RE: Bob Ryan being stupid again

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You know, anyone in a bar who says a team has too many white guys gets a
laugh. When Bob Ryan says it, he gets roasted by the PC police. I'm so
sick of it. It's dangerous to have an opinion anymore. Let's make all
the columnists start talking and writing like politicians - say nothing
that could be remotely offensive to anyone. In other words, say nothing.
How interesting would that be?



Forget race. Now basketball analysts can't even be honest in their
opinions of basketball teams. Billy Packer has been crucified for two
weeks for, as far as I can tell, doing his job. He said St. Joe's didn't
deserve a No. 1 seed. For a week before the NCAA selection show, in the
wake of the loss to Xavier, everyone was asking if St. Joe's still would
get a No. 1 seed. They get the No. 1 and Billy Packer says they
shouldn't have-he's answering the question everyone was asking before
the selection show. He says what a lot of people are thinking - St.
Joe's has a good record, didn't play anyone really good and isn't on the
same level as UConn, Duke, etc. And what does Billy Packer, who gets
paid to say things like that, get for his trouble? He gets absolutely
buried by the rest of the media. Why? Because he dared to pick on tiny,
spunky, everybody-loves-em St. Joe's. Even saying "this team isn't as
good as that team" now is subject to PC review.



Anyway, on the subject of blacks vs. whites in basketball, isn't the
white guy/black guy thing being blurred by the international invasion?
It looks to me like the NBA is becoming a game where cream rises to the
top - whether it's black, white or whatever. And the distinctions aren't
"athletic" vs. "heady" anymore. How many two-guards in the league are
more athletic than Manu Ginobli? How many 7-footers are more athletic
than Pau Gasol? How many power forwards are more athletic than Andre
Kirilenko? How many players are more heady than Tim Duncan?



Some guys are more athletic than others. Some are "smarter." I don't
think race alone has anything to do with it. Personally, I've long
thought the reason blacks dominate basketball is because it's a city
game and the game of choice for blacks living in the city. Hockey and
soccer are "white" games for the same reasons - those are the games
played in more rural, white areas. Athleticism is just as big an
advantage in those sports, right?



This stuff drives me crazy. Nothing used to make me more angry than when
someone on this list brought up racism every time a poster expressed a
high opinion of a white player. Thankfully, we haven't seen that in a
while.



Josh, Hickory does win those games sometimes. Did you know that LeBron's
high school team didn't win the state championship his junior season?
They were beaten in the state final by a team from Cincinnati without a
single D-1 player and only two black guys. LeBron's team, of course, was
heavily favored going into the game and the next season (his senior
year), they were unbeaten most of the season and ranked No.1 in the
nation. Even that season, they only won the state championship game
40-36 against another "white" team from Kettering - a Catholic school.
Can you imagine LeBron against high school kids - not a one of whom are
D-1 college players? And LeBron wasn't a one-man team. He had other good
players. But good teams can beat good players - whether they're white or
black.



As for Bob Ryan, his only mistake is not just saying "LIGHTEN UP - IT'S
A JOKE" when asked about it.



Mark