Race plays role as NBA deals with fiasco (Good Assement)

Omaha World Herald ^ | 11/24/2004 | Jason Whitlock

[jazzo]

NBA Commissioner David Stern sent a message to his players Sunday. By issuing three of the harshest penalties in league history-a 73-game suspension of Ron Artest, 30 games for Stephen Jackson and 25 games for Jermaine O'Neal - Stern let his players know that the league will aggressively try to clean up its image problem. For their role in Friday's ugly brawl at Detroit, the Pacers, favorites to represent the East in the NBA finals, received the death penalty. Indiana's season is over. O'Neal, Artest, both All-Stars, and Jackson are Indiana's three best players. Stern had no choice. TV ratings for the league have been steadily falling since Michael Jordan's heyday. The league's image has been in decline since Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Jordan ruled. Allen Iverson, Latrell Sprewell, Kobe Bryant, Dream Team failures, an embrace of all the negative aspects of the hip-hop culture and a horrid style of play have conspired to make the NBA easy to ignore. By decimating the Pacers and publicly acknowledging that there has been a lowering of expectations in terms of player (and fan) behavior, Stern made it clear he's not in denial about the NBA's troubles. I am, however, concerned that the league's players will remain in denial. Surrounded by groupies and yes-men, fortified by multimillion-dollar contracts and endorsement deals, it will be easy for NBA players to misinterpret Stern's warning. In this column, I am calling on my peers in the news media to level with NBA players (and all professional athletes) and tell them what's really going on. American sports fans, particularly those who consistently shell out the hundreds of dollars it takes to attend a professional game, are fed up with black professional basketball players in particular and black professional athletes to a lesser degree. Yeah, let's cut through all the garbage and get to the real issue. The people paying the bills don't like the product, don't like the attitude, don't like the showboating and don't like the flamboyance. The NBA, which relies heavily on African-American players, is at the forefront of fan backlash. Stern realizes this, and that's why, spurred on by the Detroit brawl, he is reacting decisively. What the players must come to grips with is that just because race is an element in the backlash, that doesn't mean the backlash is fueled by racism. We're witnessing a clash of cultures. A predominately white fan base is rejecting a predominately black style of play and sportsmanship. Who is on the right side of this argument? The group that is always right in a capitalistic society. The customer. That's why Stern, endorsed by his owners, came down hard on the players. He stated that the NBA would take steps to ensure that its fans improved their behavior. But Stern knows the real solutions are in the hands of his players. A good businessman caters to his audience. They don't play country music at my dad's inner-city bar for a reason. Stern's players must bow to the desires of their fan base. In general, African-American athletes have always been - for lack of a better description - more expressive and flamboyant on the field of play. Go back to the Negro Leagues - showboating was part of the entertainment package. The Negro Leagues catered to a predominately black fan base.

[jazzo]

This type of reasoning does not usual come from guys like Whitlock. However, he is absolutely right.

[Happy2BMe]

This is a good find, and thanks very much for posting it!

[Happy2BMe]

Jason Whitlock: Race plays role as NBA deals with fiasco

BY JASON WHITLOCK

THE KANSAS CITY STAR

NBA Commissioner David Stern sent a message to his players Sunday.

By issuing three of the harshest penalties in league history-a 73-game suspension of Ron Artest, 30 games for Stephen Jackson and 25 games for Jermaine O'Neal - Stern let his players know that the league will aggressively try to clean up its image problem.

For their role in Friday's ugly brawl at Detroit, the Pacers, favorites to represent the East in the NBA finals, received the death penalty. Indiana's season is over. O'Neal, Artest, both All-Stars, and Jackson are Indiana's three best players.

Stern had no choice. TV ratings for the league have been steadily falling since Michael Jordan's heyday. The league's image has been in decline since Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Jordan ruled.

Allen Iverson, Latrell Sprewell, Kobe Bryant, Dream Team failures, an embrace of all the negative aspects of the hip-hop culture and a horrid style of play have conspired to make the NBA easy to ignore. By decimating the Pacers and publicly acknowledging that there has been a lowering of expectations in terms of player (and fan) behavior, Stern made it clear he's not in denial about the NBA's troubles.

I am, however, concerned that the league's players will remain in denial. Surrounded by groupies and yes-men, fortified by multimillion-dollar contracts and endorsement deals, it will be easy for NBA players to misinterpret Stern's warning.

In this column, I am calling on my peers in the news media to level with NBA players (and all professional athletes) and tell them what's really going on.

American sports fans, particularly those who consistently shell out the hundreds of dollars it takes to attend a professional game, are fed up with black professional basketball players in particular and black professional athletes to a lesser degree.

Yeah, let's cut through all the garbage and get to the real issue. The people paying the bills don't like the product, don't like the attitude, don't like the showboating and don't like the flamboyance. The NBA, which relies heavily on African-American players, is at the forefront of fan backlash. Stern realizes this, and that's why, spurred on by the Detroit brawl, he is reacting decisively.

What the players must come to grips with is that just because race is an element in the backlash, that doesn't mean the backlash is fueled by racism.

We're witnessing a clash of cultures. A predominately white fan base is rejecting a predominately black style of play and sportsmanship.

Who is on the right side of this argument? The group that is always right in a capitalistic society. The customer. That's why Stern, endorsed by his owners, came down hard on the players. He stated that the NBA would take steps to ensure that its fans improved their behavior. But Stern knows the real solutions are in the hands of his players. A good businessman caters to his audience. They don't play country music at my dad's inner-city bar for a reason.

Stern's players must bow to the desires of their fan base.

In general, African-American athletes have always been - for lack of a better description - more expressive and flamboyant on the field of play. Go back to the Negro Leagues - showboating was part of the entertainment package. The Negro Leagues catered to a predominately black fan base.

We, black people, begged for integration. We demanded the right to play in the major leagues, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL. These leagues accommodate a white audience. As long as the customer base is white, the standard for appropriate sportsmanship, style of play and appearance should be set by white people.

This is fair, particularly when the athletes-employees earn millions of dollars and have the freedom to do whatever - and I mean whatever - they want when they're not playing or practicing.

If African-American players are unwilling to accept this reality, NBA owners will speed up the internationalization of their team's rosters. Many African-American players with NBA-quality skill will soon find themselves circling the country playing basketball with Hot Sauce and the And 1 Tour while Yao Nowitzki collects a $10 million NBA check.

The black players will have no one to blame but themselves.

[Happy2BMe]

DREAM-TEAM / HIP-HOP CULTURE FINALLY COMES TO REST ON THE NBA - PING

____________________________________________________

Allen Iverson, Latrell Sprewell, Kobe Bryant, Dream Team failures, an embrace of all the negative aspects of the hip-hop culture and a horrid style of play have conspired to make the NBA easy to ignore.

By decimating the Pacers and publicly acknowledging that there has been a lowering of expectations in terms of player (and fan) behavior, Stern made it clear he's not in denial about the NBA's troubles.

[Neville72]

The current ghetto, playground style of play in the NBA is boring and was exposed in the Olympics as an inferior style of play. International teams who didn't have superior individual athletes embarrassed the USA team who couldn't shoot beyond 15 feet or play defense.

The NBA needs to reinstate the legality of zone defenses which would encourage better shooting, less reliance on the dunk, and better team basketball. Then former fans like myself who quit watching 10-12 years ago might tune in.

[Happy2BMe]

I totally agree.

But it's a reflection of our imploded and worthless value system in this country.

Anytime you pay a gangster $6 million a year, then pay him another several million on the side to record HIP HOP thug sound tracks (full of vulgarity, violence, and immorality), then pay him several million more for advertisement royalties (all to promote the gangster image) it says but one thing to our youth: STEAL, KILL, RAPE, and PLUNDER without retribution and with great recognition and wealth as a reward.

We're in trubble.

[Uncle Fud]

African-American athletes have always been - for lack of a better description - more expressive and flamboyant on the field of play. Go back to the Negro Leagues - showboating was part of the entertainment package.

Yes, as we all know, Satchel Paige, Buck O'Neal, Roy Campanella, etc. thoroughly embraced the thug culture, just like the NBA of today. /sarcasm

[Uncle Fud]

would encourage better shooting, less reliance on the dunk, and better team basketball.

Raise the rim 18 inches.

[Happy2BMe]

I seriously doubt Meadowlark Lemon would approve of the thuggery we now see as the norm and not the exception in the NBA plyaer.

[Just another Joe]

A predominately white fan base is rejecting a predominately black style of play and sportsmanship.

This is so much BS.

I don't come to a game where a TEAM plays to see one person showboat. I don't care whether that person is black, white, or purple.
I come to a game where a TEAM plays to see TEAMWORK.

How many times did Larry Bird or Michael Jordan set up another teammate with their ball handling?
Sure, they were both great ball players. Michael, arguably, the best of all time. But they were TEAM players.

If I want to see ONE player I'll go to a 1 on 1 game. Let's see how much money THAT makes.

[Happy2BMe]

Regarding your comment about TEAMWORK.

From #5:

______________________

"The current ghetto, playground style of play in the NBA is boring and was exposed in the Olympics as an inferior style of play. International teams who didn't have superior individual athletes embarrassed the USA team who couldn't shoot beyond 15 feet or play defense."

[Moosilauke]

The current ghetto, playground style of play in the NBA is boring and was exposed in the Olympics as an inferior style of play

So what? It's not about athletic competition. It's entertainment. If you wanted to see shooting-passing-defense you'd save money and watch high school or college basketball. What you buy when you plunk down your $50+ for an NBA ticket is the whole NBA experience, i.e., really big aggressive guys punching out other big aggressive guys with lots of trash talk and staring down contests. (And loud, aggressive music to put everyone in the right frame of mind.)

We may not like it but there's a big market for this. Last night there were 10 NBA games with a cumulative attendance of about 165,000. It's WWF for the middle class. Moaning about the awful behavior of Ron Artest is the moral equivalent of wrestling fans who always vented about Rick Flair's use of foreign objects in the ring...and then never missed next week's sequel.

[Labyrinthos]

Allen Iverson, Latrell Sprewell, Kobe Bryant, Dream Team failures, an embrace of all the negative aspects of the hip-hop culture and a horrid style of play have conspired to make the NBA easy to ignore.

The same can be said about the NHL.

[Neville72]

When you say the NBA has sunken to the level of being comparable to the WWF, you make my point better than I.

[GOP_Proud]

< The current ghetto, playground style of play in the NBA is boring and was exposed in the Olympics as an inferior style of play. >

I agree. I was a fan some years ago but I just don't like the style of play anymore. All they do now is fast break back and forth and dunk. What happened to ball handling? Great dribbling on the outside? Patiently looking for the shot?

And another thing...get rid of the darn sloppy ghetto shorts and return to shorts that fit.

[foreverfree]

Paragraphs are your best friends, jazzo.

ff

[Just another Joe]

It's WWF for the middle class.

At least professional wrestling doesn't PRETEND to be real competition anymore.
I'ts now, "Sports Entertainment".

The NBA is still pretending that the teams mean something.
The TEAM doesn't mean a thing anymore, except to the owners pocketbook. How many times do you see more than two players on a team in double digits in scoring, AND/OR assists, AND/OR rebounds, AND/OR etc?
Most of these, so called, big names in the NBA aren't anything more than tall, trash talking, playground style thugs.
They know nothing of teamwork, sportsmanship, or what the actual basketball fan really wants.

[7thson]

There was not a thug culture back then. This thug culture started - at least to me - when rap came around and then hip-hop. I grew up listening to the Supremes, Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Stylistics, Kool and the Gang, as well as the Beatles, Stones, Clapton, Simon and Garfunkel, etc. Later on I discovered guys like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, and Hank Ballard. The songs by the black artists of those times had double meanings - specifically sexual meanings - but did not sing about busting a cap, killing cops, raping women, calling women ho's, and whatnot. It was nothing to see Billy "White Shoes" Johnson doing a dance when he scored a TD. Or Charley Taylor raising his arms up in TD fashion after scoring a TD. But it gets sickening that after every play - a sack, a first down, a runback - these clowns have to act up and do some sort of dance or mug for the camera. I am sick of it and like the writer said, so are a lot of other people.

[ken5050]

FYI..There's one very interesting factoid that has been almost ignored by the media, in all the chatter about the Pacers/Pistons brawl..that is that the NBA collective bargaining agreement EXPIRES at the end of this season..and now we have the union stupidly opposing the suspensions..teh union president was on TV today challenging Dtern's right to mete out the suspensions without an arbitrator..becuase the incidents happened IN the stands, and NOT on the floor during a game...where Stern's authority is absolute..If you thing the owners won't try and step all over the union and the agents, in the new CBA..well..

[Pres Raygun]

There may be a large market for the WWF NBA, but Stern knows it is a much smaller market than the Jordan/Johnson/Bird NBA.