Race, Ethnicity, and Framing in the NFL

 After reading Chapter 7, Race and Ethnicity in Sport, I watched the NFL Combine with keen interest. In the text, the concept of "stacking" is discussed. Stacking is "the placement of people in roles that closely fit social expectations of identity groups." In NFL contexts, stacking has led to a disproportionate number of black defensive backs and white kickers and punters. In the past, this also led to a disproportionate number of white quarterbacks. Quarterbacks were seen as leaders, hard workers, cerebral types, qualities more attributed to "white" players than black players at the time. Fortunately, things have changed for the better, with the increase in minority quarterbacks and seeing white defensive backs such as Cooper Dejean, Riley Moss, and Reed Blankenship finding NFL success.

It was always odd in the past how white players were referred to as blue collar, sneakily fast, first one in/last one out, cerebral, and players with moxie. White receivers always got the Wes Welker/Julian Edelman comparison, regardless of similar skillsets. Black players were portrayed as naturally gifted, athletic freaks that were blessed with their abilities, minimizing the work that they had put in. This goes back to the concept of "framing" from an earlier chapter. There was a difference, primarily due to race, in how white players and black players were portrayed in the NFL Combine and NFL Draft conversations. Again, fortunately, major progress has been made in this area and these framings are not quite as prevalent nowadays.