One "Foul" Cry Too Many

Oh great, another post about racism in sports.

The New York Times published the result of a Cornell study that found that white referees call fouls on black players at a higher rate than on white players.

I tend to agree with the NBA's counterargument that the study's methodology was weak -- it examined the box scores, which contain the names of the referees but don't say who called which foul -- but I took exactly one class in statistics, so I'll leave that part of the discussion to others.

My concern is that well-meaning referees -- white, black, or purple -- will see the results of this study and start to second-guess their subconscious motivation for the way they officiate. So when they do see a foul against a black player, referees will start asking themselves if they're about to blow their whistle because the player is black.

Our society has become very sensitive about race-related topics, but I think there comes a point that we do ourselves a disservice by overfocusing on race. For example, are you nice to your co-worker because he's black, or because you genuinely like him? After honking your horn at a person that cut you off, should you feel worse when you realize she's black?

Race is an important issue, and if we're not careful our minds can become ensnared with nasty prejudices. But hypersensitivity is a cousin of prejudice, and too much introspection can leave us worse off in the long run.