Posted by Jay Livingston
In basketball, assaulting another player on the court used to be called, in ancient times, “playing dirty.” In more up-to-date language, it is a gift bestowed. Jabbing an elbow into the another player’s face or clotheslining a player who is in midair is called “giving the hard foul.”
Of course, you don’t want your starters fouling out. So some observers believe that teams have specialists – designated hitters – who the coach sends in to do this giving.
To verify that the basketball goon is not a myth, Nick Jaroszewicz at the Harvard College Sports Analysis Collective looked at patterns of fouls in the major conferences of the NCAA (the “Big 6”). He was looking for players who didn’t play many minutes but who did pick up a high number of fouls in their brief moments on the court. He found nine.
Jaroszewicz notes that six of the nine are in the Big East. He might have added, but didn’t, that five of the nine are white, a proportion well in excess of that race’s overall representation in these conferences.
What do you think race has to do with it?
ReplyDeleteIf I had to pick (assuming there's no penalty for a wrong answer on multiple choice), I'd go with D. But the truthful answer is I don't know.
ReplyDeleteBut consider G: whites are actually better at this job of (to use a hockey term) enforcer. Why? Because white players can get away with rougher play and just get a penalty and not get kicked out of the game).
Just an idea. I'm not a fan of basketball.