Letters to the Editor
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Racial Bias In the NBA
Those of you who object to the study, how many of you have actually read a peer-reviewed, academic study such as this one before? They're dry and boring, and any popular explanation of it (like this column) is necessarily going to be a crude representation of their methods and details. I'm sure they define "black" and "white" somehow in the study. And if you think 2-4% is nothing, you've never studied statistics before. The key is the phrase "statistically significant." There are ways, using statistics (and I'm not talking about a survey with a "margin of error") to figure out when something is random and when it's not. To understand exactly how this works, you may have to take a graduate course in statistics.
Like King, I think this is not just an NBA-only problem, but a reflection on our society as a whole. Look at law enforcement or bank loans. People who say our society is color-blind are blind themselves. I can understand why Stern would be loathe to admit it's a problem in the NBA, though, because I can't imagine someone in his position saying, "Yeah, it's a problem, just like everywhere else." Because if that's the case, there's not really any way for him to fix it.
Great topic, King. I like your preoccupation with race much more than your preoccupation with steroids. :)