2005 and 2010. After spending time in the United States D-League, Lucas was acquired by the Bulls and finally got a chance to play this season with the absence of star point guard Derrick Rose. He stepped up with multiple big games and is now a fan favorite with the Bulls (despite being the lowest-paid played on the team). Lucas's perseverance and humility recall the traits of Rose himself, and are truly refreshing in the age of stars like LeBron James and Chad Ochocinco, two notoriously outspoken athletes. 

Sports stars are role models for many, and they receive greater exposure than most other celebrities. I find the salaries of athletes to be positively ridiculous, but it's incredible to see those who retain their humility despite their burgeoning paychecks. Humber, Lucas, and Rose remind us that hard work does pay off, but also that it pays to have a good personality. 

The lone Tiger in the jungle.

Tiger Woods: Arguably the most dominant player in any sport of this century. Just take a look at these statisitcs: He has been world number one for the most consecutive weeks and for the greatest total number of weeks of any other golfer. He has been awarded PGA Player of the Year a record ten times, the Byron Nelson Award for lowest adjusted scoring average a record eight times, and has the record of leading the money list in nine different seasons. He has won 14 professional major golf championships, the second highest of any male player only behind Jack Nicklaus, and 72 PGA Tour events, third all time behind Sam Snead and Nicklaus He has more career major wins and career PGA Tour wins than any other active golfer does. He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and the youngest and fastest to win 50 tournaments on tour. In addition, there is a video game series  named after him (Tiger Woods PGA tour) 08"With all of this success, Tiger Woods was expected to break down cultural and racial barriers in golf and usher in a generation of African-American stars. But the revolution has yet to materialize.

In fact, fourteen years into Woods' professional career, there are now fewer African-American players on the PGA Tour than were in 1976. As other sports have grown to become predominately black, Golf is one sport that remains racially singular. Over the course of history, there have been few blacks that have joined the PGA Tour. This lack of diversity is due to the fact that Golf was considered a white man's sport, and often excluded and discouraged those of other races from playing. Charlie Sifford, the first black golfer to join the tour and often considered Golf's Jackie Robinson, joined in 1961 and became the first African-American to win a PGA tour event with his win in 1967. Up until that point, the PGA Tour had a clause that stated "Caucasians-only". During these times, black golfers had to instead settle for playing in the UGA, an all-black tour which is often compared to baseball’s Negro Leagues. However, this exclusion and deterrent doesn't only take place at the professional level but also at the local levels too. Up until the 1990's, majority of Golf clubs around the US had in place racial restrictions for those who wanted to utilize their course. And for those courses that did allow blacks during that time, there was often racial hostility shown to those who played by the other whites on the course. Even today, there are country clubs within our own community that restrict blacks from joining or frown upon their playing. Although the problem was worse in the past, there still remains an element of racial discrimination that prevents African Americans from gaining success and following in the sport. You simply cannot expect a level of equality on the tour if there is none at the local level.

Besides racism, African American financial situations are another factor that skews the percentages of black golfers. Our nation is comprised of 12.6% African Americans. Part of the reason we don't see a similar percentage of black golfers is because compared to the white majority, blacks are receiving worse educations and, on average, are earning a lesser salary. This in mind, Golf is a sport, unlike basketball, soccer or football, that costs lots of many to play and improve. Each time you play, you are paying anywhere from 15 to 40 dollars. In addition, the cost of clubs, balls, tees and other apparel makes it even more difficult to play.  Compare this to soccer, where all you need really to practice is a ball. If you desire to improve, you have to take lessons and practices, which costs even more money. Thus, it's more likely that the successful golfers we see come from wealthy backgrounds, which, due to the difference of salaries, which are converging but yet still unequal, often equivilates to a higher percentage of whites in the sports than normal.

Man, woman, both?

         An undefeated season are what most teams can only dream about. Last night, this dream came true for the Baylor lady bears as they beat Notre Dame in the National Championship to finish their season 40-0. One of the key reasons for their victory last night and their success this season was the play of the all American, Brittney Griner. Watching her yesterday, she was literally head and shoulders above the competition. She stands a whopping 6'8", has a 88 inch wingspan, and more athleticism than majority of the girls in the game. Being a Notre Dame fan, it was both fascinating and frustrating to watch dissect the Notre Dame defense time and time again all the while not allowing Notre Dame anything inside. In no other sport have I seen a player become that dominant and vital in a game then Brittney Griner was in this game. After the game, I looked up some youtube clips, only to be shocked and a little apauled. There were many times when she spoke, dunked, or looked at the camera with her adam's apple bulging, where I mistook her for a man. Immediately I thought back to the story of Caster Semenya, the South African sprinter who after reaching great success in the sport, in the form of a few gold models, she was tested and discovered to lack ovaries and have three times the amount of testosterone in her body than the average female. Both Semenya and Griner are clearly dominant in their respective sports but also continue to show some very manly qualities. The difficult part is what we should decide to do.

          Putting Griner in a women's league gives her a severe advantage over her competition. It would be like if a baseball player took a large amount of steroids, but had no side effects. Though this is something that Griner can't change nor control, having such high testosterone levels is simply unfair to the other girls in the league. Just like with steroids in baseball, if you want to compete with the other players that are steroid users, you have to level the playing field by taking steroids yourself. Only thing here is, no girl in the WNBA or WNCAA can make this change. For now, most sports officials seem to not want to address the issue and are allowing the girls to play on.

        What Griner and Semenya have both taught us is that gender isn't as black and white as it seems. Not only is Griner bringing in great audiences with her play, but she is paving the way for those of mixed gender worldwide.  Many people today still view gender switches and hermaphrodites as abnormal, freaks, and something that should be frowned upon. They believe that gender is something that can't be ambiguous or changed, it is simply something that is given to you and a part of your identity. However, for a few, gender isn't as straight forward as it seems and is often something that can confuse an individual As society becomes more accepting of sexual orientation, seeing as it no longer is labeled a mental illness, I challenge it to become more accepting of the transgendered and hermaphrodites as well.