I also figured out, after several years of sampling the gay lifestyle, that I'd better go straight if I wanted to get any work in the hurly-burly world of sports.

Ah, welcome, dear readers, to this week's column, tentatively entitled, "He Said, She Said: Fisher DeBerry Talks The Talk, Sheryl Swoopes Walks The Walk."

DeBerry expressed that were regrettable and immediately defended; Swoopes expressed a sexuality that remains closeted and often derided. Both story lines tell us that, in 2005, America still can't quite get it right.

"It's very obvious to me the other day that the other team had a lot more Afro-American players than we did, and they ran a lot faster than we did. Afro-Americans can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's obvious to me that they run extremely well."

On ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," Michael Wilbon said, "The politically correct police would go into hysteria to say this guy has anything to apologize for. Nothing to apologize for, as far as I'm concerned. He didn't say anything out of place."

Wilbon and co-host Tony Kornheiser -- incidentally, Wilbon is the younger one with the shaven head, Kornheiser is the older one with a few strands of hair left from his distant youth -- both pointed out that blacks indeed are faster than whites, so what's the big deal here?

The big deal is this: DeBerry did say something "out of place" and it has nothing to do with being politically correct. Because of what use is this dialogue on which race is fleeter? What exactly is the point of attaching characteristics to various groups? Does it make sense to figure out if blacks are faster or slower than whites, smarter or dumber? Where does this lead us?

Wilbon tells us that DeBerry simply said what everyone knows or thinks. Well, why are we even thinking this? What is gained by generalizing about particular groups, whether it be ethnic, religious or racial?

Which brings us to the sad case of Swoopes, the WNBA star forced to live a public lie for years for fear of being ostracized and losing professional steam.

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