Catchfence

The online page of Sports Illustrated recently published a Tom Bowles piece on NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity program that, like virtually all such treatises on the subject of “diversity,” procedes on the assumption that lack of diversity is somehow wrong, an assumption projected right away – “In a world where LeBron James, Terrell Owens, and Donovan McNabb make national headlines, NASCAR remains behind the curve as a multicultural sport.”

The piece’s credibility takes a major blow thusly, because the assumption that a sport must be multicultural is wrong on its face. “Multiculturalism” is a euphemism for Balkanization, and Balkanization does nothing but destroy real diversity. Citing LeBron James, Terrell Owens, and Donovan McNabb hurts the piece’s argument more given James’ underhanded handling of changing teams, the serial insanity of Terrell Owens, and the underwhelming reality of McNabb’s NFL career, a career that despite its numbers is memorable only for McNabb’s serial ability to alienate teammates to where they rally behind his backups on a regular basis.

The piece proceeds to an interview with four of the program’s most recent “stars,” even though it acknowledges the program’s lack of success in its seven years so far and the successes of late that the piece notes are remarkably thin gruel for a program given such soaring goals assigned to it.

The Drive For Diversity program suffers right away because the reality is that “diversity” simply has no relevance to anything. Why it is anyone’s business if a sport or a team do not live up to some quota is never credibly explained. The argument that “diversity” opens avenues of talent otherwise ignores has never been credible – the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans, for instance, have used three quarterbacks (Warren Moon, Steve McNair, and Vince Young) who are black, none of whom benefitted from any quota system – they were picked because their skill set meshed with how the Oilers/Titans played football. In competitive sports or any competitive endeavor the search for talent by its nature ignores whatever barriers are felt to exist, and competition punishes those who adher to such barriers – the refusal of the Boston Red Sox for decades to employ non-white players stifled the team’s ability to compete.

That the Drive For Diversity has not seen any of its graduates show any ability to advance beyond the lowest levels of racing suggests the concept of the program simply doesn’t work – if Aric Almirola (the program’s most prominent graduate) was any good he’d be farther along in his career.

Then there is the reality of the sanctioning body playing a role in “picking the winners.” Why, for instance, the graduates of the Driver For Diversity are more qualified for advancement in their careers than the likes of Ted Christopher or Jimmy Horton or other such racers who’ve actually accomplished something beyond the thin gruel of DFD’s graduates is never explained.

The concept is thus meaningless. It simply exists to fill out some quota imposed from somewhere else. The promises of the program have shown no evidence of being realistic in the seven years it has existed and media puffery won’t change this fact any more than it has changed the mediocre talent and worse judgement of the likes of Danica Patrick, Deborah Renshaw (now a subject worthy of “Where Are They Now?” missives), and Patty Moise.

For a change, maybe the Mainstream Sports Media should ask whether the time has come to cancel diversity programs.