Astros - Preston Wilson
So the Astros pick up Preston Wilson. At best a sideways move. Yes, he had some key hits for the Nationals and his numbers look good, but he played in Colorado for quite a while and that town tends to inflate stats quite a bit. Average player.
What's infuriating, though, is listening to our local sports talk jackasses, Rich Lord and Mark Vandermeer discussing the move. They actually brought up that race (Preston is black) might have played a part in the signing as the Astros at that point had no 'black' players on the roster. They lamented that Major League Baseball as a whole only had 10% black athletes. Black population in the US is around 14% .
Vandermeer, in brilliant analysis, brought up the fact that a Major League roster is 30 players. Therefore the Astros should have at least 3 black players. What!? There are quotas in baseball? BULLSHIT! Baseball, as all sports are merit based. You are compensated based on talent. Period.
Then they intimated that this was a marketing move to get the black fan to the park. Again, What?!
The entire conversation implied old boy racism. In fact, it showed an inherent racism in the sportscaster, looking for problems where they do not exist.
Professional sports are based on skill, period. A player's value is based on his ability. His paycheck is based on his ability (and a good agent).
Given the demographic argument presented by Lord and Vandermeer, let me play devil's advocate and ask a few questions:
Why are there so few whites on the Texans, given there demographic distribution in the country? Is it racism?
Why are there so few Hispanics on the Texans, given there demographic distribution in the country? Is it racism?
Why are there so few Asians in any major sport? Is it racism?
Answer to all of the above? NO.
Let's continue.
Why are there no Black sports commentators on the 610 lineup? Is it racism? Are Kevin Bass contributing during the Astros season and Andre Ware calling during the Texan's season marketing ploys to bring in the Black audience? Why does the regular staff not reflect the demographics of the USA?
Stupid commentary by inherently ignorant people, creating controversy where there is none to generate callers. Again, Bullshit.
