Re: Walker Trade and Mike Holley

[Mark Piotrowski <pio@nwu.edu>]

>As for Michael Holley and racism, he is right on.  White America will
>backlash against what they perceive to be "greedy black players".

Here's my 2 cent take on some of what Holley is talking about (please keep
in mind my earlier comments about that no one-players or owners-deserves a
million a year; I'm just attempting to see where Holley is coming from).

How many times have we during this the lockout about "greedy punks" like
Kevin Garnett, Antoine Walker, Shaq, and Penny Hardaway?  About how much
they want.  About how unfair it is to the owners that these "spoiled brats"
make all this money?  I think (and I guess I could be wrong) that part of
what irks Holley and others is that THESE players who are generally
regarded as stars, maybe albeit slightly overpaid.  For the most part
(except Shaq @ Disneyworld recently) these players are not troublemakers
off the court but they get called "punks" and "brats" (along with real
troublemakers like Spreewell).

How come stiffs like Jon Koncak, Jim McIllvaine & Travis Knight are never
mentioned?  They aren't making as much as the "stars" above, but one could
make the case that they have as much if not more to do with escalating
salaries. Once someone like Jim McIllvaine starts making more than
established stars like Shawn Kemp, players like Kemp (in some ways rightly)
start wanting more money b/c they have more talent and contribute more to
the team. And the spiral begins (or continues).

I interpret Holley reacting to:

a) a lot of fans and the media lumping players like Garnett and Walker into
the "punk" and "brat" categories w/ Spreewell, R. Horry and I. Rider just
b/c the former have big salary demands.  No one says Gugliotta is a "punk"
just b/c he will get a huge paycheck after free agency.

b) No one mentioning the huge salaries of middle to bottom line players
like McIllvaine, Koncak, Knight, etc.  One would be hard pressed to
legitimate these chumps' salaries.   Instead the media only focuses on
players (like Walker, Shaq, Kemp) who one could make a legitimate argument
about their value to a club and therefore their financial worth

Is this racism on the level of the Jim Crow laws of the South that were
overturned in the 1960s?  No.  Equal in weight to the racial murder
recently in Texas (the one Dennis Rodman paid for the funeral)? Obviously
not.  But there is a difference in how people react to players' demands
like Walker and those of a Koncak (c. 1990).  To some degree Holley and
others are saying that it is based PARTLY on race.  I agree with someone
else recently in saying "duh".  Holley isn't saying all of America is in
the KKK but that there are different degrees of racism and discrimination
and prejudice.  I happen to agree with him.

It certainly doesn't help matters that every time he opens his mouth,
people on WEEI, in the Globe and on this list (which I'm sure he doesn't
read) start crying and whining about HIM being a racist.  I would expect
one or two people to react, but the din is deafening everytime Holley
writes a column.

I agree with Paul, Cecil and others that Holley brings a good perspective
to the Boston sports scene.  One can only read the drivel of Dan
Shaugnessey (sp?) so often.

-mark

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Mark Piotrowski
Registrar,
Northwestern University Prosthetic-Orthotic Center
345 E. Superior St.
Room. 1712
Chicago, IL 60611

(312) 908-8006
pio@nwu.edu
www.repoc.nwu.edu/nupoc/nupoc.html
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