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Tonya
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 3989
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 10:44 pm: | 
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BY ERIC BARROW
Allen Iverson
The NBA despises itself.
It can barely stand to look in the mirror anymore. It hates what's staring back.
It hates its walk. It hates its talk. It hates its hip. It hates its hop. It turns its own stomach. It wants a nose job. It wants a lip reduction. It wants bleach. It wants charm school.
The NBA is desperate for a nip. It's fiending for a tuck and David Stern won't rest until he gets one.
But I'm sorry Mr. Stern, it's not your father's NBA anymore, hasn't been for some time now. You're fighting something more powerful than even you. You're fighting a culture that pervades the league and will for a generation to come, and you better get used to it.
It's in Allen Iverson. It's in Carmelo Anthony. It's in Ron Artest. Its smack-talk and back-talk. It's brims to the side. It's do-rags. It's cornrows. All the dress codes and league fines won't change what's already ingrained. Hip-hop and the NBA are one.
It's as simple as black and white: The black sport marketing itself to the white audience, the killer crossover, as old as Little Richard.
The NBA is doing all it can to make its sport more palatable to White America, been doing it ever since Michael Jordan left the stage and the One-on-One Generation grabbed the spotlight, the NBA looking to put a big, fat smiley face on the angry black athlete.
This past week Darrent Williams of the NFL's Denver Broncos was gunned down outside a club after celebrating the birthday of Denver Nuggets star Kenyon Martin. What's to blame? A hip-hop run rampant in the Mile-High city - which is being predicted by some to only worsen with the arrival of Denver's newest citizen, Iverson, and the corrosive influence that follows him.
But why is the violence associated with hip-hop only the NBA's problem? This past year alone, eight Cincinnati Bengals were arrested on charges ranging from driving under the influence to battery to burglary. Where's the NFL's alarm bells? Where's the outrage that the league is raging out of control? Does the NFL hate itself? Does it hate what it's becoming?
Not one bit.
How about the NHL, where the Rangers' Brendan Shanahan picks a fight with known enforcer Donald Brashear and is regaled for defending his team? Or how about Isiah Thomas getting the rack at that same Garden two weeks earlier for calling for a hard foul on the Nuggets, who'd had their starting five on the court in the waning minutes of a 20-point blowout?
Why does the NBA have this inferiority complex? Why does it hate what it's become? Are crime and fisticuffs exclusive to basketball, making this all-out push for a kinder, gentler NBA necessary? Hardly.
It's time for the NBA to stand up for its players instead of cracking down on them. Stern acts more like a single parent trying to teach a house full of unrulies how to walk, talk and dress than a commissioner. He even has to tell them to go to school for a year, leaving barrels of cash on the table.
A year at Duke will make you a better man. A year at Georgetown will do the same, just like two did for Iverson.
Maybe the NBA would like itself again if it embraced its culture instead of stifling it. It is, after all, the culture that sells the video games, and the baggy shorts and oversized jerseys and puts money in everybody's pocket.
Maybe it's time to embrace what the NBA is: Black and proud.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/486299p-409450c.html |
Nels
Veteran Poster
Username: Nels
Post Number: 649
Registered: 07-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 03:25 am: |
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Stern's a Jew. Hmmmm... $$$ |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 674
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 10:39 am: |
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iversons an asshole he's basketball version of terrell owens, that's why the nuggets will suck even when carmelo "sucker punch" anthony comes back. and some of those spoiled ass athletes needed to get cracked down on, it's too many young kids looking up to them and wether they like it or not, they are role models. and as far as the bengals situation all of those players where suspended without pay and when you play only 16 games when you miss games due to suspension the financial impact is much different than when you play 82 games, not to mention one of those players lost his job for good. if iverson didn't have basketball skills who would be in jail ... he should be thanking god every day that he is great at playing a sport he would've been playing in jail. another thing to, most of those athletes don't listen to hip hop they listen to g-rap ... mos def, roots, talib kwali is hip hop.
and hockey has lost it's spot on being one of america's top 4 sports to nascar, the nba has made some stupid rules but i don't blame stern from not wanting them to fall from grace. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3379
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 10:42 am: |
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Last time I looked the brothers were still playing and still making that big moolah.
The players may be black but the audience is white--only they can pay them big prices. And Stern as a white man, probably has to listen to the others in them big meetings ride him and ask him why he can't hem those bucks up
(Another thing black people need to understand is that the ruling class of America is racist to the core)
So he's gonna have to act like massa. If the brothers don't like it, they can quit--I doubt it. |
Fortified
Regular Poster
Username: Fortified
Post Number: 430
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 10:56 am: |
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The predominantly white audience at games is never going to change. When it gets down to it, it's all about the game. But the game hasn't been the same. You have a few explosive players (Wade, Lebron, Kobe), but the rest are all inconsistent, washed-up. Stern needs to focus on talent, not off-court attire and activities. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3385
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:02 am: |
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My sympathies are with them, but they ain't got no power.
He got to show the other white men he can control those bucks--they're flashing cash and bling, getting into trouble with the law, running white women, looking like a bunch of characters from a police lineup.
Look for all the gang stuff to disappear in the next few years.
After all, they are, in many cases, millionaires and businessmen, not corner boyz. |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7802
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:07 am: |
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The issue is as much GENERATIONAL as it is racial. NBA players are mostly 20-something. While it's audience (at least those with the $$$) is 40-something.
But the KIDS of that audience are COOL with the look and style of the players. All you have to do is look at who buys MOST of the grittier hip-hop music & culture (See MTV) to see evidence of that. |
Fortified
Regular Poster
Username: Fortified
Post Number: 435
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:10 am: |
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Hmmmmm...I wonder what will become of them (hip-hop artists, the culture) when white boys no longer find hip-hop cool? |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3387
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:16 am: |
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Hmmmmm...I wonder what will become of them (hip-hop artists, the culture) when white boys no longer find hip-hop cool?
What happened to Dixieland Jazz musicians? Swing musicians? Rock n rollers? The Temptations?
It's out on the Oldies Circuit. |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 678
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:20 am: |
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hip hop artist will continue to transition into actors, the culture will change it always does, that's what it's supposed to do. just like disco there will be something new ready to replace rap. black people don't let white people make decisions as what's cool though, we never have ... we decide what is cool, it is only up to them if they want to buy into what we do to make it main stream. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3390
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:30 am: |
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we decide what is cool
Yeah. We ask white folks if it is cool and then we decide it is |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 680
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:45 am: |
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white people aren't very original when it comes to things being hip or not. rock n roll, blues, r&b, rap... you name it and it's usually started from black people. that's the way it's always been and that's the way it will always be. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3395
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:49 am: |
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How many Eminem albums you got? |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7803
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:55 am: |
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Fortified: "You have a few explosive players (Wade, Lebron, Kobe), but the rest are all inconsistent, washed-up. Stern needs to focus on talent, not off-court attire and activities."
I agree though I think the issue is less about talent than it is SKILL. I think many in the NBA are potentially vituoso pianists who've had too FEW good piano lessons. |
Doberman23
Veteran Poster
Username: Doberman23
Post Number: 683
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 11:58 am: |
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eminem is rapper who has adopted rap culture not the other way around.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7806
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 12:04 pm: |
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Fortified,
MOST professional singers and musicians either move on to a more modest and traditional lifestyles and forms of employment. Or they die poor, embittered and destitute.
I expect very much SAME for hip-hop artists. |
Yvettep
Veteran Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1565
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 03:06 pm: |
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Hmmmmm...I wonder what will become of them (hip-hop artists, the culture) when white boys no longer find hip-hop cool?
That is a very valid question. The big$$ in Hip Hop comes from White American and international audiences--not Black Americans.
But will there be another Big Thing originating from White culture? A new wildly popular boy band? The next "grunge" movement? A new British invasion? Time will tell, I guess. |
Yukio
Veteran Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 1553
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 03:06 pm: |
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black folk still listen to music and are fans...this is similar discussion that we can have about jazz music...black folk keep creating and whites lags behind as creators but are steadfast as consumers of our creations... |
Robynmarie
Regular Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 267
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 05:08 pm: |
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Allen Iverson is gorgeous. Quit hatin' |
Enchanted
Veteran Poster
Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 645
Registered: 11-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 05:19 pm: |
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I tell you one thing he sure is Robynmaire and that's NO joke people get on my nerves with all the hate around here. |
Robynmarie
Regular Poster
Username: Robynmarie
Post Number: 268
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 08:15 pm: |
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^^^
that's right. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 6701
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 10:42 pm: |
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Allan Iverson does have a good work ethic. Out there on the court, he gives 110 Percent. Face it, basketball is the black's man's revenge, just like the strain of diarrhea tourists catch in Mexico is called Montezuma's revenge. Payback for past slights at the hands of white men! And in the case of the NBA, payback pays good. And since Rap has been accepted by the music world as a legitimate music genre, when it goes out of style its body of work might be elevated to classical status, available for those who fancy it or are curious about it. But I wonder if it will ever go out of style? It used to be only certain people could rap but now even little kids know how to free-style and rhyme. It's like how every Hawaiian female knows how to dance the hula, almost from the time she can walk. It's part of their culture. |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 1523
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 03:59 am: |
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"Allan Iverson does have a good work ethic. Out there on the court, he gives 110 Percent."
Interesting you said that Ms. Cynique. A good friend of mine and I were discussing Iverson today. To show you how out of step I am with this season (I was too caught up with football), I didn't know he was traded until I saw him in that Nuggets uniform. I didn't know the 76'ers had traded him. Even though I have no use for the cornrow/tattooed thug look, he is a great athlete and he does, as you said, play at a 110% level. As I said, I can't get into the thug look but I heard some very good things about him. I'm sure he will be a great asset to the Nuggets.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 7848
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 09:39 am: |
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Ntfs,
Iverson is a remarkably talented athlete. And he plays hard. But there's MORE to being a championship player than that.
Part of the book on Iverson is he hates to practice. And since he was the leader of the Sixers, he set a bad example and tone on the team. Because it's very difficult to establish the order, discipline and commaraderie that is CRUCIAL to creating a winning team when your BEST player appears to not care about such.
However, Michael Jordan (and Bulls teammate Scottie Pippin) is reputed to have RELIGIOUSLY practiced and worked out. And that SHOWED via how successful he and the Bulls were. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 6740
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 - 01:41 pm: |
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Well, the Sixers did get to the NBA finals thanks to Iverson's drive and will to win. Michael Jordan intimidated all of his teammates and did as he pleased not to mention entering into a secret liaisan with his coach Phil Jackson. Not exactly a sterling example of a team player. He had the killer instinct and that's what made him invincible. And of course, there was that infamous incident when Scottie Pippin sulked and pouted over being benched during one of the play-off games and refused to participate in the time-out huddle. |
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