American Stereotypes In Sports

Sports in the United States of America has been a great source of entertainment for Americans. However, just like much of American history; sports too and have a difficult past of equality. From issues such as race, gender, and national origin; are just some of the areas of concern that were and continue to be an issue of American sports. With each specific sport, there has been over time some apparent stereotypes that have attached itself to that sport. Some of these stereotypes have racial undertone and then some have to deal with sexuality. No matter the situation American sports stereotypes have affected the image of how certain individuals are portrayed due to those stereotypes. The National Football League (NFL) is the most popular and

The NFL took in a revenue of over 13 billion dollars in 2016, making it not only the highest revenue for a sports league in the US but in the world (Kutz, 2016). The league is also currently dominated by the black player at an overwhelming rate of 70 percent. Why, am I stating these facts, simply because a league such as this, one might just assume that stereotypes of its players no longer exists. The NFL currently has 32 teams and out of those teams, only six of them have a black starting quarterback. Times in the NFL have changed since the early days as there are multiple black quarterbacks in the league but who are not starters. For former NFL player and Hall of Famer of the Houston Oilers Harold Warren Moon; however, his struggle was very much different than players of today. Warren Moon played in the NFL for seventeen years with ten years spent with the Houston Oilers. During the 70’s and 80’s being a black quarterback in the was a position reserved for white players, as coaches often tried to turn them into a Defensive Back instead. There was this stereotype about black players ability to be a QB during this era. These concerns about black players intellectual capacity consisted of “reading defenses, understanding schemes, and being the face of a franchise” (Powell, 2016). As of today, though, the Houston Oilers no

With its evolution, the involvement of women in the sport has also grown. There are many leagues around the world that are women leagues but the WNBA is the queen of them all. Just like other sports this one too has a typical stereotype associated with it. The sexuality of women participating in the sport is often labeled as gay players. Former New York Liberty basketball player Candice Wiggins stated that “98% of the WNBA are gay” (Avery, 2017). She has received harsh criticism for the comment because of her generalization. It is true that some of the current and former players have come out as being gay, however, there has been no statistical data to prove her claims. This type of stereotype is often believed due to the sport itself as being viewed as a man’s sport, unlike cheerleading, gymnastics, or softball. The societal norms of femininity and gender roles of women associated with basketball are often challenged by their involvement in the sport. The American culture has frequently labeled women as soft and weak individuals in regard to sports. Therefore, if they are to “challenge the masculine domain of athletics, asserting qualities like power, competitiveness, and ego” (Martinez, 2016), they are seen as too manly. There are many players like those former New York Liberty teammates of Candice Wiggins who are heterosexual. However, just like in any other sport there are