Racism at the Olympics

[Glacier]

It is a well known fact that black people don't feel welcome at the Winter Olympics. One needs only count the number of black athletes compared to the world's black population. There are hardly any, and even if we just look at a country like Canada, there are very few blacks if any allowed onto the Olympic team. It is certainly not their fair share of the general Canadian population. Instead, they are relegated to the Summer Olympics where they have "black sports". Hockey has long been a whites only sport, and even today with a few blacks allowed into the league, racism is still rampant. Take PK Subban for example.



The guy is one of the best players in the world, and probably one of the top 3 defencemen in the universe, and yet he doesn't get to play. Some of the racists would say that he's a liability on defence, but this is completely ignorant. In fact, P.K. Subban stacks up as one of Canada's very best defensive blueliners, both at even strength and on the penalty kill, and far more proficient defensively than not only Jay Bouwmeester and Dan Hamhuis, but Duncan Keith and to a lesser extent Shea Weber as well.

Let's look at the data:



In this chart, we're looking for a big blue bar pointing up (meaning that the player's team controls a larger portion of total shot attempts when this player is on the ice), a big red bar pointing up (meaning that teammates get more shot attempts when this player is on the ice), and a big green bar pointing down (meaning that opponents get fewer shot attempts when this player is on the ice). Of all the defensemen selected to team Canada, P.K. Subban not only has the biggest positive effect on his team's offense, but the biggest positive effect on his team's defense too.

Interestingly, the Chicago Blackhawks have yielded a ton more shots against with Duncan Keith on the ice. I'm hesitant to label this a deployment thing because of what we looked at in terms of zone starts, or a Quality of Competition thing because Joel Quenneville has increasingly relied on Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya to handle tough assignments, and Quality of Competition as we usually measure it doesn't really have a significant impact on long-run results.

This would seem to indicate that of all the Canadian defensemen, Duncan Keith is the least defensively reliable player, which is surprising to say the least. This sentiment is further reflected when just looking at raw Fenwick against numbers:



P.K. Subban once again stacks up nicely. Despite playing for a woeful Montreal Canadiens team, opposing players have been able to manufacture extremely few shot attempts against him over the past handful of seasons; only Drew Doughty and Alex Pietrangelo have been stingier.

Duncan Keith on the other hand gives up more shot attempts than anyone outside of Shea Weber (who is buried in his own zone by Barry Trotz) and Jay Bouwmeester (whose time in Calgary is included at the very beginning of this sample). This isn't limited to 5-on-5 either, as Keith has struggled immensely to kill penalties as well.

Between 2011 and 2013, there were 100 defensemen in the NHL that spent 300 or more minutes on the penalty kill. Of these 100, Keith was 94th in shots against per 20 minutes of ice time, giving up nearly 2.6 more shots per 20 minutes than an average player in this group. Not surprisingly, Chicago's penalty kill suffered, toiling in the bottom-5 in the NHL in both shots allowed and PK%. That is, until Joel Quenneville switched to the Hjalmarsson/Oduya pairing as the lead PK unit in 2012-13. The Swedish pair put together a monster season, ranking among the NHL's top shot preventers. As a result, Chicago cut their shots against by nearly 20%, and finished 3rd in the NHL in PK%.

By contrast, P.K. Subban was 9th in the NHL in PK SA/20 over the same time, and has been one of the league's elite penalty killers for years:



The graph means that opposing teams generate around two fewer shots per 20 minutes when P.K. Subban is on the ice killing a penalty compared to when he's on the bench, or about 24% fewer shots against P.K. Subban than they do against Duncan Keith. Once again, P.K. Subban is not a defensive liability.

In conclusion, Hockey Canada has access to the same numbers that are posted here. They know who the best players are. Let's stop the segregation of black people to the back of the bus, and let the best man play. Otherwise, racism could cost us a medal.

[Always Sunny]

Why pick on one sport, especially a sport that isn't exactly overflowing with black players? Is it really that disproportionate to the NHL as a whole? As the entire hockey world?

There are three very successful black athletes on Canada's bobsled team alone.

The fact is that certain nationalities excel at certain sports.

Canada ranked 36th in medals for the 2012 Summer Olympics and 1st overall in the Vancouver Olympics. Clearly we're much better in snow-based events.

[Glacier]

This thread is about PK Subban. Why isn't he playing despite being the 2nd best defensemen in the universe? If you have another explanation as to why he isn't playing, please let us know. It would be like hiring a new guy a work, calling in two guys for an interview, and then choosing the less qualified white guy. The HRC would be all over my a$$ for it.

[mexi cali]

I can't buy in to this idea. There are a myriad of black athletes in other sports where they are A) interested in playing and B) sports they have opportunity for. Take the NBA. Should white guys feel like the NBA is biased toward whites because of the predominance of black players? I don't think so. IMHO, this game is heavily populated by black athletes because they are exposed to it at a young age, it is very affordable and they are flat out better at it than most white guys.

The NFL has a huge group of black athletes in it. I don't really know why so many seem to gravitate to it but I do know that there are far more high performing black athletes playing football than white or other races. Maybe it's because of the opportunity to get scholarships as a means toward furtherance of education? I don't know.

It's hard to discuss this kind of thing because somehow, it's easy to come off as being racist. I assure you I am not but I gotta say that there are many more amazing black athletes in the big 4 than white. Hockey is predominantly a white guys game. We gravitate to it. It attracts the white in many nations and blacks just don't seem to care about it by and large.

PK is a great defenseman but I really don't think that he is being sat by Babcock because he's black. PK can be mouthy and that has gotten him in trouble before so who knows why he is sitting. He can also be a defensive liability because he takes chances when he probably shouldn't and most of that is because he is still young. Babcock seems to prefer veterans and I agree with that to appoint, especially in the Olympics. experience generally is a better bet when you're playing against top international talent who understand the big surface.

Here are the stats.

Percentage of black players in the following sports;

NBA 80
NFL 65
MLB 9
NHL 3.7

Race has nothing to do with it. Hockey is a cold weather sport and we have the climate for it. I don't think that many American black athletes enjoy the cold. I hate how that sounds so please don't be mad at me.

Of the ten cities in the US with the highest black population, 8 are in warm weather states.

Hockey aint their thing essay. Probably good for us.

So in conclusion, I guess I am hypothesizing that Black athletes trend toward warm weather sports which may explain the lack of them at the Winter Olympics. Go PK. Go Canada!!!

[Steve-O]

PK isn't playing because he was brought along as the spare defenseman. Simple as that. The other fellas playing are more mature and reliable at this position than what your graphs indicate, PK can let his emotions get the better of him sometimes and that can and has resulted in bad penalties. Can't afford to give opportunities like that up at a short tournament such as this. If your post was truly about PK, why didn't you post it in the health & Sports section with a less inflammatory title?

there are very few blacks if any allowed onto the Olympic team

Any one that can qualify, can and do go to the Olympics both summer and winter regardless of race, etc.

[Glacier]

They don't play hockey in the Summer Olympics. Like I said, Summer sports don't have racism issues. Google "racism in hockey", and see how many hits you get. CBC, The Huffington Post, and the Globe and Mail all point this out.

[Steve-O]

Summer sports don't have racism issues

You ever seen the US mens basketball team? Where's the white guys? Racism is not a one way street.

Anyways enough trolling. You say your thread is about PK. So is it about why he isn't playing or your perception of racism in the winter games? BTW, the brakeman on one of Canada's 2 man bobsleigh team is a black athlete.

[mexi cali]

There are several black athletes involved in bob sleigh.

[Glacier]

Dude, you have to be able to tell the difference between "funny" and "serious". The part about blacks not allowed on the Owellmpics is "funny" while the PK Suban is more "serious" though only an unproven theory.

[Steve-O]

Fair enough. Sarcasm and wit sometimes lose their effectiveness when typed out. My bad.

But still don't think it is a bad decision to not play Subban. Most interesting stat from todays game: total NHL salary playing for Canada equals 149 million.

[gman313]

Fair enough. Sarcasm and wit sometimes lose their effectiveness when typed out. My bad.

But still don't think it is a bad decision to not play Subban. Most interesting stat from todays game: total NHL salary playing for Canada equals 149 million.

10/10

[Scadam]

I didn't read everything posted, but isn't it kind of common sense that winter olympics would have fewer black athletes than summer? It's a climate and geography thing - I can't think of a single "cold" region that isn't predominadantly white.

[Bsuds]

Ever been to Detroit or New York in the Winter?

[fvkasm2x]

This thread is about PK Subban. Why isn't he playing despite being the 2nd best defensemen in the universe? If you have another explanation as to why he isn't playing, please let us know. It would be like hiring a new guy a work, calling in two guys for an interview, and then choosing the less qualified white guy. The HRC would be all over my a$$ for it.

1. Babcock has said he won't play a d-man on his off side, which means Subban can only bump out someone with the same hand as him (Doughty, Weber, Pietrangelo). Obviously with the way the first 2 are playing, he can only bump out Pieterangelo... who plays in a pairing with Boumeester, his partner on the St. Louis Blues.

2. More offensive upside than defensive... and since Canada is 'supposed' to have a ton of offense, he isn't needed as much as the "defensive" specialists.

3. Many players and fans alike think he is unpredictable and a potential liability with his erratic play. The things that make him great, can also be a hindrance at times. Over a long season, you can live with the few big mistakes he makes... but not in a short Olympic contest.

[Scadam]

Ever been to Detroit or New York in the Winter?

Pretty sure that was a joke, but just in case, New York is only 25% black - the black population of Detroit and New York is 2.6m. We might as well throw Chicago in there, I hear it gets a bit nippy, and that gets you to 3.5m.

The population of the (predominantly white) cold countries like Scandinavia, parts of Europe, Russia, Canada, New Zealand, parts of Chile, Argentina, etc... is 600 million+ and that's a lowball, before you even take a slice out of the USA or even northern Japan and parts of China. But even going with the low low number of 600 million in cold climates, the black population of 3.5m mentioned above is a whopping 0.58% of it. I'm sure there are some other high-density centers we could come up with to push that number over a percent!

Another way to look at it - if even 1% of China lived in their cold climate areas, that's 14m, or 4x the number from the cities mentioned above. Of course 1% is a laughably low estimate, and we certainly see Asians at winter Olympics.