The 20 Biggest Stereotypes in Sports History

Are all NBA players thugs?

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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"All black athletes want to be rappers and all rappers want to be athletes." "All female sports are inferior to men's sports." These are just two of the many statements you have probably said to a friend, heard around the water cooler, or simply thought about while checking out YouTube freestyles and WNBA highlights on SportsCenter. Hey, it's cool. We've all been guilty of it at one point or another. And, as the Bible states, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Yeah...that's what we thought.

Anyway, could any of these generalizations about race and/or gender in athletics be true? Is NASCAR only for rednecks? Could all female athletes be lesbians?  We take these issues head on and attempt to dispel them in The 20 Biggest Stereotypes in Sports History.

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Female athletes are lesbians.

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The NBA is full of thugs.

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Only rednecks watch NASCAR.

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Outdoor winter sports are only for privileged white athletes.

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Europeans only play soccer well.

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All black athletes want to be rappers, and all rappers want to be athletes.

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Duke only recruits rich white kids.

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European soccer players are little b***hes.

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The majority of NFL players must be taking human growth hormone.

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If a baseball player gets remarkably better in a short period of time, he's on steroids.

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Black athletes showboat too much.

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Asians are inferior at sports compared to the rest of the world.

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Young black American athletes don't like baseball.

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Jews don't play contact sports.

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All Brazilian athletes are good at soccer.

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The vast majority of athletes are terrible with money management.

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Black athletes always marry white women.

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All women's sports are inferior to men's sports.

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White athletes lack athleticism so they rely on their intelligence to get an edge.

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Black athletes lack intelligence so they rely on their superior athleticism to get an edge.

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