Posted on 08/18/2004 2:05:55 PM PDT by gopwinsin04
Once the black game moved indoors and became more organized, the pressure to establish bona fides increases.
If you're not scoring beaucoup points, if your picture isn't in the papers, if you don't have a trophy (right away) then you ain't the man, and you ain't nothing.
Being second best in the black community is just as bad as being last. And if a teammate hits nine shots in a row, the black attitude is...'Screw him, Now it's my turn to get it on.'
If young black players usually cherish untrammeled creativity, white hooplings mostly value team oriented concepts. 'White basketball means passing the heck out of the ball,' says Dawkins.
White guys are willing to do something when someone else has the ball--setting picks, boxing out, cutting in to clear a space for a teammate, making the pass that leads to an assist pass.
In white basketball, there is more a sense of dicipline, of running set plays, and only taking wide open shots. If a guy gets hot, he will get the ball until he cools off.
Why is white basketball so structured and team oriented?
'Because the white culture places more of a premium on winning,' Dawkins believes, 'and less on self-indulgent preening and cheast beating.'
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
Really? I wasn't aware of that but yes the WOT is a good example of organized team effort.
I think I remembered another one -- Kevin Loughery.
Can't enjoy? No, not at all. But reality is what it is. Read Cameron Stauth's book THE GOLDEN BOYS sometimes. He goes into much more detail about the decline of the NBA's popularity in the 70s. He even shows that durung the 60s, when the Boston Celtics were winning Championship after Championship, they rarely sold out Boston Garden. The all-white Boston Bruins hockey team was far and away more popular among the city residents.
I still don't get it but okay. Maybe I have to be a basketball fan.
Soccer is sport that is about as enjoyable to watch for me as landscapers laying mulch.
I can just about handle a lacrosse game if I can work up some kind of emotional investment in one of the teams.
When I was a kid I was very much into ice hockey. I can't watch it anymore. The problem with sports like that is there isn't all that much strategy compared to baseball of football, which is the ultimate sport.
Basketball used to have a lot more stategy. Maybe I not being fair since I haven't given the NBA a real shot since it brought back zone defense. Too much b*tchin in Philly.
I like rugby. I like a little soccer whenever I can watch it, but I wish I could watch more cricket. I know I know cricket is about as exciting as watching grass grow :-)
He realized that there was a difference between Street Ball and Team Ball. He even admits he is a Street Baller.
Yet, he has learned what it takes, and the proof is in the pudding - 2 Championships in 4 years in the USBL. He knows that you need to blend the Street with Team. Look for Chocolate to be coaching in the NBA soon, and I will even go out on a limb and say that he will be one of the most successful coaches too.
Actually, I bet I'd end up liking cricket.
LOL! Cricket is fun, but it has not caught on here in the States. Gee wonder why hehehe. Actually rugby is even more popular, and doesn't seem to be regarded as boring :-) Most people see cricket as too colonial.
It's not just basketball...what do you think the ratio is of white to black fans of tennis, golf, or NASCAR? The fan base for all is overwhelmingly white, because the participants are overwhelmingly white. I don't mean it's white -exclusively-...Tiger Woods has brought many black fans to golf (or at least, fans of Tiger). NASCAR officials even admit as such. They want to hire more black drivers because more black drivers will equal more black fans. In their opinion.
Our team desperately needs a John Stockton.
Well with golf, I've not noticed any more black fans Tiger Woods or not. Golf fans seem to be more class related IMHO. NASCAR used to be segregated so how do you know it's not that way because of history? They should be adding black drivers because they're talented not to attract more black people. I don't base my entertainment choices on who looks like me which is why I find this a bit hard to understand.
Well, I am looking at the Bullets roster and the only names I recognize from then are Gus Johnson, Earl Monroe, Wes Unseld, Kevin Loughery (who I remember as a coach), and the coach Gene Shue. Basketball used to be cool. Gus Johnson was one of those guys who could leap out of the gym. He was also a great rebounder and defender.
I must disagree with you.
It is my belief that Charles Barkley is the father of the modern day NBA player. As his fame grew, he was allowed to use his size to back players into the paint where he had an advantage on anyone smaller than he was.
Before this time, if an offensive player initiated any kind of contact with the defensive player, he would be whistled for an offensive foul. That all changed with the arrival of Charles Barkley.
Neither do I, but many do. It may not even be a conscious thing for many. Here, read this:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20040215-123358-2549r
It's a story about how NASCAR is trying to find, train, and recruit more black and mnority drivers. Here's a quote from it: " In a nondescript shop in a strip of buildings in this Charlotte suburb, two NFL greats have joined forces to achieve a not-so-modest goal: change the face of car racing. Joe Gibbs' racing organization is embarking on a program intended to establish minority drivers and teams in NASCAR -- and in the process discover the Tiger Woods of racing, a young star who could draw more minority drivers and fans to the sport."
You can debate the actual language however you want, but the meaning is very clear: more black and minority drivers = more black and minority fans. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before.
I'm looking forward to seeing how my favorite teams, the Mavericks and Celtics, do this year. The Mavs have lost Nash and Najera and gained Erick Dampier and Jason Terry. I don't see that as an improvement. And Danny Ainge has so demolished the Celtics that it'll take years for them to be competitive again. Even if they DO get Gary Payton.
Problem with using Tiger Woods as an example is that at least where I live, his mere presence in golf didn't inspire anyone to play. In fact, more black people I talked to were more preoccupied with 'caubliasian' than golf, and also that he attended Stanford. Now NASCAR is quite welcome to come around my village and take up any of these boys in the 'performance enhanced' Honda autos. Whoever is driving better not be preppy or anything like that.
Woods, because of his ethnic background, has, like the British, spread the game internationally. Hyman writes, "Woods' Asian heritage (his mother is Thai) has made him enormously popular in the Far East." Indeed, black golfers in South Africa, and Asians in China, Thailand, Japan, and Korea flocked to the game because they now have their own hero.
He has his own stamp in Thailand but anyway I guess I'm an exception.
Where does such type of basketball exist here in the U.S.?
To heck with the teams the other world contenders field, I would just as soon see up and coming college stars on the olympic team than a bunch of overpaid second strings who are only there because the first strings gave a pass and have nothing else to do between seasons.......
Wake up call to the U.S. my foot! They're just a bunch of lazy-butt basketball millionaires who could care less about the significance of the once every four years olympics........
I say once you are signed by the NBA, there will be no olympics for you!!!
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