Bob Johnson’s ownership of the Bobcats team was rocky from the beginning Since he paid the NBA $300 million for the expansion franchise in 2003, the founder of Black Entertainment Television hasn't come close to turning a profit because of poor attendance, lagging sponsorship sales and a failed attempt to start a regional sports television network

Andre Dawson’s rare combination of power and speed was recognized with Hall of Fame enshrinement by the Baseball Writers Association of America this past January when he was the only player to be named on more than 75 percent of ballots Willie Mays and Barry Bonds join Dawson as the only players in baseball history with both 400 homeruns and 300 stolen bases

At age 21, rookie Stephen Curry is half of one of the most dynamic backcourts in the NBA, with Monta Ellis, for the Golden State Warriors With the team winning fewer than 30 percent of its games, the rise of Curry and comparisons with his father, former NBA star Dell Curry, are about all Warrior fans have to cheer about

Olympic speed skating is often the province of Europeans and their North American descendants African American Shani Davis, a product of Chicago’s Southside projects, has broken that mold and brought home multiple medals

According to All American Basketball Alliance founder and commissioner Don “Moose” Lewis, what the sports landscape needs is a new professional league limited to White basketball players that emphasizes fundamentals and promotes White mainstream cultural values Lewis said he wants his White basketball players to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of “street-ball” played by “people of color

Violence in sports committed by athletes, especially when guns are involved, can affect and even end careers Even an athlete’s freedom could be at risk

Two years ago Chris Henry was the poster boy for bad personal conduct in the NFL A series of arrests led the Cincinnati Bengals to let him go in 2007

In 1975, nearly one out of every four major league players was African American From the 1950s to the 1970s, baseball tended to be the first choice for the best Black athletes

If one were to Google “lightning rod” a picture of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh might appear In 2003, Limbaugh may have made himself millions of enemies in the African American community by stating on ESPN that Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated and playing largely because the media wanted to see a Black quarterback succeed

Americans are suckers for Horatio Alger stories In a typical Alger tale a young boy, often an immigrant, grows up on the mean streets and overcomes seemingly insurmountable obstacles to grab his slice of the American Dream

Nicknamed “The Bison” because of his long strides, great strength, and animal-like intensity, Matt Kemp, 25, of the Los Angeles Dodgers is an African American baseball star who seems ready to make his mark on the national stage in October The 6-2, 230 pound Kemp will be responsible for anchoring the Dodger outfield during what the team hopes will be a deep run in the playoffs

The on-field workforce is about 50 percent African American Middle management is about 30 percent African American

Four states had legal sports betting on their books in 1992 when the federal government banned states from the bookmaking business, and grandfathered in existing legal sports gambling in Nevada, Montana, Oregon, and Delaware Of those states, Nevada has a thriving sports book business while the other three had various forms of lottery games that involved sports

Much has been made recently of the dearth or decline of African Americans in sports like baseball, lacrosse, golf, soccer, swimming, and hockey and the dominance of African Americans in sports like basketball, football, and track There have been nearly as many theories and explanations as there are pundits

Born in 1985, James “Bubba” Stewart has been called the “Tiger Woods of super motocross” because of his domination of a sport as an African American with mostly Caucasian competitors A better term for Stewart might be the “Jackie Robinson of super motocross

In 1953 the Brooklyn Dodgers made history by starting five players of African descent (Americans Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Jim Gilliam, plus Cuban Sandy Amoros) It was the first time that more than half the starting players on a major league baseball team were black

It is well known that Willie O’Ree of the 1958 Boston Bruins was the first National Hockey League player of African descent But, except for seven games that Val James played for Buffalo in 1981, it wasn’t until Mike Grier played for Edmonton, Washington and San Jose from 1996 through today that an African American player was able to have a meaningful career in the NHL

Fifty years ago, more than a decade after Jackie Robinson’s debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, no one would have guessed that the Yankees captain could someday be African American The man who ran the franchise, Hall-of-Famer George Weiss, felt that African Americans on the field and in the stands would offend wealthy White patrons from nearby Westchester County

The phrase African Americans in sports conjures up many images, including soaring dunks in basketball, broken field runs in football, majestic homeruns in baseball and world records in track and field Thanks to Tiger Woods, one of those images is clutch play in the world’s most important golf tournaments featuring mental toughness and ruthless exploitation of the game and its best players