Sports Page #13

The media glorifies African American's in the media, when it comes to the idea of athletics. Society portrays African Americans as extremely athletic. This is also seen in Hollywood films such as The Blind Side, Remember the Titans, and Coach Carter. These films are predominately based on African American Athletes that usually overcome adversity and oppression. One in particular is Glory Road, which focused on a college team, which was the first all African American starting lineup in the NCAA National Championship game. Hollywood normally portrays African American Athletes as being a part of the lower socioeconomic class, but being very talented on the court. Another stereotype that it lives up to is that the main coach is caucasian, while most of the players are African Americans. In comparison to the documentary, Hoop Dreams, the athletes they follow are African American while the entire school they attend is primarily Caucasian. Sports confine African Americans to a specific stereotype that all African Americans are great at sports. This is an idea that society comes to, due to the fact that it is how it is portrayed in the media.