Weidner's Words: Subconscious racial biases in sports journalism

In January 2015, the Comedy Central sketch comedy series "Key and Peele" (2012-2015) ran a segment titled "Predicting the Biggest on the Field Battles." The segment poked fun at the trope of the blindly racist sports commentator. Fake commentator “Harry Peters” describes white and black athletes from the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, characterizing the white football players as "intelligent," "analytical" and "industrious," while describing the black football players as a "specimen," "freak of nature" or "physically-gifted." While the sketch probably takes the issue to a satirical extreme, it calls into question how much our racial biases inform our opinions of athletes and the commentary about them.

Racially coded language has long been a part of the scouting reports on athletes. Black basketball and football players in particular are most often praised in ways pertaining solely to their athleticism, while white players are lauded for their hard work and sports IQ. In the famous Celtics and Lakers rivalry of the 80s, the Lakers, a team headlined by three black players — Magic Johnson, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and James Worthy — were considered flashy and branded as "Showtime." The Celtics, a team led by white stars Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, were applauded as a team that played "the right way," with intelligence and fundamentals.

Changing the channel to most college or pro sports broadcasts, these stereotypes can be heard. In one study conducted in 2001, Susan Eastman of Indiana University and Andrew Billings of Clemson University analyzed over 60 men’s and women’s college basketball games and almost 1,200 descriptors used for black and white athletes. Nearly 100 percent of the commentary fell into the stereotyped categories previously mentioned.

However, perhaps the more damaging commentary comes when athletes underperform. Black athletes have been found to be criticized much more for a lack of intelligence, hard work or character. A 2005 study done by James Rada of Ithaca College studied almost 500 statements made by commentators during men’s basketball and football games. Black athletes were recipients of over 90 percent of the negative comments, including 100 percent of the negative comments that pertained to off-the-field matters, such as general intelligence, character or personal interest stories.

Cam Newton, the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers and one of the few black quarterbacks in the league, was chastised continuously during his 2015 MVP season, as sports pundits referred to him as arrogant and immature.Simple and innocent actions like touchdown celebrations were spun into growing levels of negative public opinion, to which white quarterbacks are rarely subjected.

When Newton left the field after Super Bowl 50 without shaking hands with any opponents, he was criticized for being a sour loser and a "thug," but when Tom Brady didn't congratulate Nick Foles on Sunday night, those criticisms were not there.

These negative public opinions often get generalized across an entire race. The commentary can sometimes perpetuate a narrative not just of poor character among black athletes, but black Americans as a whole.

As millions continue to tune into each broadcast, sports commentators need to watch their language.