Robinson was a victim of the deepest sort of racism -- and a hero in how he dealt with it. The Rutgers players were victims of an idiotic comment -- their victimhood alone does not make them heroes.

It is a stretch to call the Rutgers players heroes; it is an insult to call the Duke players quasi-villains. And yet, that is what the press continues to do, despite the players' complete exoneration. "As students of Duke University or other elite institutions, these young men will get on with their privileged lives," explains Terry Moran of ABC. "There is a very large cushion under them -- the one that softens the blows of life for most of those who go to Duke or similar places, and have connections through family, friends and school to all kinds of prospects for success. They are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women's basketball team." The Baltimore Sun called the false accusation a "bittersweet life lesson for these young men of privilege."

They're upper class and white, so being falsely accused of rape before a national audience won't hurt them too much. They don't deserve sympathy. The Rutgers players were mainly lower class and black, so a single insult should entitle them to the royal treatment.

The press' racial bias becomes crystal clear when we look to the common factor in the Duke and Rutgers cases: Al Sharpton.

Sharpton was responsible for a false race-based rape accusation of his own -- he spread the absolutely spurious, vicious lie that white New York prosecutor Steven Pagones had raped a 15-year-old black girl, Tawana Brawley. Yet there was Sharpton, front and center, accusing the Duke players.

When it comes to race-baiting, Sharpton makes Don Imus look like Rosa Parks. Yet there was Sharpton, the man who incited a murderous anti-Jewish riot in Crown heights, demanding an apology from Imus.

And there was the press, treating the villainous Sharpton as a racial hero.

The press needs its black heroes and its white villains. But sometimes, victims are just victims. Sometimes villains are just villains. Sometimes there are no heroes.