Often, in reaction to an article about the lack of black quarterbacks or the lack of black coaches and executives, critics point out indignantly that there are no white cornerbacks, either. The disappearance of the white cornerback has more to do with shrunken aspirations, a lack of confidence and a reluctance to compete.

Cornerback at the N.F.L. level is the most challenging position in sports. It demands extraordinary speed and quickness. Like fighter pilots, cornerbacks must possess an unusual blend of physical strength and emotional toughness, the ability to think and act quickly under pressure.

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Nice vote of confidence, huh?

Let’s face it folks: Even though the Denver Broncos are 3-1 with Tebow as the starting quarterback, it is all but apparent he is not equipped at this point to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Period.

Against my Kansas City Chiefs, Tebow completed just 2-of-8 passes for the entire game: Yes, one was for a touchdown, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.  

The Broncos ran the ball a staggering 55 times against the Chiefs defense.  Despite Tebow's inept play the team still managed to win.  Tebow is getting a bulk of the credit but the Broncos defense and running game is putting them in a position to win for the most part, not Tebow’s play.

Despite being a two-time National Champion and a Heisman Trophy winner as a Florida Gator, some felt Tebow’s success would not translate into NFL stardom.  I was one of the doubters.  But for some odd reason Josh McDaniels grabbed Tebow in the first round last year and now Fox is stuck with him.

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“In light of Arizona’s hate-based legislation, the action taken by the NFL serves as an endorsement of the state’s abhorrent actions against the Latino and migrant communities,” said Margaret Moran, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the largest Hispanic civil rights group in the country.

“Instead of supporting efforts that would encourage stakeholders and community leaders to build alliances and re-direct state politics away from hate-based legislation, the NFL has chosen to prove an economic shot in the arm to state that will only continue to oppress an already disadvantaged community.”

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Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, thinks so. He is urging corporate America to adopt a version of the NFL's Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate when filling head coach and general manager positions.

Currently, seven NFL coaches are black and one is Hispanic. Five general managers are minorities. In 2003, when the rule was implemented, there were three African American NFL head coaches.

Unlike the NFL rule, which is mandatory for teams, Johnson is asking companies to voluntarily adopt a version of the rule.

In Johnson's version, which he calls the RLJ Rule, companies would include at least two African Americans among interviewees for positions of vice president and above and interview at least two black firms when searching for vendor and supplier services contractors.

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“Without question, Hispanic sports fans are migrating to the Cardinals in greater numbers,” said Ray Artigue, CEO of the Artigue Agency communications firm in Scottsdale and a former executive with the Phoenix Suns    . “Historically baseball loyalists, Hispanics are also becoming football fans. And, research shows that the NFL is starting to dominate this audience segment.”

Artigue is also former head the sports MBA program at Arizona State University    .

Cardinals vice president Mark Dalton points to an ESPN poll showing Hispanic fans list the NFL as their favorite American sport. Twenty-six percent of Hispanic fans in the ESPN poll say the NFL is their favorite sport compared to 9 percent each for baseball and basketball. That mirrors other polls of all U.S. sports fans showing the NFL as the most popular sport.

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Now, ESPN The Magazine’s latest op-ed probes deeper into this question. They’ve even posted an illustration of what Michael Vick would look like had he been born to white parents with green eyes.

THE GOOD

Here’s what’s good about this piece. Despite the times we’re living in, race is something no one wants to tackle in a public forum. And in the off chance it is brought up, the conversation usually ends in a brawl worse than what goes down between 49ers and Raiders fans .

 But in the piece entitled “What If Michael Vick Were White,” ESPN attempts to use a mix of fact, opinion and even a few statistics to talk about how Vick’s blackness does, and ironically doesn’t, factor into both his success on the field and the heat he takes off it.

THE BAD

There’s plenty bad about this piece. It’s too brief, too random, and too easy.

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In 2010, there were no Super Bowl commercials produced by lead creative directors of color. In 2011, that number rose to four according to the second annual study of the racial and gender makeup of creative directors produced by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

Of the 66 total advertisements, 58 agencies made data pertaining to the racial and gender makeup of their creative directors available.

"It's always our goal when we do these type of report cards that they will create change," said Dr. Richard Lapchick, who authored the study.

Overall, just seven percent of ads were produced by creative directors of color and six percent used female creative directors.

These numbers are in sharp contrast to the players, coaches and, namely, audience of the NFL. A record 111 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2011 Super Bowl which included its highest female audience, who represented 51.2 million viewers according to Nielsen demographic data.

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Hines speaks about his childhood, and why he got involved in the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

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In 2002, the late Johnnie Cochran and fellow attorney Cyrus Mehri felt people of color, particularly African Americans, deserved more opportunities to lead teams. So Cochran and Mehri threatened to sue the NFL if it didn’t change its ways. “Our motives are driven not by personal desire or financial gain, but to correct what we see as a great inequity in America’s game,” Cochran said at the time. “Now is the time for the NFL to step up and make a change.”

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In 1946, the year before Jackie Robinson broke the color line in pro baseball, pro football legend Paul Brown signed an undrafted RB named Marion Motley to play for the Cleveland Browns.

Motley broke the color line in American professional sports with his signing.

Twenty-two years later, the color line was broken in the professional quarterback position when the American Football League’s Denver Broncos made rookie Marlin Briscoe a starter in 1968.

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