On April 15, 1947, Jack Roosevelt Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie went hitless in a game that would only have been noted in sports almanacs if not for the color of his skin. That day at Ebbet's Field, Robinson broke baseball's "color barrier." The integration of black athletes into traditional white sports had begun. Robinson endured a variety of slanderous shouts, racial epithets and even thrown objects. The fact that African Americans would face discrimination in sports has never been more evident. Today, this same vitriol manifests itself in various forms of discrimination. Rhetorical forms of discrimination are just as damaging today as outright intolerance was then. Although rhetorical racism is not as overt, it continually influences a public that is largely unaware of its existence. One of the most common, subversive, and least understood rhetorical tools of racism is racism. Racism is the practice of identifying a person's character traits, abilities, weaknesses, and strengths solely on the basis of their race (Tyson 367). A familiar example of racism is the title of the film White Men Can't Jump. The title of this film states that white men are incapable of jumping (apparently) because of their race. A belief in racism is a belief that certain races are inherently less intelligent, less athletically gifted, more aggressive, more deviant in their behavior, etc. (Tyson 367). Racism defines a person based on incorrect and sometimes offensive stereotypes. The rhetoric of racism continually plays out among sports journalists and sports broadcasters. David Niven of Ohio University notes that when Nation Football League players are discussed...... middle of article...... l from Sport & Social Issues 31 (2007 ): 45-58. Niven, David. “Racing, Quarterbacks and the Media – Testing the Rush Limbaugh Hypothesis.” Journal of Black Studies 35 (2005): 684-692. Shelton, Christine and Don Seigel. “Sport: in search of the American dream.” Smith College. Smith College, Web. January 6, 2010. Simons, Herbert. “Race and penalized sporting behavior”. International Journal of Sociology of Sport 38 (2003): 5-22..Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006. 367-378. Print.Woodward, JR. “A Review of a National Football League College Publication Project: Do Racial Stereotypes Still Exist in Football.” Sociology of online sport 5.2 (2002): n. page. Internet. January 6 2010. .