" Yeah. It's."

" Much has been made of the fact that our new president passing game. By now you've heard that basketball taught in the -- you teamwork. And dedication. But sports didn't make the man they made it possible for him to be the man. Sports don't explain Barack Obama but they explain a seismic change. In the culture of this country. The first time most Americans all black men in positions of leadership. Was on the ball field court. Or in a ring. And of sports gave blacks the chance to compete. They give another kind of chance the most white -- segment of the electorate. Once described. As the silent majority of sports made it okay to cheer for guys you wouldn't meet at the corner bar the moose lodge the mall. All games are ones can cater to -- of assimilation for the -- immigrant classes but they were also force for desegregation. Consider the effect of Texas western beating Kentucky in sick he's sick or USC question the crimson tide 1970. Bear Bryant once said that he running back Sam Cunningham. Did more to integrate Alabama. And Martin Luther King. He had a point yes I know there aren't enough black coaches in college football. But I also know that yet another black coats will be taking his team to the Super Bowl it's no longer store. They're a black coaches in black general managers in the NFL the NBA. In the major leagues there's even a black don't know -- Dixie and I take some comfort in the fact that. If nothing else he's proven that black owners can be just as shortsighted. Star struck as why donors. But I digress African American athletes. -- those in the performing arts didn't after seeing their dance a joke their way into the mainstream. Pro sports in particular reported them an opportunity. To be entrepreneur yours trailblazers. Activate. Be courageous. And heroic. There is a direct line in the American narrative that runs and Jackie Robinson in 1947. To Barack Obama in 2009. I don't know what sports sort off 44 president but I know sports toward Americans how to beat Americans."