tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post2211727996486566706..comments2024-02-24T05:19:10.949-05:00Comments on Durham-in-Wonderland: Sporting Analysiskcjohnson9http://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-74825838193360316122010-12-17T16:15:26.138-05:002010-12-17T16:15:26.138-05:00I am curious on why every single post has someone ...I am curious on why every single post has someone commening: "Is *focus of the post* a Communist?"razvannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-50279844343064328922010-12-11T22:14:51.520-05:002010-12-11T22:14:51.520-05:00To the 9.13:
Many thanks for your comment.
As t...To the 9.13:<br /><br />Many thanks for your comment. <br /><br />As to the comments policy of the blog, you can find it on the sidebar; the pertinent section regarding your concern is item (1): "Comments are moderated, but with the lightest of touches, to exclude only off-topic comments or obviously racist or similar remarks."<br /><br />I certainly don't expect every reader of the blog to agree with me--indeed, virtually every comments thread consists of readers disagreeing with me. I do hope, perhaps naively, that most readers of the blog are capable of a more sophisticated level of analysis than is Prof. McDonald.<br /><br />Thank you for clarifying that your mention of "Old White money" referred not to the owners but to NBA consumers. I apologize for my confusion. I admit I've never seen NBA ticket-holders referred to as "Old White money" before. Yuppies, yes. Large percentages of businessmen, yes. But it's not my sense that--with the possible exception of golf--most pro sports consumers are "Old White money."<br /><br />As to the post-Jordan era: I would agree it's been less profitable for the league than the period from 1980-2000. But it's certainly been more profitable than the pre-1980 period. As to the post-2000 period, I don't have roster stats handy, but it's not my sense that the percentage of African-American players was noticeably higher between 2000-2009 than from 1991-2000 (indeed, given the influx of European players, the percentage might even be a tad lower). It is clear, of course, that there were more high-profile instances of dubious behavior during this period--a pattern perhaps beginning with the Sprewell incident in the late 1990s and culminating with the Artest episode. Perhaps "Middle America" would have been more sympathetic to white players choking their coach, or running into the stands throwing punches at the fans, but I doubt it.kcjohnson9https://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-10771829341496619122010-12-11T21:13:02.053-05:002010-12-11T21:13:02.053-05:00Hmmm, well heres the first part, not sure why you ...Hmmm, well heres the first part, not sure why you it doesn't show up for you.<br /><br /><br /><br />KC, first let me say do not expect every reader of your blog to be in agreement with you. I follow this blog specifically because while I disagree with many of your posts, it has challenged me to fill in any dissonance in my perception of the Duke LAX case.<br /><br />In line with that, this is your site and you are free to do what you wish, however your statement about commenters stands on shaky ground when every comment must be approved by you. If you wish to make a statement on what "one commenter" has said, you have to assure your readers that all comments, regardless of their affiliation, will be posted. Otherwise, who is to tell if it is just 1 or the 1 that you let in.<br /><br />Secondly, please point to where I said the owners are afraid of young black money. The owners are far more concerned about their bottom line than who they let into the league. But the owners are accountable to the people who consume their product, that is the Old White money I refer to.<br /><br />Finally, I've been thinking about how I would address the responses without having to write a paper. Quite simply it is not possible. The history of sport, race, the NBA, hip-hop and mainstream culture are long, storied and connected in a such a way that I don't have the time or energy to cover them in this forum. But I will give a brief synopsis that I think will clear up my earlier young/old statement.<br /><br />The post Jordan era of the NBA has been shown to be its least profitable time. This is largely due to Stern’s decision to align its marketing campaign with Allen Iverson and other rising stars who listened more to Public Enemy and NWA than Michael Jackson. It was a scary sight for middle America to see these young black man, tattoos and all, in their face and invading their living room.<br /><br />This era also brought about a lot of notions which the NBA has tried to rectify, yet people continue to hold as absolute truths.Ellis (1of2)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-29579330625910594582010-12-11T19:16:30.157-05:002010-12-11T19:16:30.157-05:00To the 5.52:
As requested, I cleared your comment...To the 5.52:<br /><br />As requested, I cleared your comment, although it is identical to the earlier comment to which I had already responded.kcjohnson9https://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-24545415493972382082010-12-11T17:52:35.783-05:002010-12-11T17:52:35.783-05:001) The players don't play defense/work hard- f...1) The players don't play defense/work hard- funny because over the past 10 years average points per game have dropped while offensive friendly rules have risen.<br /><br />2) The players are lazy- See the infamous AI "Practice" interview. An interesting concept that has always existed within professional sports. The NFL tried a campaign to show the work the players put in Monday-Saturday, it did not test well with fans.<br /><br />3) They play dirtier/more thuggish- The Malice in the Palace was the "see I told you so" moment for this. But ask many players who went against Karl Malone or Charles Barkley, and you'll understand how dirty the game actually was.<br /><br />One of the ways the NBA went out to fight against these perceptions was greater emphasis on international marketing. In addition to the top foreign players being competitive with the domestic, they were also far better received by those who spend the most on tickets/shoes/merchandise, middle America.<br /><br />The Old White/Young Black comparison is not an issue of persons, but an issue of structures. The NBA has been fighting a losing battle to keep its Old White money fans by phasing out the Young Black money players. The age limit foolishly attempts to grant the illusions of maturity (as if going to school for 1 year and not paying attention in classes makes you more of an adult). The dress code was designed to remove the "thuggish" image of the league.<br /><br />I understand the need for the league implement these rules, I’m just not foolish enough to say that they aren't playing into the Old White money fears. There are far better ways both the issue of maturity and perception could have been addressed. Stop looking at the tree and see the forest.Ellis (2of2)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-40268658690941478242010-12-11T11:39:11.616-05:002010-12-11T11:39:11.616-05:00To the 8.32:
It's unclear to me what you are ...To the 8.32:<br /><br />It's unclear to me what you are asking. I have cleared all of your comments, as they were submitted.kcjohnson9https://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-48733106863453120082010-12-09T20:32:04.362-05:002010-12-09T20:32:04.362-05:00Im going to ask once again to post the first part ...Im going to ask once again to post the first part of my reply so that my assertions are not misrepresented or thought to be out of context.<br /><br />Please be a honorable host to a site that, while I may not agree with, is pivotal in the discussion in the aftermath of the Duke Lax case.Ellis (cont...)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-54937567785147535702010-12-08T19:52:09.739-05:002010-12-08T19:52:09.739-05:00To the 5.28:
I'm not sure who you're argu...To the 5.28:<br /><br />I'm not sure who you're arguing against: I never raised points (1), (2), or (3). I agree with you on (1b), (2), and (3); regarding (1a), it seems to me there are other explanations for the decline in scoring than improved defense.<br /><br />As to rationale for the dress-code policy, again, I'm not sure you you are arguing against. To quote from the post: "It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to determine why the NBA adopted its policy. It needed to appease its largely white fan base." <br /><br />As to race and the structural issue: the NHL has almost no black players. African-Americans are a fairly small percentage of MLB players. It's not my sense that the owners in either of those leagues are any more eager to give their players huge salaries than are the NBA owners to give huge salaries to--in McDonald's language--"young black bodies."kcjohnson9https://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-87557030092154052742010-12-08T17:28:45.046-05:002010-12-08T17:28:45.046-05:001) The players don't play defense/work hard- f...1) The players don't play defense/work hard- funny because over the past 10 years average points per game have dropped while offensive friendly rules have risen.<br /><br />2) The players are lazy- See the infamous AI "Practice" interview. An interesting concept that has always existed within professional sports. The NFL tried a campaign to show the work the players put in Monday-Saturday, it did not test well with fans.<br /><br />3) They play dirtier/more thuggish- The Malice in the Palace was the "see I told you so" moment for this. But ask many players who went against Karl Malone or Charles Barkley, and you'll understand how dirty the game actually was.<br /><br />One of the ways the NBA went out to fight against these perceptions was greater emphasis on international marketing. In addition to the top foreign players being competitive with the domestic, they were also far better received by those who spend the most on tickets/shoes/merchandise, middle America.<br /><br />The Old White/Young Black comparison is not an issue of persons, but an issue of structures. The NBA has been fighting a losing battle to keep its Old White money fans by phasing out the Young Black money players. The age limit foolishly attempts to grant the illusions of maturity (as if going to school for 1 year and not paying attention in classes makes you more of an adult). The dress code was designed to remove the "thuggish" image of the league.<br /><br />I understand the need for the league implement these rules, I’m just not foolish enough to say that they aren't playing into the Old White money fears. There are far better ways both the issue of maturity and perception could have been addressed. Stop looking at the tree and see the forest.Ellis (cont...)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-77477926680188926972010-12-08T10:04:03.709-05:002010-12-08T10:04:03.709-05:00Assuming for the moment that all team owners are o...Assuming for the moment that all team owners are old and white (a false assumption, but let's go with it): It seems to me that all this old, white money is constantly creating new young, black multi-millionaires. "Not that there's anything wrong with that," but I am certainly perplexed by the bizarre assertion that owners "fear" what they in fact do every day, every year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-76896128807716538692010-12-07T18:58:52.411-05:002010-12-07T18:58:52.411-05:00To the 12.53:
Your comment is a bit perplexing, e...To the 12.53:<br /><br />Your comment is a bit perplexing, especially in its last line: "Old white money is afraid of young black money." Correct me if I am wrong, but not all the owners in the NBA are either "old" or "white." And, especially given the league's international push in recent years, not all the people affected by the age restriction are black. Moreover, even by the somewhat perplexing approach of the comment, this "old white money" can't be <i>too</i> afraid of "young black money," since the policy allows players--black and white--to enter the NBA with one year of college experience. Perhaps you consider 18-year-olds "young" and 19-year-olds "old." But somehow I doubt most people would share this rather unusual interpretation.<br /><br />As to the competitive point, it's quite clear that some high school-only draftees (LeBron James, Kobe Bryant) proved more than ready for the NBA. But a far greater percentage did not, or did not do so immediately. A policy like the age-restriction policy, which takes some of the risk out of the draft process in a sport that essentially has no minor leagues beyond the NCAA, and therefore is a good for business for the owners, is hardly a surprising one.<br /><br />It doesn't surprise me, of course, that Prof. McDonald, who sees everything through the prism of race, class, and gender, ignores any contradictory evidence. But I am a bit disappointed that at least one DIW commenter seemingly has adopted the same approach.kcjohnson9https://www.blogger.com/profile/09625813296986996867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-54451920172233618422010-12-07T17:59:42.041-05:002010-12-07T17:59:42.041-05:00I can think of several quickly, soldier, bartender...I can think of several quickly, soldier, bartender, bus driver, taxi driver, senator, president, stripper, voter, etc.. etc.<br /><br />I guess old white money has it out for young black money in these venues as well..<br /><br />The real elephant in the room is that race baiting pays big time.<br /><br />DMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-56422565591935382362010-12-07T12:53:10.142-05:002010-12-07T12:53:10.142-05:00I have a difficult time in buying into anything yo...I have a difficult time in buying into anything you say when you can not see the obvious links between the age-limit policy and dress code.<br /><br />Is there any other industry where a person who has the ability to produce been banned simply on the basis of age? There is a long list of names of young athletes bypassing college who made an immediate impact on their professional teams. <br /><br />The age restriction was put in place not because the kids couldn't compete, but because league executives believed that putting these boys into college for a year would help them mature. <br /><br />To somehow insinuate that the rule was implemented based on ones ability to compete is either naive or willfully ignoring the elephant in the room. Old white money is afraid of young black money.Ellisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-46839037719551629372010-12-06T21:45:04.897-05:002010-12-06T21:45:04.897-05:00Is McDonald a Communist?Is McDonald a Communist?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-39286591604852507972010-12-06T14:15:50.630-05:002010-12-06T14:15:50.630-05:00I unfortunately stopped caring about the NBA when ...I unfortunately stopped caring about the NBA when Latrell Sprewell lamented "How am I going to raise my 2 families on $12M/year?" I long for the days of Debusschere, Bradley, Frazier, Monroe and Reed! Class acts, all of them.skwillihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17216150339054413310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32542246.post-61124551341612550732010-12-06T09:56:28.467-05:002010-12-06T09:56:28.467-05:00KC, have you considered submitting an article to t...KC, have you considered submitting an article to this Sport in Society publication?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com