Thoughts on JackieRobinson

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson did not cure cancer that day. He didn't fly to the moon. Jackie simply went out that afternoon and did the one thing he did best - play baseball.

Society, as well as the game, owes a debt to Jackie Robinson that can never be repaid.

He stood on the field, endured the taunts and jeers - some from his own teammates - and did it with dignity.

At the end of the season, he was named The Sporting News' rookie of the year. The name of the award was changed in 1987 to honor Robinson.

He later moved to second base and was the National League's most valuable player while hitting .342 in 1949. He played for 10 seasons and helped the Dodgers to their only World Series championship while in Brooklyn in 1955.

Would Robinson be happy with the state of racial affairs today? Probably not.

Nine days before he died, Robinson said that he hoped to one day look at the third base coaches box and see a black man managing a club. But even today, black managers are rare. Blacks in the front office are even more scarce.

I don't think Jackie set out to be a crusader. But he was and still is a role model.

Nike, capitalizing again on something it had nothing to do with, has put out one of its best commercials ever. It is a montage of players, black and white, thanking Jackie Robinson.

What disturbs me though is the attitude that whites don't know and can't tell the stories of black people. I think it was filmmaker John Singleton who said something like that.

The problem in Hollywood is that it has become a no-win situation.

Show a black man in the ghetto in a film, and you're accused of stereotyping. Folks, believe it or not, white people live in the ghetto, too.

Wow, imagine that.

But, show a black man in a nice suit and speaking articulately and some idiot is bound to argue that you made him "too white." Believe it or not, black people can be wildly successful, too.

Wow, imagine that.

A guy once told me that white guys don't belong in basketball. Sounds like a good idea to me. Just go tell Grant Fuhr and Mike Grier that they're not allowed in the NHL.

I always thought people were smarter than that.

I'm sure Jackie Robinson was smarter than that.

Sports editor Craig Degel shares his thoughts on sports and life every Wednesday in the Wildcat.