The 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports

The 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports

Did anyone see the May 5th issue of Sports Illustrated? The cover story is "The 101 most influential minorities in sports." Tiger Woods is number 2. Serena Williams is number 3.

Number 1? That would be Robert Johnson.

But the article made me wonder who they count as "a minority" (that peculiar noun, derived form an adjective, derived from a noun: "Michael Jordan (#4 BTW) is a minority." "Michael Jordan is a member of a minority race." "Michael Jordan's race is in the minority in the U.S.")

Yao Ming checks in at #7 (ahead of both Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant). Yao is a citizen of China. Is this a "minority?" Golfer Se Re Pak (#93) is a citizen of Korea. Very perculiar language to call a citizen of Korea who sometimes plays golf in the U.S. a "minority."

Anyway, all this leads up to: WHERE IS MICHELLE KWAN? She is certainly a member of a well-defined minority, namely "California Girl." She's the 7 time U.S. champion, 5 time world champion, 2 time Olympic medallist. She's a role model and an inspiration to thousands of young girls all over the country and the world.

But according to Sports Illustrated she is less "influential" than, for instance, Damon Evans (#100). Here's what S.I. says in prasie of Evans: "A former [University of Georgia] wide receiver, Evans has fast-tracked his way to the No. 2 spot behind Vince Dooley in Athens, [Georgia]. He had a significant voice in the recent hiring of basketball coach Dennis Felton, an African American."

Somebody ought to tell the MK Forum about this so they can flood Sports Illustrated with letters to the editor.:lol:

Mathman

PS. Robert Johnson, "the first African American billionaire," is the owner of the new Charlotte franchise (not named yet) in the National Basketball Association.

Re: The 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports

Mathman - Yes, indeed, flood Sports Illustrated with e-mails on Kwan!:lol:

But defining a minority in the US is difficult. If we consider the 3 principal scientific divisions: Black, Occidental, Caucasion, I believe the Cacucasion sector has lost the most ground and may well be the minority group in the scientific category.

If we consider the popular divisions: People of Color or White, the Whites are definitely in the minority.

If we consider the Basketball minorities: Asians are by far the minority at least in the professional ranks.

We could go on but, imo, why bother? We all like talent wherever it comes from. BTW, where do we fit the Asian Indians in the scientific divisions?

Joe

Re: The 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports

Mathman,

There was a thread last week on this at MKF. Also, somewhere in that thread is a explaination of their definition of minority, and reasons why some were left off. Michelle is mentioned as one who was left off, and why.

Re: The 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports

Here is the SI response:

sportsillustrated.cnn.com..._the_word/

Well, Mathman, I see you haven't been to MKF lately. You are missing some serious good stuffs.

Snobol
aka NCMKNEW02

Did MM missed out on all the fun there?

I hope you at least have a chance to catch these pictures post by KeithB at MKF

<strong>Warning!!! If you choose to open the link, you can not lecture Freddy's girl</strong>

mysite.verizon.net/vze3kfxr/id4.html

Re: Did MM missed out on all the fun there?

wow..those are some hot pics!! MK looks great!

Re: Did MM missed out on all the fun there?

Ooooooh MK yooo... oooooh niiiiiccceeee! *giggles*

Re: The 101 Most Influential Minorities in Sports

Thanks for the link, SNOBOL. Good explanation of the criteria for the list. Access and ownership--that's where it's at, at least in terms of this list. But in 10 or 15 years, I say Michelle will be #1 on that list--after she takes over and completely revamps the ISU, changing it to the IFSU (making it separate from speed skating), cleaning up judging once and for all, hiring Mathman to design the fairest judging system ever (with Rgirl as consultant to annoy him about "true scores":lol: ), creating a system for older skaters to compete seriously, doing away with pro/eligible categories, bringing male fans to figure skating in unprecedented numbers, and making numerous other positive changes to the entire sport--all while looking very hot in that cut-out unitard number from the COI pix:smokin:
Rgirl

Re: Did MM missed out on all the fun there?

Eltamina, I have a question about Michelle's opening number outfit (the tiny red microskirt and little else): how did they come up with illusion fabric that has a navel sewn in?

Mathman

Illusion fabrics?

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>how did they come up with illusion fabric that has a navel sewn in?[/quote]

Good question MM, Freddy told me that it is a Secret, as in Victoria's Secret

<strong>Warning!!! if you choose to open the links, do not lecture Freddy's girl</strong>

www2.victoriassecret.com/...SSWMBIKZZZ

and

i.imdb.com/Photos/Events/...70_400.jpg

PS
BTW, MM you can zap Freddy's poems, but you can not quash his creativity. I have an intuition that next time when you are out of town for the Lake Arrowhead pilgrimage Freddy will publish his Ode to Illusion Fabrics here. :rollin:

Re: Illusion fabrics?

Michelle shops at Victoria's Secret? That's where I get all the things that I send to her, but I had no idea that she shops there herself.

Freddy

PS. Look in your in-box.

Re: Illusion fabrics?

OK, Eltamina, I'll try not to lecture. But, comparing the two pictures (the Victoria's Secret ad and Michelle's version), I do have one comment.

Comment: Thank you, Michelle, for wearing the sarong!

SNOBOL, thanks for the Sports Illustrated link. An interesting point of view.

Thanks also for the heads up about the MK Forum discussion. I just read the whole thread. Lots of opinions about "minorities."

Mathman