One of my most favorite places on the web is ESPN's Page 2. I also find my way to Sports Illustrated online every now and then when, essentially, there is nothing else to read. (well I do like Peter King)
Well, after reading Page 2, MSNBC, and even some international news on CNN (way to go Mumbai, your making India look perfectly INSANE re: vegetarians outing and fighting with non-vegetarians) I found my way to the sports section of CNN i.e. Sports Illustrated Online and stumbled upon an article that was, well, umm bullet points of various things happening in the NBA at the current time.
The article discussed The Nuggets (A.I. and Carmello starting to gel since they didnt get to play together much), Good old Warriors coach the very pregnant Don "Nellie" Nelson and the semi-league wide use of 'small ball', and then this article:
"Accounting for the Celtics' big problem"
Scroll down once the page opens to get to the article. Essentially the author is discussing the Celtics dropping Sebastian Telfair from their roster because his idiotic black ass got caught AGAIN with 'someone elses' gun in his possession. This time he was speeding through one of the New York tunnels, got pulled over, and the cops found the gun underneath his seat. -Blammo , the Celtics let him go.
I have NO PROBLEM with their choice and the fact that, as Sebastian's lawyer will tell you, he supports 18 family members means NOTHING to me. If you cant control the waste of life money-grabbing losers in your own family, to me, that's already a sign that you need to GROW THE HELL UP and a MILLIONAIRE BALL PLAYER DOES NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT NEED TO HAVE A GUN and if he does, he needs to learn to pick his friends and hang out spots better. So sure, FIRE HIS ASS... someone else may give him a chance and then there is always Bill Simmons (AMAZING Page 2 columnist) suggestion, get ready for THROUGH THE FIRE 2: the Milan Years (in other words play ball in Europe).
All of this is fine good old fashion news reporting. However, the author, Ian Thompson, suddenly drops his tone, or slightly lifts the very very thin hood he wears (its really thin, Ian is FAR from a racist.. just not far enough to avoid making the following mistake) and says:
"what will the Celtics do next if Paul Pierce decides to go tearing through the Ted Williams Tunnel at 77 mph with someone else's gun under his seat? Are they going to remove his nameplate and throw it in the trash?"
First, lets say I see what Thompson is saying. You know? Will teams treat all of their players the same...? Do you treat the superstars on the team the same way you treat the crazy YMCA pick up professionals like Telfair? Who knows, but, for some reason Thompson fails to realize that, in my lifetime at least, SUPERSTARS rarely get in trouble... that is sort of why they are SUPER STARS. Paul Pierce is the Celtic's Shaq, Duncan, D-Wade, Jordan... He's the Celtics FACE and has been for a while. He is NOT going to DECIDE to behave like an idiot.
Is Thompson's suggestion that Paul Pierce, a Celtic and a black man, is just as likely as Sebastian (already known to be INSANE) Telfair to act totally stupid since they share a locker room, or skin color (raised eyebrow).
Trust me, Thompson was just writing, he wasnt thinking that what he was writing is in anyway obtuse and perhaps slightly offensive, however, if there is one thing he will NEVER understand -since he is white- its that EVERY TIME a black young man commits or is accused of a crime, I suffer the fate of being lumped in with the entire group of other black young men who have nothing to do with guns/crime/chaos. Having never even been in a police car, I have people 'lock their doors' as I walk by especially after something happens that gets national attention and involves a black man (and I am a non-tennis shoe, non-droopy jeans, non-hoody, oxford, sandal wearing, so un-hip-hop non-thug looking guy that it AMAZES me when the doors lock). Trust me, many black men will tell you during the Kobe trial, if you were a 'well spoken clean-cut brutha' for a few weeks there, we were ALL Kobe... because if Kobe could rape someone ANY black man was suddenly not only capable but willing to do the same thing.
Ian lumped Pierce into a category. Sure he was just picking the big name on the Celtics squad and posting a 'what would they do' scenario, but... think about it.... its very light gray.. .. and considering Pierce's record with crime (he's pretty clean for a former hood-rat/hip-hop baller) how do you even put that name down? Now if he had wondered if, lets say.. Nellie and the Warriors would drop Steve Jackson if ,or when, Steve gets in trouble with a gun.. THATS ANOTHER STORY!! Since Steve "truly insane" Jackson is the only dude I've ever heard of, who has an 8 digit bank account, to get run down in front of a strip club and then fire shots in the air (and there was that whole Piston-Detroit-Fans-fight-in-the-stands affair)! That would have made sense. Anything else is a very 'American' lumping together of two people who happen to share the same skin tone and profession. .. essentially blind-racism, its not done on purpose, its an almost obvious accident.. but it doesnt help anyone.
