On MLK day, time to take note....

On the holiday to honor Martin Luther King, it is only fitting to reflect a bit on the state of racial equality in American sports today.

To begin with, let us thing about were we were in 1968. The sports world was just barely coming to grips with racial equality in America. Major league baseball's Jackie Robinson, the first black man to ever play in major league baseball was a key player, (pun not intended), in forming the first black-owned bank in America. In tennis, Arthur Ashe became the first winner, (of ANY race), to win the US Open, and led the American team to a Davis cup victory. In the NBA, Louisville's own Wes Unseld won the NBA's Rookie of the year award.

But even with those successes, there were ugly reminders of just how divided and segregated the country was about its racial feelings.

In this year, the sport of golf was still dominated by country clubs that would not let "those of color" in as members, (and never would have allowed a woman either, I might add.)

In October of 1968 the summer olympics were held in Mexico City. In the 200 m medal award ceremony, two african-american athletes Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze) raised their black-gloved fists as a symbol of Black Power. As punishment, the International Olympic Committee banned them from the Olympic Games for life. A "punishment" that did not reflect the correct statement of the subject the two athletes wanted the world to know about.

The aforementioned Arthur Ashe was also denied a visa to South Africa, thereby denying him even the opportunity to play in the South African Open tennis championships.

Fast forward 40 years, and things HAVE changed. For the better. In the media, we almost never hear the phrase uttered, "so-and-so athlete/coach was the first person of their race to be champion/member/owner/coach". We have begun to honor athletes AND coaches, not for being of a particular race which made "x" type of accomplishment, but instead to honor and praise them for their talent and skill AS athletes and coaches.

African-American athletes enjoy unprecedented support and praise from the sporting world. But it goes beyond just african-americans. The message of Martin Luther King was that he wanted to see beyond all colors of race, not just black and white. And today we are seeing that. Look at the NBA and you will not see it dominated by white or black athletes, but also athletes from other races across the globe. Hispanic and Asian both have equal representation. The same goes for major league baseball, in which the racial diversity has expanded far across the globe to the point where some teams travel with multi-lingual interpretors for their players to communicate with their coaching staff and other players. We see women's sports increasing, not only in quantity, but also in acceptance and national exposure, which gives women more opportunities than ever before for careers in professional sports.

Still, we have a long ways to go. That was never more evident than last years racial epithets thrown at Serena Williams during a tennis match, in which resulted in the removal of a fan from the stands.

Or the unfortunate, and VERY poor taste, mind slip by a golf announcer in choosing the word "lynch" with regard to one of the greatest golfers of all time, who just happens to be african-american. And while the female announcer immediately apologized and admitted it was a very poor choice of words, and most of the nation forgave her as an error of judgement, we were shocked by the provocative and heinous visual use of a picture of a noose on the frontpage of a weekly golf magazine. One in which the editor of the magazine was summarily, and correctly, fired over.

We have made progress. But as these examples show, we still have more to overcome. Even 40 years after Martin Luther King's death.