Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Racism- Hockey v. Basketball
In my opinion, the main throng of racism today can best be illustrated by the following scenario: a white guy walking down an empty street sees a couple of black guys coming up the street, the white guy is much more scared of being mugged or, as is more likely, of being harassed. Now, take the same scenario, but substitute a couple of white guys for the black guys, and the hero no longer feels threatened. This is the problem- the image given to black people by white people. Without any pretense, black people are stereotyped as thugs. This is the type of racism pervading America today, and is what we need to focus on combating.
To further show this racism, I have an example I would like to discuss. It's an example that I have yet to see anybody else mention. The example is about the differences between the rules in hockey and basketball as well as the differences in how the two sports are viewed. Hockey is a sport that is predominantly white and basketball is a sport that is predominantly black, and it seems to me that there are differences in the rules based on this fact.
The main rule I am talking about is the fact that players are allowed to fight in the NHL whereas any tiny little scrum in the NBA usually ends in technical fouls, suspensions, and/or fines. Why is this? Well, there's a simple reason why NHL players are allowed to fight: the fans love it, and anything the fans love goes. Now, why is fighting not allowed in the NBA? One possible explanation is that there's no padding in the NBA like there is in the NHL, so fights in the NBA are much more likely to cause serious injury. Well, this explanation forgets that NHL players are mainly pounding each other in the face during these riffs and the padding makes no difference (there could be an argument that the bulkiness of the padding makes it difficult land a serious blow). Also, the explanation fails to explain why any tiny little shove, no matter how insignificant, is at least hit with a technical foul in an NBA game. Hell, even yelling something at another player can get you a technical. Could you imagine a hockey penalty being given because of something one player said to another? It seems ridiculous. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are saved for circumstances where one player completely blindsides another player.
I think the proper explanation is that we, Americans, are racist (not that we're more racist than any other country- in fact, we're probably less racist). What would happen if we saw Kenyon Martin fighting it out with Lamar Odom in the middle of a game? We would see a couple of thugs in a street brawl. This would cause us to lose respect for the game. Fans would think to themselves- "aw that's what was always going to happen when you put a bunch of thuggish black guys on a court together". The players would be looked down upon, almost like animals. The persona of the game would change into spectator gang warfare instead of a lovely game of skill and finesse. Fighting hockey players, on the other hand, are looked highly upon as tough guys or even warriors.
This is further shown by the NBA rule that states when NBA players can't play in a game because of injury or some other reason, they have to wear suits on the sidelines. When NBA executives are asked why they have this rule, the answer is generally to keep the character of the league up with respect to how the players are seen by the fans. In other words, the NBA doesn't want its players to look like pimped out thugs on the sidelines with their jumpsuits and crazy huge gold jewelry because this would cause the fans to see the players as thugs. It makes sense, I could definitely see fans thinking this way.
The question I'm trying to raise by this post is why do we see these basketball players as thugs but not the white hockey players? The only logical answer is because they are black. These rules are promulgated in the NBA for a reason- to save the character of the league in the eyes of the fans. It is our own fault for seeing black players in jumpsuits with bling as thugs, not the NBA, and not society. There's no reason for it. This is where racism is hiding and we need to end it here as well.
To further show this racism, I have an example I would like to discuss. It's an example that I have yet to see anybody else mention. The example is about the differences between the rules in hockey and basketball as well as the differences in how the two sports are viewed. Hockey is a sport that is predominantly white and basketball is a sport that is predominantly black, and it seems to me that there are differences in the rules based on this fact.
The main rule I am talking about is the fact that players are allowed to fight in the NHL whereas any tiny little scrum in the NBA usually ends in technical fouls, suspensions, and/or fines. Why is this? Well, there's a simple reason why NHL players are allowed to fight: the fans love it, and anything the fans love goes. Now, why is fighting not allowed in the NBA? One possible explanation is that there's no padding in the NBA like there is in the NHL, so fights in the NBA are much more likely to cause serious injury. Well, this explanation forgets that NHL players are mainly pounding each other in the face during these riffs and the padding makes no difference (there could be an argument that the bulkiness of the padding makes it difficult land a serious blow). Also, the explanation fails to explain why any tiny little shove, no matter how insignificant, is at least hit with a technical foul in an NBA game. Hell, even yelling something at another player can get you a technical. Could you imagine a hockey penalty being given because of something one player said to another? It seems ridiculous. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties are saved for circumstances where one player completely blindsides another player.
I think the proper explanation is that we, Americans, are racist (not that we're more racist than any other country- in fact, we're probably less racist). What would happen if we saw Kenyon Martin fighting it out with Lamar Odom in the middle of a game? We would see a couple of thugs in a street brawl. This would cause us to lose respect for the game. Fans would think to themselves- "aw that's what was always going to happen when you put a bunch of thuggish black guys on a court together". The players would be looked down upon, almost like animals. The persona of the game would change into spectator gang warfare instead of a lovely game of skill and finesse. Fighting hockey players, on the other hand, are looked highly upon as tough guys or even warriors.
This is further shown by the NBA rule that states when NBA players can't play in a game because of injury or some other reason, they have to wear suits on the sidelines. When NBA executives are asked why they have this rule, the answer is generally to keep the character of the league up with respect to how the players are seen by the fans. In other words, the NBA doesn't want its players to look like pimped out thugs on the sidelines with their jumpsuits and crazy huge gold jewelry because this would cause the fans to see the players as thugs. It makes sense, I could definitely see fans thinking this way.
The question I'm trying to raise by this post is why do we see these basketball players as thugs but not the white hockey players? The only logical answer is because they are black. These rules are promulgated in the NBA for a reason- to save the character of the league in the eyes of the fans. It is our own fault for seeing black players in jumpsuits with bling as thugs, not the NBA, and not society. There's no reason for it. This is where racism is hiding and we need to end it here as well.
# posted by Clyde @ 3:23 PM 
