Earlier this week, NBA legend Larry Bird made headlines by proclaiming, in an ESPN roundtable discussion with Magic Johnson, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, that:
1. African-Americans are the best athletes in the world.
2. Basketball is a black man's game.
3. More white, high-profile NBA stars would be "good for a fan base because as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America."
4. The NBA lacks "enough" white superstars.
Points Nos. 1 and 2 are almost indisputable. The fastest, strongest and most agile athletes in not only basketball but football and baseball are black. The percentage of blacks in pro sports who excel at point guard, running back, wide receiver, center fielder and cornerback not only supersede the percentage of whites in the American population, but surpass the percentage of whites who play those positions for high school and college teams. It's clear to me that whites, for the most part, have a ceiling at those positions. Last year I asked, "Why Are All the Best Running Backs and Wide Receivers Black?"
Points Nos. 3 and 4 are a matter of taste. Would more white superstars be "good" for the NBA? Depends on your definition of good. Would the league benefit financially? Probably. Would that money be good for the NBA or American society? Probably not.
As a whole, Americans value a free market and deserved rewards for exceptional talents. Black, white, yellow or brown, most of us celebrate fair compensation for performance, regardless of race. Today I'm no less a fan of the Yankees (with Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui) than I was when the team featured Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neill and Shane Spencer at the same positions. Don Mattingly, a humble star, used to be my favorite player. Now I sport a jersey bearing the name of Bernie Williams, another humble star. They're of different skin tones, of course.
But even if, as I believe, 90% of Americans don't care about skin color (appreciative of winners of any race), there are still 10% whose allegiances do make a difference, whether they know it or not. And that's why Larry Bird was right about it being a financial boon if the NBA fell into a few more American white superstars. But it wouldn't be a boon for society. It would be sad.
Links Related to Larry Bird's Comments:
• King Kaufman's Sports Daily — Salon's daily sportswriter is no dummy, and he hits all the points, saying that LB was right, but the fact that James and Anthony disagreed spoke for progress in society.
• Exciting, Compelling Athletes Popular With All Fans — I disagree with Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News only because I don't feel that all fans are color blind. The smart ones are, though. And those should be the only ones who matter.
• Larry Legend Has Lost Touch — ESPN.com's Page 2's Patrick Hruby writes: "Larry Bird couldn't be more wrong." I think most of us wish he was wrong, but know he's not.
• Oh, So That's What He Said — Newsday's Shaun Powell substitutes "right" for "white," saying, "I can't tell you how many times I've walked through the stands at the Garden, for example, only to have disgruntled Knicks fans approach and ask the same question, over and over: 'Where's all the right guys?'" Bravo. As a Knicks fan, I can tell you we want a winner, no matter the color. But would a couple of American-born, white superstars benefit the Knicks financially? You bet your ass. Sad but true, and that's the theme here.
Professional sports has become all about the money. That applies to the players (getting alot of it), the owners (backing up the Brinks truck), and the fans (shelling it out in large amounts)not race.
I got rid of my Sixers season tickets (after 5 years) because I was sick of paying a shitload of money to watch the team get slaughtered everytime. Do I sit and count the # of white faces on the court? No. Do I count all of the black faces on the court? No. All I want is a winning team regardless of the racial make up of it. Period. As far as the crowd is concerned, I only noticed that it consisted of a lot of people who shelled out big $ to spend the entire game chatting on their cell phone.
I think that fans support a team for the love of the sport and team, not the racial make up of it. As far as game attendence is concerned, the crowd consists of whoever can afford to go games these days with the insane ticket prices.
Posted by Cass at June 11, 2004 9:21 AM