HBO’s Bryant Gumbel directed some pointed remarks at David Stern during Tuesday night’s edition of “Real Sports,” likening the NBA commissioner to a slave owner, whose bigger priority is to “demean” players, rather than find a solution to the league’s lockout.
“If the NBA lockout is going to be resolved any time soon, it seems likely to be done in spite of David Stern, not because of him,” Gumbel said. “I say that because the NBA’s infamously egocentric commissioner seems more hell bent lately on demeaning the players than resolving his game’s labor impasse.
“How else to explain Stern’s rants in recent days? To any and everyone who’d listen, he has alternatively knocked union leader Billy Hunter, said the players were getting inaccurate information and started sounding Chicken Little claims about what games might be lost if players didn’t soon see things his way.
“Stern’s version of what’s been going on behind closed doors has, of course, been disputed. But his efforts were typical of a commissioner who has always seemed eager to be viewed as some kind of modern plantation overseer, treating NBA men as if they were his boys.
“It’s part of Stern’s M.O., like his past self-serving edicts on dress code or the questioning of officials. His moves are intended to do little more than show how he’s the one keeping the hired hands in their place.
“Some will, of course, cringe at that characterization, but Stern’s disdain for the players is as palpable and pathetic as his motives are transparent. Yes, the NBA’s business model is broken, but to fix it maybe the league’s commissioner should concern himself most with the solution and stop being part of the problem.”
THE MEDIA SPIN
This is a typical race story that the media will blow up. Now we have to hear from the stupid Dittowoods “ I’m sick and tired of the double-standard. If Bryant Gumbel was white he would have got fired. Blah, Blah, Blah
People like Gumbel are the reason race relations in this country will never advance. Knowing they have never done anything to fight racism, 99% will say anything, but yet they think racism doesn’t exist.
The media knows Gumbel took a roundabout and inflammatory route to make a point. He wanted a reaction. They want the American public to think racial issues are bogus. That is why they prompt up Sharpton, Farrakhan, and Jackson, who got most of the media attention during the eighties. This laid down the foundation for stupid Dittowoods to say, see, these people are race baiters.
THE REAL
Bryant Gumbel’s description of David Stern’s character is right on point. Mr. Stern, for too long, has belittled the players with his dismissive attitude, as if the players didn’t matter. He thinks he is soul reason the NBA players are the highest-paid athletes in America. Finally someone in the media has taken him on. He has ESPN in his hip pocket. David Stern has always been overrated. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan fell in his lap. That’s why the league grew in the eighties. What did Stern do after all those legends retired? Nothing but let his league turn into a thug league. He allowed a street mentality to creep into the NBA by allowing prison attire, complete with braids and tattoos. You’re supposed to be professionals; okay, you should at least look the part. After the stereotype of black athletes was cemented in the minds of the dumb public, he then implemented a dress code. Stern, you don’t fool me. You are part of the game to help promote negative stereotypes about blacks, because if you weren’t you wouldn’t have allow the perception of your league to be equated with San Quentin. By the way if it wasn’t for Labron James going to Miami, his league would still be in the dungeon.
That said … Mr. Gumbel, a slave is a slave. A basketball player is a basketball player. Let’s stop trying to make the two analogous. Jesse Jackson did it when he said the Cleveland Cavilers’ owner was acting like slave master with his relationship with Labron. You cannot ever compare what my great grandfather did in the tobacco and cotton fields to what the NBA players are going through today. Never! I don’t care if you think Stern’s attitude is reflective of a more racially unenlightened time in America. I know, just because someone is being paid a salary does not mean that they cannot be treated like indentured laborers. But to even bring up slavery is very disrespectful to what our ancestors went through. Period! It’s too painful to be used to garner media attention. The media is the one giving this story attention, but yet stories of real racism get ignored to make Dittowoods think there is no real racism, or claims of racism are bogus.
Nerdy
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