Basketball ban on bling is racist, claim black players

Telegraph ^ | 10/21/5 | Catherine Elsworth

[MAD-AS-HELL]

If Allen Iverson had any balls he'd show them white crackers and just quit basketball all together. He'll make good money selling spinner wheels.

[Criminal Number 18F]

"The NBA is young black males."

True, but the paying fan base is not. The dread of NBA officials is that the game would reach a tipping point, where well-heeled white fans lose interest. The only whites with any interest in the "hip-hop, gangsta" culture are teen boys going through their "shock mom and pop" stage.

Let's see how much "bling" you can buy when the TB contract is supported only by advertisers who need to reach teenagers, convicts, and the welfare class. I'm thinking costume jewelry here.

Look what happened with the WNBA -- although it that case, the minority culture that overcame and ghettoized the sport was lesbian. Can you even name a WNBA team? (If you're lesbian, you're excused; I assume you can name them all).

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Martin Tell]

Amen, brother!

My company also has a sky box for NHL and NFL games. I won a drawing for an NFL exhibition game and took my 12 year old daughter and it wasn't as bad as I thought (my daughter really only wanted to go so she could say she was in a sky box; she got bored and we left at half time).

I refuse to go to the NHL games, but the box is also good for concerts. In the past six months I've taken my five year old boy to a Veggie Tales concert and my wife to a Christian rock concert. Next month I'll be taking my daughter to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

And I think you've made the right choice to get out and do active things with your wife rather than just sitting around watching sports. Life is too short, and I don't know about you, but I feel physically bad after watching TV for a couple of hours.

Of course, spending time Freeping is completely different!

[Mr. Mojo]

If been to Safeco field a couple times. Tiny seats, $20 for a hot dog and a couple brews, and a bad (on field) product. Never again.

We voted down the new Mariner and Seahawks stadiums, however, the fine state legislature had them built anyway

Just as in CA, most of the voters up here in WA are fooled into believing their vote counts for something.

[Criminal Number 18F]

my boss, err...my OPPRESSOR I meant, makes me buy them.

WHY, he a racist! You been disenfrenchfried!

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[RetiredArmy]

We have 2 TVs and that is 2 too much. We rarely watch them. They are basically DVD video players for us to watch movies on. There is nothing on TV that I care to watch. I don't watch the leftist news, or the other stupid programing. Sometimes OLN for the outdoor programs, cycling when they carry it. But, I could give a care less for the other garbage there.

[RetiredArmy]

10-4, I hear ya. No way I go to M's games either. They stink on TV, why pay to watch them stink!

[nevergore]

When you're on company time...ya' wear what the man says......

[Paulus Invictus]

The NBA lost me permanently years ago when I saw how many thugs take over the line ups, many with known police records and some that continued illegal activities, including violent crime, even on the courts. Pro basketball used to be pretty squeeky clean, but that image is gone.

[Criminal Number 18F]

But preception is 9/10ths of the battle with viewers and ticket sales.

Yeah. I recall an article a few years ago. It might have been by Mike Fumento, but he compared the statistics of the NBA, NFL, and society in general, and found that criminal behaviour was much less prevalent among the pro athletes than it was in society as a whole.

I believe his statistics were pretty much race-immaterial, i.e. black players were no more and no less likely than white to get arrested for serious misconduct.

My brother is friends with a very successful NFL player, a household name in our region. It just happened that they have similar family-oriented lifestyles. The guy's a decent fellow, very quiet, and puts his wife and kids on a pedestal. You hear about the player that committed a crime because it's at the same time unusual enough to be news, and close enough to fitting a standard MSM story template that they can write the story with little effort.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[MikefromOhio]

yeah.

Having spent the last couple years in Columbus and my mom being heavily involved in a newspaper, my brother and I have had the opportunity to meet guys like MIke Doss, Jim Lachey, Michael Redd (I worked with his cousin too for DISA) and a few others.

Pretty much every one of them seems to be just what you would expect. HUGE, especially Lachey and Redd, but they were all nice and they didn't treat a fan like myself like crap.....

[Chode]

my vote for the best post from the previous thread...

Where's all the outrage at the thug mentality in the NHL? You're joking, right?

The thuggery of the '70s was beat back in the NHL at the beginning of the Gretzky era. Now, they have distorted the penalty structure for fighting('instigator' rule etc) in vain attempts to make The Game fight-free. It's a mistake, of course.

The occasional spontaneous scrap is part and parcel of hockey, as played by men.

I don't know enough about jewelry and sneakers to comment on NBA demonstrations of manhood.

[Joe Boucher]

probably so is my refusal to watch a bunch of black thugs play basket ball.

[layman]

"Just because you put a guy in a tuxedo, it doesn't mean he's a good guy"

You got that much right, Iverson. You can't polish a turd.

[uncbob]

Hell I would be happy if they got rid of the damn Ghettoe Rag uniforms and go back to the ones that looked athletic

They could wear whatever they want other times BUT BRING BACK the TRADITIONAL UNIFORMS

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Rush brought up an interesting point a few months ago. He said one of the reasons for basketball players acting like thugs is because they can get away with it. The coaches can't fire them, only the owners.

[Fenris6]

Let em wear bling or they will riot and loot again...

[Redcitizen]

"I feel like if they want us to dress a certain way, they should pay for our clothes," said Philadelphia's Allen Iverson

My employer should pay for my dress clothes too since I must present a professional appearance to the public. sarc/

[pepperhead]

The thuggery of the '70s was beat back in the NHL at the beginning of the Gretzky era. Now, they have distorted the penalty structure for fighting('instigator' rule etc) in vain attempts to make The Game fight-free. It's a mistake, of course.

The fighting is in the NHL to protect players from the game getting out of hand. I am guessing if NFL and NBA players where moving around as fast as NHL players and they had sticks in their hands there might be more fights in those sports too.

[Christian4Bush]

"You have a special gift, Jimmy. I believe that. And because I believe it, I can truly tell you this: I don't care if you play on the team or not."

/Norman Dale to Jimmy Chitwood, "Hoosiers"