In the sports world, there hasn’t been a lot going on. The NBA is coming up on the all-star break. My campaign to get James White in the dunk contest is in full effect. In fact, I think that’s the only reason the Spurs called him up from the NBDL. If he was a good basketball player, he’d probably go down as the greatest dunker of all time.
I’d love to see him go against Vince, Kobe, Iguodala, Nate Robinson, J.R. Smith, T-Mac, and Desmond Mason in one of those old-school, eight man free-for-alls. (I’d put Jason Richardson over Desmond Mason, but he’s hurt.) 2000 was the last year there was a deep field, and it was the most entertaining dunk contest I remember.
Going back to White, if you don’t know who he is or think I'm exaggerating about his dunking ability, look at this. (Here's bonus footage of him in last year's college dunk contest. He came in second because he barely missed one of the sickest dunks ever, twice.)
As I continue to ramble on, the Super Bowl hype continues. I’ll analyze the game in a few days, but as of now I’m definitely undecided.
Something outside of the sports world that I’ve been reading about lately that’s disturbing are incidents of racism happening across the country. Despite all the coverage Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith have gotten, racism is still very much alive.
On a more publicied issue, I don’t think Joe Biden’s comments about Barack Obama weren’t racist, just ignorant and poorly worded. However, under the mainstream media's radar there have been reports of three racist MLK parties in the past few weeks. With everything Martin Luther King has done for America, its disturbing that people in my generation have such little respect for that he’s done, in addition to the overall racism of these incidents.
Perhaps more unfortunately, one of those parties was a University of Connecticut Law School party. As a black man, I hope I’m never falsely accused of a crime in one of those kids’ area. I can’t imagine getting a fair trial from someone who thinks of black people as 40-oz guzzling, bling-bling rocking idiots.
Part of the blame for these parties has to go to the music industry. MTV, BET, and other outlets portray us as such and we don’t do much to stop it. In fact, many of us not only support the music industry but some of us try to emulate what we see on the screen.
Speaking of music, Paris Hilton sort of is a singer. She also has been caught using the N-word twice, most recently at this party. Yet, I’m sure this won’t stop black people or minorities within the music, fashion or whatever industry she’s in from dealing with her.
Bringing it back to sports, Nick Saban called somebody a coonass, allegedly while retelling a story. Let’s see how many Cajun players decline to play for Nick Saban because of this. I’m guessing around zero.
That’s probably not that different from the number of black kids who refuse to play sports in South Carolina, a state that still flies the Confederate Flag on their statehouse grounds, and Mississippi, a state that has the “Stainless Banner” displayed on its state flag.