From racial slurs on Twitter to disgraceful team owners, an athlete’s race is made distinguishable from the team. It’s apparent that a player’s skin color has been coming before their athletic abilities and the problem seems to be getting worse.

But sports are meant to discriminate against lack of talent, not skin-pigmentation. Sports have no color preference, so why do we?

It’s as if some people in this nation are on a perpetual flight to a town called ‘Ignorance.’

Sitting in first class would be Donald Sterling, former owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, whose now confirmed voice slurred racial injustices towards African-Americans.

He received a lifetime-ban from the league for his discriminatory rant.

But he didn’t earn the ban because he was discriminating against the ethnically diverse Clippers players—he earned the ban by slandering an entire nation.

He’s not only senile—he’s selectively color-blind; his mixed-race mistress can’t associate with Magic Johnson.

Jackie Robinson, the first African-American athlete to play baseball, chipped away at this unspoken racism by showing America that raw talent identifies with no color.

Robinson tore down decades of segregation in sports but it would take more than a few swings at the ball of racial inequality to eliminate this prejudice.

Fast forward to 2014, where leagues have progressed to being non-discriminatory.

But, the fans seem to be stuck in the past.

After scoring the game-winning goal in double-overtime against the Boston Bruins in Game 1 of the NHL Playoffs, Montreal Canadiens player P.K. Subban was the recipient of disgraceful, discriminatory tweets.

“The Bruins will come back but Subban will always be a n*****,” Tweeted a hockey fan.

The Tweets were so appalling that the Bruins’ President, Cam Neely, quickly combated the prejudiced remarks and said in no way did his organization support or condone the words.

Being a sports fan today should go beyond hot dog eating, jersey-wearing and foam finger rituals. It’s the intrinsic connection you feel to the game and its players.

Fans, players and staff need to identify with a team’s jersey color and recognize the talent that occupies it, not skin-color and the hindrances it allows.

But more often than not, an athlete is singled out for this.

In fact, the media makes it worse as it reiterates the event as if it’s the morning weather update. They repeatedly call attention to the racism battle, evoking the idea of ‘us’ and ‘them.’

Even writing this article perpetuates our nation’s unjustified intolerance.

So lets ban the bitter 80-year-old; let’s combat the Tweets, but let’s stop reliving the moment and start looking at the color of the jersey.