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If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
I think we may be seeing a repeat of what happened in the NBA in the decade of the 70s. In the early 70s, there were notable white superstars like Jerry West, Jerry Lucas, Rick Barry, Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere...and other well-known players just a notch below superstar status, like the van Arsdales, Billy Cunningham, Don Nelson, etc. As that decade progressed, the number of white stars lessened, while the number of well-known black players increased (leading to the NY Knicks, once the cornerstone of the NBA, being called--forgive me for using the term--the "N*ggerbockers.")
NBA ratings and popularity plummeted during the late 70s (it did not help that expansion teams like the Sonics, Trailblazers, and Warriors won titles during that time). But why? Because the gate for the NBA was almost exclusively white at that time. As much as we may think it taboo to say, people tend to root for those whom they identify with. Selling an almost all-black NBA to an almost all-white audience was very difficult.
Things changed in the 80s, thanks to the arrival of Magic and Bird (forever linked, those two). I have no problem with saying that Larry Bird was always my favorite player. Why? Well, besides the fact that he could play like a demon, he, well, looked like me. That's not racist, as I see it, that simply is. I rooted aginst the Lakers and Sixers during that time, but I always enjoyed watching Magic and Dr. J. play ball. My favorite player today is Dirk Nowitzki, followed closely by Paul Pierce.
There was a resurgence of AMERICAN white players during the 80s and early 90s. You could make up an all-star team of white American players from that era--Bird, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge, John Stockton, Chris Mullin, Mark Price, Bill Laimbeer, Dan Majerle, Tom Chambers, Bobby Jones, Scott Wedman, etc. The white audience returned. Bird and Magic (and later, Jordan) lead the league to new hieghts of popularity--Jordan being an example of an athlete whose popularity crosses racial lines.
And I still don't think it's racist to say that whites tend to like white players better, and so on. And it's not purely a racial thing. The NBA is VERY popular in China, and who is the most favorite NBA player there? Yao Ming. Is he the BEST player? Nope, but he's Chinese. Is Ichiro Suzuki the best player in MLB? No, but he's the most popular in Japan (or maybe Kaz Matsui) because he is Japanese.
If you ask any knowledgeable basketball fan who the best white player in the NBA is today, you're likely to hear Dirk Nowitzki or maybe Peja Stojakovic. But neither one are American. Who is the best American white player in the league today? Jason Williams? Troy Murphy? Mike Dunleavy? Luke Walton? Quite a comedown from the 80s. The 1992 Dream Team had four white players--Bird, Mullin, Stockton, and Laettner. Today, none.
I think Bird was right that the league does need more American white stars; not for some sort of diversoty thing, but because it would definitely help the league's overall popularity. I think until another white player like Bird breaks through, the overall popularity of the league will decline for the forseeable future.
Just my thoughts. Would be interested to see what you all think.