Racism and Basketball

One of the great things about sports is that it is pretty close to a true meritocracy. No one cares about anything except how well you perform, and there is an army of statisticians and guy with cameras on hand to record your every move. Sure, some guys get to rest on their reputations (Brett Favre, Derek Jeter), but despite the fact athletes are grossly overpaid, they can point to verifiable facts of what they contribute to a team’s success, and therefore their bottom line.

On the other hand, most sportswriting is downright awful. OK, that’s not entirely true, it just seems that way. But there is a vast array of code words which do nothing but hide the author’s true intent. “Professional” or “hard-working” usually means a white guy. “Scrappy” means a white guy who isn’t any good. “Athletic” means black. And I think it should be legal to punch anyone in the face who uses the lazy analogy of the 1980s Celtics-Lakers rivalry as a shorthand on race relations. Besides, it’s an analogy which doesn’t work for me, given that I rooted for the Sixers in the ‘80s because they had Dr. J.

I bring this up because Memphis is in the NCAA title game tonight and I couldn’t be happier about. Not because I care about Memphis, I really don’t. But we’ve been inundated by columns and talking heads talking about how Memphis is going to lose because they don’t play “fundamentals” and they rely on their “athleticism” and that they lack “fundamentals”. And it’s all a bunch of crap.

I challenge you to watch Derrick Rose play, and say he lacks fundamentals. And while only a moron would say he’s not athletic, looking at the way he can distribute the ball and his creativity in the air, he’s relying on more than just his athletic gift. He’s certainly hard-working. You don’t get that good without hour and hours of practice every day. It’s insulting to call him and his teammates merel;y “athletic” and they have made a mockery of the criticism in all of their press conferences. Coach John Calipari has pointed this out by claiming he’s just throwing them out there and letting them play and he’s not coaching at all. Which is a lie. Memphis is extraordinarily well-coached and they have a deep rotation of players. It’s insulting to everyone to call them simply athletic.

Hell, it’s insulting to their opponents as well. UCLA’s best player is Kevin Love, who has been described as hard-working and a “student of the game” despite his “limited athleticism”. Any guesses as to what color his skin is? Just as Rose is as hard-working and diligent as Love, Love is every bit as athletic as Rose. Sure, he doesn’t have the same aerial skills, but he’s dominant under the rim. Dorsey, Memphis’ big man, gave him the back-handed compliment that Love is a good passer, but Love IS a good passer and he also scores 20 points per game. That’s two things Dorsey can’t do (though Dorsey is ten times the defensive player Love is).

You’d think we’d be past this point. That we wouldn’t evaluate players and teams simply on melanin. But apparently not. So, I can’t wait for tonight’s game. And I’ll be rooting for Memphis to cut down the nets, if only to cast one small blow against narrow minded sportswriters (nothing against Kansas, a team I picked to win the tourney in my bracket pool – against Memphis). Just because they have tattoos and corn-rows, it doesn’t mean they can’t play fundamentals. And it doesn’t mean they can’t whip your ass.