[antares]

Do you think there will ever be a full-blooded Asian in the NFL at the running back position (not fullback, I'm talking about the running back/tailback position) as a STARTER??? Almost all the athletes at that position are black. I've heard the "cultural" arguments why this is so, but I think it's a bunch of BS. Why do I say that??? First of all, there are many, many, many white athletes on the offensive line in the NFL, but ALMOST NO white starters at the running back and cornerback positions. Why is this? Some cultural reason that whites are forbidden to play running back? Sorry, I can't picture a white parent saying to their kid, "now Jimmy, when you grow up, you have to play on the offensive line in the NFL because you are white; you can't play running back or cornerback because that's only for black people."

I'm part Polynesian (I'm mixed Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian, Samoan) and I'll say that Polynesians are in the same boat as whites in the NFL--they very rarely can match the speed of the fastest black athletes. Samoan Kelsey Nakanelua represented American Samoa in the 2004 Olympics in the 100 meter dash. His fastest time in the 100 meter dash is 10.59 seconds. That's just sad, because African-American Justin Gatlin won the gold medal with a time of 9.85 seconds. Last year, there were over 40 polynesians in the NFL. Read this article about polynesians in the NFL:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=13...&type=story
I have followed polynesian players for many years at the high school, college, and NFL levels. There have been hundreds of polynesians in the NFL in the last three decades: Junior Seau, Chris Naeole, Vince Manuwai, Lofa Tatupu, Siupeli Malamala, Jesse Sapolu, Toniu Fonoti, Al Noga, Niko Noga, Itula Mili, Dan Saleaumua, and many many more. But guess what, NOT ONE polynesian has been a starter at running back or cornerback. Do you think that polynesians don't WANT to play those positions? Of course they do. It's just that black athletes are the best at those positions because of their faster short distance speed, plain and simple. In polynesian culture, like african-american culture, sports is seen as a way to fame and fortune. I live in Hawaii and at the high school level, there are many polynesian running backs because of our large population of polynesians in Hawaii. But guess what, they're so freakin slow, and very few of them can make it at running back at Division 1 colleges, and zero polynesians have been starters in the NFL in the NFL's history (Mosi Tatupu was never a starter; he was famous for his special teams play; Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala was a big power back, not a speed back, and he only filled in for Jerome Bettis when Bettis was injured). In all these years, out of the hundreds and hundreds of polynesian players that I've followed, only ONE polynesian athlete could run the 40 yard dash in under 4.5 seconds and that's Troy Polamalu. There are huge numbers of black athletes that run the 40 yard dash in under 4.5 seconds, literally hundreds if you count college football and NFL athletes--go read Street and Smith's pre-season football magazine, or Sporting News, or Pro Football Weekly. So the cultural argument is pure b.s.

I don't think that there will ever be a 100% Asian RB as a featured starter in the NFL. If polynesians can not do it, whites very rarely, then I really don't think an asian will ever do it.

One more thing, I mean the featured starter at running back, a regular starter. Like I said above Fuamatu-Ma'afala filled in when Bettis was hurt, but he was never the regular starter.

[Battle Cat]

your wrong bro. theres a running back who is polynesian who i think started some games in the NFL. he plays for the eagles. mahe is his last name.

[antares]

your wrong bro. theres a running back who is polynesian who i think started some games in the NFL. he plays for the eagles. mahe is his last name.

Mahe is not the featured running back. He's filling in for injured players. I think Westbrook is suppose to be the regular starter. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala started three games in a row for the Steelers a few years back, but it was only because the regular starter Jerome Bettis was HURT. Fuamatu-Ma'afala was NEVER the featured back, no matter how much I wished he was.

[Battle Cat]

Mahe is not the featured running back. He's filling in for injured players. I think Westbrook is suppose to be the regular starter. Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala started three games in a row for the Steelers a few years back, but it was only because the regular starter Jerome Bettis was HURT. Fuamatu-Ma'afala was NEVER the featured back, no matter how much I wished he was.

but you got to give him a little credit. hes a "small" guy and he plays running back in the NFL. all of the other polynesians playing or have played running back were full-back type backs. mahe is a half-back.

[antares]

but you got to give him a little credit. hes a "small" guy and he plays running back in the NFL. all of the other polynesians playing or have played running back were full-back type backs. mahe is a half-back.

Actually Fuamatu-Ma'afala played halfback and fullback. While he was with the Steelers, he was the back up at halfback to Jerome Bettis. He started three games when Bettis was injured a few years back, but when Bettis was healed, Ma'afala went back to the bench. Ma'afala also played at fullback when injuries at the fullback position (I believe FB John Witman was the starter at the time) necessitated moving him to that position for a few games. Ma'afala also spent time as the third down back catching passes out of the backfield (pretty good for a 252 pound back--actually he was as heavy as 285 pounds in college but lost weight before he was drafted in the sixth round in 1998), until Zeroue was drafted and became their third down back.

[Battle Cat]

but still that is beyond the point. there are some polynesians playing running back in the NFL. so just because your polynesian this means that it is not impossible for you to reach such a high level cause other polynesians have done it before.

[Sanger4581]

it probably won't happen
the chances of becoming a star nfl rb is pretty slim in itself, and narrowing it down to an asian doing it makes it even more unlikely. and add in the fact that interracial relationships are getting more frequent, an asian doing this seems really improbable

[DaAzNkIgGa627]

Well probability wise... it has to happen sometime...
Well actually I don't believe it will
a) "Star" runningbacks are hard to come by in the first place
Asians don't have as much interest in football
c) To be full blooded is a hard thing because the whole world is mixing
d) This may be stereoptypical, so I count this as an almost unimportant reason. But Asian parents in general I think are kind of against sports, well compared to academics I mean.... Therefore the chances of an Asian getting into a sport, especially football which few Asians play anyways is slim

Asian running back has hpapened, good Asian running back will happen, star Asian running back might happen

[lakers]

no, cause we're not built like that.........

[Amicus]

not this again......

you started a thread like this last year. and it got closed.

[gert83]

antares, if u ever watched Rugby you would know that there are loads of Polynesians of Samoan, Tongan, Fijian or Maori origin who can clock under 5 secs for 40 metres, which is about 44 yards, and is an indicator of a 40 yard time around 4.5 secs.
Joe Rokocoko has been electronically times over 40 m at 4.63 secs, and 10.5 for 100m, and weighs 220lbs. Soseni Anesi, born in Apia Western Samoa and plays (sometimes - not a regular) for the NZ All Blacks has supposedly run 4.53 secs, although I'm not sure if I believe this, but that's what the stats say. Polynesians have a natural combo of speed and size which is hard to beat. If you had access to bigger populations of Polynesians than those on Hawaii and American Samoa, you'd know there are loads of Polynesians who are not only massive but also very fast. Think - Jonah Lomu (Tongan) at the age of 18 weighed 265lbs and could run 100m in 10.7 secs. I don't know what the population of Polynesians on Hawaii is, but I doubt it's huge. The Population of American Samoa is only 70,000, by contrast NZ has at least 600,000 Maoris, another couple of hundred thousand Polynesians of Samoan/ Tongan origin etc, and 50% of their "Caucasian" population also has substantial Maori ancestry. There are also 200,000 Polynesians on Western Samoa, nearly a million Fijians, and 100,000 Tongans. If the NFl had access to a Polynesian population of that size which was brought up playing Football I'm sure there would be many more Polynesian running backs in the NFL.

[BoSoxdirtdog]

Being a NFL running back is probably the worst job on a football field. You are definitely not the highest paid player on the field, probably 4th or 5th highest paid player if you are healthy enough to become a free agent.
I remember my parents didn't like the idea of me playing football in HS but I did for one year anyway. I believe most Asian parents feel the same way. So I don't think there will be a full blooded asian carrying the ball in NFL.

[BoSoxdirtdog]

This is pretty interesting actually. I'm no huge football fan. I've probably saw only one full game in my entire life. But I love holding a football. LOL. [That counts as liking it right?]

And if this was a question, do you think an Asian would be a running back; yes I think so.

Asians are starting to get their grasp and their viewpoints out to everyone. We might be starting to get everyone's approval. Some people may already know that some Asians are undeniably superior compared them. They know it but they won't admit it. I think so. Someday, there'll be a famous Asian US Navy SEAL. And someday, yes there'll be a featured Asian running back.

Can you name a famous navy seal now?

[epark1281]

Until i see a 6'2'' 250 lbs asian guy with a 4.4 40, i don't think so.

[Jeffversion2]

I always wondered this...actually today too when me and my friend were discussing our options at the team. I think its either that asian guys are too academically minded to play football in college or there are size problems like they are too small to play CB or RB, or are too large to do so. My friend Allistair is full Japanese and played line for four years at our school, then was picked up by some Division II team.

Yeah I really can't think of a white RB at this time. However, I cannot just simply think of a great great black QB when the list of all time greats are filled with white QBs like Dan Marino, Steve Young, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, and Dan Fouts. RB greats are like Emmett Smith, Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, etc. Tje most dominating QB's in the current era would be all white: Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and even my man Brett Farve. RB's ARE all black: LT, Larry Johnson, Portis, And Droughns.

I have to agree with antares that alot of Polynesian RBs here are slow, like Ilaua or however you spell his name for Manoa, he's a wrecking ball in the NCAA and can burst through holes but at the NFL level he'll be facing must faster DE and MLB. Alot of Manoa's OL guys I think aren't big enough or aren't fast enough to keep the pocket for any NFL QB. Plus I guess Manoa hasn't been playing that strong teams other than Purdue, who isn't that much of a strong team anyway at 8 -5, and Alabama who recently fired Bowen.

Alot of the football players at my school are Polynesian or white, with some asian's like my friend Bubba who played TE for two seasons. He's only 5' 5" and 170, so he'd be undersized for a WR in the NCAA not to mention way to slow. Our RBs are both Polynesian I believe. Last last year we had a asian scrambling QB though, but I think this years was a Polynesian that had a pretty good arm.

Its not impossible, but seeing a non-black RB is a very rare sight.

[BoSoxdirtdog]

Tje most dominating QB's in the current era would be all white: Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and even my man Brett Farve. RB's ARE all black: LT, Larry Johnson, Portis, And Droughns.

Droughns?? Are you serious? He just got benched. Current era QBs: Mcnabb, Mcnair.

Pats got a white running back, Heath Evans.

[HERMIT]

Yeah I really can't think of a white RB at this time. However, I cannot just simply think of a great great black QB when the list of all time greats are filled with white QBs like Dan Marino, Steve Young, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, and Dan Fouts.

Maybe he's not a great great quarterback, but former Bucs and Redskin QB Doug Williams won a Super Bowl with Washington sandwiched between the times the all-time greats you listed above played. He's not going to compare with the all-time greats in overall career stats but being the first black QB to win a Super Bowl is an accomplishment. Heck, he accomplished something Marino and Fouts weren't able to do.

[antares]

...but at the NFL level he'll be facing much faster DE and MLB...

Yes.

Very true.

Referring to the running game, NFL scout Bruce Kebric said "a six yard gain in college translates to a one yard gain in the NFL."

And that's because, in general, the athletes in the NFL are faster than college athletes. The NFL is the highest level you can get.

[jurassic5]

The NFL is the highest level you can get.

man..nothing gets by you.

[antares]

but you got to give him a little credit. hes a "small" guy and he plays running back in the NFL. all of the other polynesians playing or have played running back were full-back type backs. mahe is a half-back.

Speaking of Mahe, here is a rather humorous article about him,

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?sectio...&id=1881702