Athletes and Thugs

There was recently a player on the University of Florida football team who was suspended 2 quarters for eye gouging an opponent. Brandon Spikes is a good player but did a pretty stupid thing. Eye gouging is one of those "unwritten" things you just don't do. But I heard a lot of analysts describing his behavior as "thuggish." It got me thinking to why the majority of black athletes who do something stupid are "thugs" while white athletes often are referred to as only "dirty players." Granted, there isn't a positive to either description but is it race related? Think about Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson, all black players involved in the brawl at Auburn Hills in a 2004 game between the Pacers and Pistons. They were villified as thugs yet the white fan was "classless." He was never a thug. Pretty interesting to me.