From: ronnie@uts.amdahl.com (Ronnie Townsend)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Couple of thoughts..
Date: 14 Aug 92 04:14:15 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <1992Aug11.152851.3957@random.ccs.northeastern.edu> gary@ccs.northeastern.edu (Gary Duhaney) writes:
>In article <1992Aug10.142208.10113@rti.rti.org> wgr@rti.rti.org writes:
>>In article <8dZk03zS56LA00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> ronnie@uts.amdahl.com (Ronnie Townsend) writes:
>>>I *would* like to turn to the topic of 
>>>how long people think it will be before the rest of the world *can* play at
>>>an NBA level. Obviously the key is to actually get to play against that level 
>>>of comp on a regular basis. If they only get the see the NBA'ers once a year 
>>>for the McDonalds and every four years for the Olympics, the rest of the 
>>>world will never catch up. 
>
>It will take about as long as the rest of the world takes to devote as much
>attention to Bball as they do with whatever their national pastime is, i.e.
>Soccer.
>
>>
>>Probably true, unless they figure out some better way to play the game that
>>we can't cope with, or make up some more international rules to confuse us.
>>
>>>At the risk of sounding racist, the one overriding
>>>problem facing the rest of the world teams is a glaring lack of brothers! 
>>>Let's face it, if 90% of the best players in the NBA  and the world are black
>>>then it stands to reason that countries where there aint no brothers are gonna
>>>have a hard time playing to the NBA level.
>
>Ohhh god, another fool talking out his bee hind, where the sun don't shine.
>
>>>You guys can
>>>flame for stating the obvious with regard to the racial makeup of the NBA but 
>>>it's just an undeniable fact. We can speculate till the cows come how as to 
>>>why it is that American brothers are such good hoop players but none but the 
>>>clinically insane can deny that reality.
>
>>scarcity of brothers will keep another country from playing good ball.  Maybe
>>part of it has to do with genetics -- I don't think it's racist to consider
>>it as a possibility -- but even the most genetically gifted person won't be
>>an NBA player without many years of diligent practice.  The biggest factor
>>has got to be cultural.
>
>There were a few studies made, I can't remember which magazine it was, that
>said that the only difference between White and Black athletes that they
>found was that the white athletes had a slightly higher bodyfat %, but not
>enough to be significant.  In other words guess who can afford Prime Rib.
>
>The differences you see in the number of athletes is based predominantly
>on economics and cultural/racial differences.  If you don't think so then
>please explain to me why you think blacks can't ice skate (Hockey).

They (we) can... at least I can... so can Debbie Thomas and Tai Babalona.. 
however, most brothers I know don't want to have anything to do with hanging
out with a bunch of big white boys with sticks in a place where it's fuckin'
freezin'.  In all seriousness... as inane and emotional as most of this 
discussion has been... it has been illuminating in many respects.  I don't 
believe any ONE factor determines any of this. If just being black made one 
a world classs sprinter I wouldn't be tinkling these keys right now! As one 
who has been an athlete all my life and run against faster and slower people 
of all races and been schooled on the hoops court by people of all walks of 
life I know the myths about race and athletic prowess are not nearly as 
simple as some would like to make them.  I am faster than the average white 
person... I am also faster than the average black/jew/asian/hispanic... person. 

I can't shoot the rock worth a damn, though I can jump higher than the average
person. I brought this subject up because it is of interest to me. I would 
like to see it change. I'd like for net.eggheads to remember all their ravings
about equality and non-stereotyping when a young brother comes to them with 
a resume and says in thick BLACK English... "Yo, Homey, can you give a brother
a break and lemme work here?"  Yes I believe some of you are or will be 
managers of techie groups and you will be in a position to make decisions 
such as this. WHen that time comes... think about all the "debunking" you 
have done. Think  about that young hispanic brother who speaks in broken 
English but made it through college. Think of his struggle in a society stacked
against him... and yes, think of your self-righteous ranting about everybody 
being equal and no stereotypical myths carrying any weight AND GIVE THE FUCKING 
BROTHER THE JOB. That way he'll be able to show his kids that they can make it
without being a jock! I don't have any delusions about why I was admitted to 
some of the schools I got into. All I had to do was look at the recruiter's 
eyes when he clocked me in that 4.4 40.  The Naval Academy Recruiter called the
football coach right there on the spot and said, "I think we have our flanker
for the next four years!" 

You see, it wasn't good enough for these places that I'd scored in the 99th 
percentile in everything academically... no, what set me apart from the other 
1 million kids who scored as well was I could fly!  I'm not saying this isn't 
changing ... but those who try to pretend that minorities play on a level 
playing field in this country have their heads much further up their asses 
than I ever could get mine!  I'm glad we've had this little discussion because 
now I know that there is no prejudice and sterotypes among us netheads. We're 
all colorblind and completely fair and the world is a better place that we 
exist. 
-- 
Ronnie
-------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not cynical... I just don't believe in anything....


Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro