Samoan Helps Bridge Racial Gap

 

Long considered the black sheep of an increasingly fraudulent sports community, Samoan athletes are encouraged by the recent tribulations concerning Notre Dame star, Manti T'eo.  "We've been waiting for this for a long time," says Ed Fauatea, a self-proclaimed spokesman for the Samoan community. "For the longest time the only controversy surrounding Samoan athletes was Troy Polamalu's ridiculous hair. I think we've finally found our champion in Manti."

Looking back at sports history it is evident that cheating and manipulating the system as well as the fans has been an activity dominated by Caucasian and African American athletes. Scott Goodhoff, a beat writer for The Daily American notes that, "While in the past things like doping, the usage of PED's, and many other forms of cheating across the sports world have been essentially black and white (please excuse the pun), the participation in illegal activities recently by Hispanic and Latino athletes has been encouraging." He goes on to note that "an alarming number of Asian athletes, whether they be Asian American or of purely Asiatic decent, continue to approach sports with the utmost professionalism and integrity. With the emergence of a Samoan athlete involved in a sports scandal, we have hope that American sports traditions will finally make their way to mainland Asia."

It is fair to note that Samoans believe themselves to be an indigenous people and therefore separate from established archaeological findings suggesting that they share a common ancestry with Southeast Asians. This fact however, seems to be irrelevant to sports enthusiasts who look to see more diversity in the world of sports. John Thayer, a longtime admirer of Tiger Woods tells us, "Tiger was the first to bridge the gap. When he emerged onto the sports scandal scene no one had a clue what nationality he was; they still don't. The fact that Tiger seems to be a cultural melting pot is what makes him so great--you can attach blame to virtually any nationality you want. We're hoping to derive the same publicity out of Manti--is he Samoan? Polynesian? Asian? Hawaiian? If you ask me, the answer is, yes."

While Manti T'eo is not the first Samoan athlete to enter the world of American sports (Troy Polamalu, Lofa Tatupu, and Marques Tuiasosopo have all preceded him), Te'o, aside from the fact that he is the first to have been attached to scandal, enjoys the boon that his name is not as unpronounceable for American tongues as his predecessors. The combination of these two facts practically solidifies Manti's induction into a once racially exclusive club and ensures that his name will remain on the lips of sports enthusiasts the world over.