Monday, April 18, 2005
I Hate Mondays: Jermaine’s Disdain
The NBA is racist because the league is attempting to invoke an age limit. The NHL discriminates, too, since all the ice that they use is white. Major League Baseball should be considered a bigot, as well, since they never use any other color of chalk powder except white.
Yes, the Ku Klux Klan has surreptitiously re-emerged in the world of sports. Either that or the above claims are about as accurate as Jermaine O'Neal's three-point shooting percentage.
Here's a revelation for you, the bulk of the NBA players are African-Americans. What that means is that any modification to the league rules will inherently affect more black people than white people. If the salary cap is lowered, if the veteran minimum is decreased, or if it's decided that NBA rosters will shrink by one or two players per team, that will affect more black people than white people.
In case you and Jermaine O'Neal are still in the dark on this issue, let me connect the dots for you. This has nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with money.
It is true that other major sports like golf, baseball, and hockey have youngsters participating, but consider the percentages. The Ilya Kovalchuks and Adrian Beltres are a drop in the sea compared to basketball, where high-schoolers are incessantly pouring in. In the above three sports, puerile prospects can be sent down at any time to farm teams or amateur squads to cultivate their talent and gain confidence. In the NBA and NFL, things are a bit different. All the prospect developing and nurturing is done beforehand in the NCAA — which happens to be a billion-dollar industry.
The members of the sporting society that enjoy watching AHL hockey or Triple-A baseball are in the minority. Meanwhile, college football and college basketball are widely embraced. With a sharp increase in high-school basketball players circumventing NCAA sports, the viewer interest is not as strong as it could be.
While that does create compelling storylines to follow in the professional game, which is already star-laden, it is merely at the expense of the college game.
Think where March Madness ratings would be with LeBron James outfitted in an Ohio State Buckeyes jersey, with Amare Stoudemire rocking the rim relentlessly, or Darius Miles surrendering to discipline.
Something tells me the Sheldon Williams Duke jersey isn't a must-have while a Josh Smith one might be.
An age limit ensures that college athletics won't be deprived of talent, ratings, and money. If the Frozen Four was as popular as the Final Four, there would probably be an age limit invoked in hockey, as well — regardless of skin color.
Also, expanding your education, even if it is only one more year at post-secondary school, never hurts. At least that way you'll be able to decipher the difference between racism and economics.
Edumacation and segregation mix like Mondays and me.
"I never learned from a man who agreed with me." — Robert Heinlein