DeBerry himself had a theory about this: Air Force doesn't have enough black players. His famous quote from last year: ""We were looking at things, like you don't see many minority athletes in our program ... It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well." That was why Air Force had struggled; they just didn't have enough black players.

And, alas, now DeBerry is leaving the game he loves. Thanks a lot, athletic black people. Now look what you did!

DeBerry Resigning From Air Force [ESPN]
Fisher DeBerry: Racist, Or Just Evil Devil Spawn? [Deadspin]

Brigham Young 62, Air Force 41.

We know DeBerry is under a lot of fire at his school right now — and we'd make the argument that it probably has as much to do (if not more so) with the struggles of his team than his recent "remarks" — but we have to give him the benefit of the doubt: If there's one team that has more luck than Air Force at recruiting the type of athletes DeBerry was talking about ... it's totally Brigham Young.

Brigham Young 62, Air Force 41 [Salt Lake Tribune]
Fisher DeBerry: Racist, Or Just Evil Devil Spawn? [Deadspin]

It would be far more logical to be blasting the Houston Astros and Major League Baseball for the absence of any African Americans being on the Houston roster, and so few on all the other MLB teams ... than slamming Air Force head coach Fisher Berry (sic)for literally begging for more African American players for his Air Force Team. And guess what .... DeBerry was just forced to apologize while Bud Selig does nothing.

The column goes on to say the real reason Air Force can't recruit black players is because they don't want to give up "just as good an education or better (if they want one) at other major universities begging them to attend and then go on to very attractive NFL careers rather than wanting to graduate from the Air Force Academy so they can go directly to flight school before the Bush Administration then ships them out to Iraq." It's a riveting read, agree or disagree.

Air Force And Astros Share Same Problem [Black Athlete Sports Network]

(Update: A reader corrects us: "Elston Howard played for the 1956 Yankees. He homered in the World Series. He also played in the 1955 World Series. So the last WS team not to have an African-American was the 1953 Yankees." So there you go.)

All that said ... uh ... does anyone — really, now — disagree with what he said? He was asked a question about recruiting, and he said his team doesn't have very many black players (we wonder why, hmm), and since other teams have more black players, and black players tend to be faster than white players, the other teams are faster. Sorry to ruin a good story here, but, well, is anyone out there willing to argue that, on the whole, white players are faster than black players? (Operators are standing by.) Yes, yes, every player is different, and many players — particularly black quarterbacks — have suffered from decades of instituitional bias stemming from that very fact. But come on. Who are we trying to kid here? You know?

Air Force Looking Into DeBerry Comments [Rocky Mountain News]
DeBerry Press Conference [9 News] (via The Wizard Of Odds)