Cris Carter: 80% of NFL players come from 10 urban areas

He was born and raised in rural Texas, not Compton

Antonio Pierce, The original AP

Here's another fact.

41-0

in the trenches I'd imagine more of your "Midwest farmboys" would be represented (the planet theory) but on the whole it makes sense. My high school has never produced a professional athlete, to my knowledge, and I believe our district has produced one (Brian Kozlowski). Individual schools in South Florida, in the Tidewater of Virginia, in LA, have produced multiple HOFers and double-digit pro athletes.

Anyone hear him last Friday get asked by Greenberg and Golic how the 1998 NFC Championship Game loss to the Falcons ranked in his worst moments as a pro?

His answer (not verbatim): "Nothing was worse than 41-0. We were down 14 points before we even got the ball. That was the first time I ever really thought about just quitting football."

Music to my ears.

Way more than ten urban areas producing multiple nfl players.

Also, the Nfl is over 80% African American, so it would stand to reason that heavily black areas would produce a proportionate number of players.

In comment 11938312 Bramton1 said:

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Anyone hear him last Friday get asked by Greenberg and Golic how the 1998 NFC Championship Game loss to the Falcons ranked in his worst moments as a pro? His answer (not verbatim): "Nothing was worse than 41-0. We were down 14 points before we even got the ball. That was the first time I ever really thought about just quitting football." Music to my ears.

bwahaha love it

I can't say I have the numbers in front of me but 80% sounds way too high.

where he got that stat but that said, as more middle class suburbanites keep their kids from playing football Im sure he will be right.

In comment 11938322 Greg from LI said:

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I can't say I have the numbers in front of me but 80% sounds way too high.

I had the same reaction. I'd like to think he wasn't just saying random words, but I can't imagine that stat being true. The only thing stopping me from laughing at it is I don't actually know.

In comment 11938312 Bramton1 said:

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His answer (not verbatim): "Nothing was worse than 41-0. We were down 14 points before we even got the ball. That was the first time I ever really thought about just quitting football." Music to my ears.

on the US population.

Clearly, he was merely repeating something that someone else had told him and he (mistakenly) trusted the accuracy of that information or that person.

Of course, if you think Carter is a jerk, you can go with: Carter heard the correct information, but he is a jerk and repeated it incorrectly on the air.

but from this you can quicly dismiss the 80% stat.

I don't think you get 80% from the top ten states

There are between 15-20 players from other countries; Sporting News did a breakdown by state in 13, likely didn't change all that much - South Carolina, 54 players; N. Carolina, 46; Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma are all right around 20.

10 areas, no but definitely more urban areas than rural

Quote:

Here's a look at what areas of the country have produced the most NFL players. 1 Southern California 153 2 South Florida 122 3 San Fran/Sacramento (Calif.) 74 4 Houston (Texas) 73 4 Dallas/Ft. Worth (Texas) 73 6 Metro Atlanta (Ga.) 70 7 New Orleans/Baton Rouge (La.) 59 8 Chicago (Ill.) 45 9 Central Texas 43 10 Cleveland (Ohio) 41 11 Central Florida 37 12 Detroit (Mi.) 36 13 Tampa Bay (Fla.) 32 14 East Texas 30 14 Cincinnati/Dayton (Ohio) 30 16 Florida Panhandle 28 16 Columbia (SC) 28 18 North Jersey 27 19 Central Jersey 26 20 Phoenix (Az.) 25 21 Birmingham (Ala.) 24 22 South Georgia 22 22 Pittsburgh (Pa.) 22 22 San Diego (Calif.) 22 25 Charlotte (NC) 20 25 South Jersey 20 25 Minneapolis/St. Paul (Mn.) 20 28 Richmond (Va.) 19 28 Virginia Beach (Va.) 19 28 Denver (Col.) 19 28 Philadelphia (Pa.) 19 32 St. Louis (Mo.) 18 33 Nashville (Tenn.) 17 33 Indianapolis (In.) 17 35 Columbus (Ohio) 16 35 Seattle (Wa.) 16 37 Mobile (Ala.) 15 37 West Georgia 15 37 Baltimore (Md.) 15 40 Jacksonville (Fla.) 14 41 Raleigh (NC) 13 41 Greensville (SC) 13 43 Jackson (Miss.) 12 43 Greensboro/Winston Salem (NC) 12 43 SW Florida 12 46 Shreveport (La.) 11 46 Harrisburg (Pa.) 11 46 Charleston (SC) 11 46 Western Michigan 11 46 Knoxville (Tenn.) 11 46 Memphis (Tenn.) 11 46 Las Vegas (Nv.) 11 53 Myrtle Beach (SC) 10 53 Macon/Central Georgia 10 53 Little Rock (Ark) 10 56 Roanoke (Va.) 9 56 Kansas City (Mo.) 9 58 Hunsville (Ala.) 8 59 Montgomery (Ala.) 6 59 Wichita (Ka.) 6

Link - ( New Window )

Calvin Johnson from Tyrone, GA; Julius Jones from Foley, AL; Darrelle Revis from Aliquippa, PA; Adrian Peterson from Palestine, TX; Ahmad Bradshaw from Bluefield, VA; Dez Bryant from Lufkin, TX; Demaryius Thomas from Dublin, GA; RG3 from Copperas Cove, TX; Colin Kaepernick from Turlock, CA; Patrick Willis from Bruceton, TN; Jadaveon Clowney from Rock Hill, SC; Jamaal Charles from Port Arthur, TX.

When Carter was released by the Eagles because "all he does is catch touchdowns"...which incidentally was Buddy Ryan deflecting the realities of Carter's drug problems and he didn't call him out for it, so he came up with that excuse for why he cut him in order to let Carter find another job. I hated Buddy Ryan, but he didn't have to do that for Carter.

Anyway, Carter was all set to join the Giants. Parcells put a claim in for him because the Giants needed help at WR and he was all ready to drive up North to Giants Stadium. But the Vikings put in the claim and were awarded him ahead of the Giants and he went on to become a Hall of Famer. If he goes to the Giants, he gets his ring in 1990. Wasn't meant to be.

for the NBA of 50 years ago, not today's NFL.

He's from Middletown, OH, 40 miles away from Cincy

Calvin Johnson is from Atlanta (Tyrone is just south)....so what Johnson should have said is that most of the US population is in driving distance of a bad neighborhood?

Should have said, excuse me...

Pot - is smoking considered normal behavior for most NFL players due to the environment they were brought up in? what are the socio-economic factors of the players vs the rule makers and is it too unrealistic? is advising and mentorship enough? very tough topic to discuss

than Texas

they did not break down the top 2 into actually cities like the rest.

if you cant stop smoking weed...oh well....suffer the consequences. I could see if a guy gets addicted to some pain killers or something at least that is work-related...give 'em paid time off and rehab and does not count against the cap (at least the 1 offense).

what would happen if Jimmy the Greek ever said that?

.

Is no surprise to me.

In comment 11938394 Greg from LI said:

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He's from Middletown, OH, 40 miles away from Cincy

You know some folks do that. I think it's a Midwest thing, but maybe it happens in other places so I can't hold that against him.

Like here, there are many people who didn't go up in Chicago but say they are from it because they grew up in the outlying areas. I would ask specifically where a person would be from and they would give me the suburb/town and I would picture where it is and realize its an hour or two away.

Michigan people do this a lot too. They say they are from Detroit, but when you dig deeper, it is some town out in the sticks that has a population of like 7 people.

It's likely folks from all over the country do that when they speak of where they grew up.

from Western PA.

If you're from a suburb, especially a smaller one, of a big city, and you move away, people you meet often won't be familiar with your little suburb. Move to South Carolina and tell people "I'm from Buckeye, Arizona", you then have to explain where Buckeye is because no one in SC has any idea. So you just say "I'm from Phoenix", and you don't have to do any explaining.

In this case, though, Cris Carter is trying to make some kind of socioeconomic statement that most NFL players are from a few high crime cities. Growing up in inner-city Cincinnati and growing up in Middletown are, I would guess, two entirely different things.

My wife has relatives in Western PA and it's not the same place that bred those great football players from the past.

I'd compare it to a place like Uniondale, L.I.

It's actually closer to Dayton (26 miles) than it is to Cincinnati.

I used to live in Dayton so if I was taking 75 South once you pass Middletown you're not far from the outer suburbs of Cincy. Plus their High School was in a conference w/ schools from those suburbs so I always linked it more to Cincy than Dayton.

Give them millions and they stay the same....
Instead of makin better life for themselves and others

.

In comment 11939105 SBlue46 said:

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Give them millions and they stay the same.... Instead of makin better life for themselves and others

That explains the constant carriage returns - tough to see the screen from beneath your pointy hood.

What would be an interesting question for Carter is how would he view his career if he ended up on the Giants and won the SB in 90 (and possibly even 1 or 2 more if he was on board), but did not have the HOF career. Because if he ended up on the Giants the odds of him putting up HOF numbers were extremely thin.