The Great White Hope in Basketball

[yh]

Whether or not St. Zephyr is racist I make no comment on.

However, I disagree with the rest of this post.  I think that it is important to have diologue on race--to discuss our cultural differences and distrust of each other.  Why is it that certain races make more money on average, etc.?

I think that when there are multiple races involved that race is ALWAYS an issue.  That does not mean that everyone (or even anyone) is a racist.  A black and white married couple have racial issues with each other, I suspect--even if it is little cultural things--this does not mean aruguments, so much as jsut being an underlying thing that is always there.  And I am sure it exists in a sports locker room--even if everyone gets along and are friends. 

Acknowledging race does not make one a racist.  In fact, sometimes it is flat necessary.

Ah, but acknowledging difference in races is exactly what causes the very problems you speak of. We are all people -- that's it. We are all individuals, so there are definite differences there. But there is no in-between: We are individuals, and we are part of ONE group. There are no intermediary groupings. And any intermediary groupings that you perceive are created by people for the sole purpose of causing a schism. So don't acknowledge them! Simply say that people are people, and let that be the end of it.

Yes it is that simple. Yes I believe it can be done. I believe everyone can do that, and I believe someday everyone will do that. I believe in the greater goodness in all of us.

All I ask is that you try.

With all due respect, your aspirations for society, while commendable, are simply not going to come to fruition. Every society has a hierarchical and/or class structure which often takes biological characteristics such as pigmentation into account. This is true in the animal kingdom and its true in the human species. There are always going to be differences in appearance and culture and so long as those differences exist, there will always be groups of people who will recognize those differences and use them in some form or another to segregate or discriminate. It's a law of nature yet to be disproven. I just don't see a day when we live in a completely homogeneous society.

[mjrbaseball]

I just don't see a day when we live in a completely homogeneous society.

I do.

It's that hope that keeps me going.

[OnWis97]

Whether or not St. Zephyr is racist I make no comment on.

However, I disagree with the rest of this post.  I think that it is important to have diologue on race--to discuss our cultural differences and distrust of each other.  Why is it that certain races make more money on average, etc.?

I think that when there are multiple races involved that race is ALWAYS an issue.  That does not mean that everyone (or even anyone) is a racist.  A black and white married couple have racial issues with each other, I suspect--even if it is little cultural things--this does not mean aruguments, so much as jsut being an underlying thing that is always there.  And I am sure it exists in a sports locker room--even if everyone gets along and are friends. 

Acknowledging race does not make one a racist.  In fact, sometimes it is flat necessary.

Ah, but acknowledging difference in races is exactly what causes the very problems you speak of. We are all people -- that's it. We are all individuals, so there are definite differences there. But there is no in-between: We are individuals, and we are part of ONE group. There are no intermediary groupings. And any intermediary groupings that you perceive are created by people for the sole purpose of causing a schism. So don't acknowledge them! Simply say that people are people, and let that be the end of it.

Yes it is that simple. Yes I believe it can be done. I believe everyone can do that, and I believe someday everyone will do that. I believe in the greater goodness in all of us.

All I ask is that you try.

I completely agree with the sentiments that we should conduct ourselves in a manner that people are people and that in our day-to-day lives it is beyond important that we act as such. There is nothing worse than racism. On a personal level it is your job, my job, everyone's job to smooth out the problems that we have.

However, on a larger societal level, racial problems exist. Some races are faring much better than others and there is some importance to understand why that is--or some people may use socioeconomic status to say "blacks are dumb" or "blacks are lazy."

We all think about and notice race--this does not make it racism. We are always going to notice race. The simple recognition of race is never going away and cannot be blamed for racism. Human lazyness is to blame. Scapegoating is easy. Avoiding the tough diolague and tough questions is easy.

My heart tells me that you are right and that we will be able to have much less tension in this area one day. But my head is with YH--it will always be a problem, at least for the forseeable future. There's a long way to go.

[BaltimoreFan]

I typically dislike most white basketball players. It has nothing to do with their skin tone, just some weird thing.

I liked Larry Bird.

I HATED John Stockton. No idea why.

I hated Nick Smith from Illinois. But everyone did.

I hate JJ Redrick. No idea why, mainly duke.

I hate Adam Morrison. No clue why, maybe the 'stache.

I can't think of a single white basketball player I've liked...ever. What's that make me...an Uncle Wellington or something?

I agree with your. I'm white, but I hate alot of white players. It seems like they are very cocky or pampered when they were younger. However I do like West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle and Mike Gansey because they don't seem like that (I kinda see them as having a similar upbringing as I did, not rich). When I root for players it tends to be like this:

1.) Italian-Americans- I've always tended to like Italians especially in baseball. I'm really excitied because Andrea Bargnani and Marco Belinelli are supposed to be coming to the NBA in the next two drafts. I'm probably going to be pulling for them alot.

2.) Maryland Born- I like alot of players who were born in Maryland, even if they don't play locally or attended local universities. I root for Carmelo Anthony and Mark Teixeira alot.

3.) Current and Former Player of Local Teams- If I liked a player alot when he played for a Baltimore team I'll continue to root for him if he leaves. As hard as it is I still hope that Mike Mussina pitches well and someday gets to 20 wins in a season, despite playing for the hated yankees.

[leopard88]

As hard as it is I still hope that Mike Mussina pitches well and someday gets to 20 wins in a season, despite playing for the hated yankees.

Off topic -- I have to disagree with you in this particular case, even though I generally wish good things for ex-Orioles. Even though Angelos screwed up the negotiations with Mussina (big surprise) by refusing to make a reasonable offer before the season began, I hope the Curse of Moose (that he has failed to win his precious World Series ring since signing with the Evil Empire) continues for yet another season.

We now return you to this PBS Frontline Special -- "Race in America".

[BaltimoreFan]

As hard as it is I still hope that Mike Mussina pitches well and someday gets to 20 wins in a season, despite playing for the hated yankees.

Off topic -- I have to disagree with you in this particular case, even though I generally wish good things for ex-Orioles. Even though Angelos screwed up the negotiations with Mussina (big surprise) by refusing to make a reasonable offer before the season began, I hope the Curse of Moose (that he has failed to win his precious World Series ring since signing with the Evil Empire) continues for yet another season.

We now return you to this PBS Frontline Special -- "Race in America".

Sorry to everyone else for remaining off-topic. Anyway, normally I would agree with you. However Angelos really screwed Mussina over. Mussina most likely signed with the yankees because Angelos really hates them. I doubt he did it to get a World Series ring like so many O's fans seem to think (unless there was some kind of quote from Mussina I missed). I truly think that if Angelos gave Mussina a fair offer, but he did not want to return to the O's, he would not have signed with the yankees.

[CS85]

I'd sooner have a guy of any race breakout as a star in the nba that:

1. plays defense

2. hustles game in game out

3. has a sweet jump shot

4. puts team before himself

5. I could say is a role model to my kids

[Jigga]

I'd sooner have a guy of any race breakout as a star in the nba that:

1. plays defense

2. hustles game in game out

3. has a sweet jump shot

4. puts team before himself

5. I could say is a role model to my kids

Manu Ginobili...

Oh, and #5, that's YOUR responsibilty.

[nsentv]

I don't think that the lust for the next great white hope is all that harmless--and not necessarily for the reasons some might think. Inherently, it's not a bad thing for someone to want to see someone like him or herself succeed. However, it goes beyond that with the NBA, and goes from being the hope for the next big white star to the disgust with the current crop of black stars.

Consider this: the most criticized and hated sports league in America is also the league with the highest amount of black participation. That is not a coincedence. Black players in the NBA were much more accepted when they assimilated almost completely into the white male ideal (i.e., the "professionally dressed" Michael Jordan, or the harmless, smiling Magic Johnson). Now, the league has many more players who are not willing to assimilate--players who keep the cultures they grew up in--cultures that are virtually universally hated by middle-aged, middle-class white America. Despite the amount of 14-year-old white girls who can recite the latest rap songs by heart, black "hip-hop" culture is still threatening and viewed as the Other by a lot of the white adults in this country. The NBA is built on young black men, young black men who didn't grow up in the suburbs. Young black men who come from an entirely different culture from their white counterparts. This leads, of course, to culture clashes and the inability for people to understand where others are coming from. Which, eventually, leads to low TV ratings.

Which is why the NBA has made all the changes it has made since 11/19/04. The dress code, which mandated that players conform to a "professional" form of dress. The dress code, which banned every possible form of clothing emblematic of the culture from which many of these black NBA players came from. The NBA has a rule this season that shorts cannot be longer than a certain length. Why? Baggy shorts are an emblem of the hip-hop culture. The NBA has banned their teams from making new black jerseys. Why? Because that's associated with hip-hop culture as well. "Hip-hop" culture is bad. Where the players come from is bad. Everything about it is unacceptable and threatening. The technical fouls? Because of hip hop culture. The coaching changes? Because the players are selfish and tyrannical (not because the GMs are hopelessly inept). The players are nothing more than a "dangerous gang" to quote Gary Thorne. (Thorne actually referred to the league's players as the most expensive and dangerous gang in the entire country). If there's a fight in the NBA, it's because the players are thugs and gangbangers. If an NBA player makes an unwise comment (Kevin Garnett in 2004), it's because he's stupid and uneducated (an argument that Tim Cowlishaw made on Around the Horn). The players are selfish and ungrateful. They don't deserve what they have, and if they didn't have the NBA, they'd be working in a McDonald's somewhere (a not-to-thinly veiled argument made by countless observers).

They don't play the game the right way. They're ruining the game. They go out on the streets and turn the game into a dunkfest, with screaming and jersey-popping. It's everything that's wrong with the game today. The black players don't know how to hit jumpshots, the black players don't know the fundamentals (nevermind the Detroit Pistons). The black players just don't play the game the right way.

Oh. And they're all rapists/thugs/criminals/delinquents, too.

These are the perceptions the NBA deals with. These perceptions are based on race. Look at the brawl. On CNN the next morning, they showed a photo of the very black Ron Artest in his black Pacers uniform standing threateningly over poor Pistons fan Charlie Haddad (nevermind that Haddad had run out onto the court) who was lying on his back, trying to protect himself. I wonder why they chose that photo. One player goes into the stands--a player that everyone who followed the league until that point knew was a psycho anyway--joined by another psycho (those of you with good memories will recall that, other than Jackson and Artest, the other Pacers in the stands were there to get Artest out of there and not cause more trouble) and it's a black mark on the entire league. The brawl is what people expected. The brawl is what a lot of people think these young black men do all the time. On MSNBC, Monica Crowley (during a discussion of the NBA dress code) recalled the "brawls the league has had in recent years", when there's only been one brawl, and no other major fan-player altercation other than the Vernon Maxwell incident ten years prior.

With all of this, it's obvious that the NBA is in trouble. And short of making it mandatory for every player to get vitiligo and/or completely forget and turn away from the culture they grew up in and the customs they've adopted (exactly what do people think these NBA and NFL players are doing when they celebrate on the court/field? These are the things they grow up doing on the playground), there's nothing the league can do about it. And so, many people will continue viewing the NBA as a league of dangerous thugs, and ignorant people like Gary Thorne will continue making their asinine, baseless generalizations. And nobody will say anything, because this is what many people believe.

Certainly, in a world without these generalizations and without this pervasive ignorance, it wouldn't be a problem for a white viewer to want to see more people like himself succeed on the court. However, for every white viewer who only wants to see more white players because he wants to be represented more on the court, I believe there's probably two others who want to see more white players because they want to see fewer black players.

Just my two cents.

(P.S., players like Grant Hill would obviously fall into the same category as Jordan/Magic. Nonthreatening, with no sign of the "hip-hop"/"ghetto" culture that the Iversons of the league grew up in.)

[NJTank]

I wont deny my favorite all time players are

Danny Ainge

Larry Bird

John Stockton

But I would also rank

Darryl Dawkins and Charles Barkely up there too.

[CS85]

I'd sooner have a guy of any race breakout as a star in the nba that:

1.  plays defense

2.  hustles game in game out

3.  has a sweet jump shot

4.  puts team before himself

5.  I could say is a role model to my kids

Manu Ginobili...

Oh, and #5, that's YOUR responsibilty.

I'm not saying NOBODY in the league doesn't play D, hustles full go, or has excellent fundamentals and team spirit, but I always tend to hear more good than bad. Maybe my falling out as a fan these past few years has something to do with it.

It's my responsibility to be a role model to my children, of course, but as a public figure that kids will look up to, you have to understand that you will be emulated and imitated. But I'd sooner turn on college hoops than an NBA game in front of my kids.

*note - I don't have kids yet, I'm talking theoretically