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One of the most controversial topics in sports is that of racism. Some people may argue that racism does not exist in certain sports or certain levels of sports, and others will even argue that it no longer exists in sports altogether. The truth is that no matter where one looks in the world of sports there is almost always apparent racism because of such a diverse population. While it is most often pointed out in the more popular sports such as football and basketball, racism can be brought up concerning the most seemingly neutral sports such as golf. It is difficult to tell how much of the differences between racial groups in sports are the result of racism and how much is because of other social factors. An argument that is often brought up is that racism is the cause of the hindered advancement of African Americans and other minorities in the sports world.
Racial Groups in Various Sports
Each sport has its own style of racism, partly based upon the amount of people from the different racial groups who play those sports. As cited by Eitzen & Sage (2003), different racial groups tend to be more prevalent in different sports. Black athletes dominate professional sports such as football and basketball making up about three quarters of the athletes with white people making up the majority of the rest. Baseball however has a large amount of Latino players who come from Central and South America to play Major League Baseball (MLB), although whites are the majority and there is a significant percentage of black athletes too. Some popular sports are almost completely dominated by white athletes even at the professional level. NASCAR is a purely American sport dominated by whites, but Golf, Tennis, and Hockey are mainly white sports that draw a large amount of their athletes from Europe.
College athletics have slightly different statistics from the pros. A much larger percentage of white athletes make up all sports, possibly reducing...