Evening the Score? All-white basketball league not racist, says commissioner

Tiassa

Tiassa

Let us not launch the boat ...
Valued Senior Member
It's one of those things that come up from time to time that you figure must be a headline straight out of The Onion.

If only ....

The news from Georgia:

A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn’t receiving a warm welcome.

The All-American Basketball Alliance announced in a news release Sunday evening that it intends to start its inaugural season in June and hopes Augusta will be one of 12 cities with a team.

“Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league,” the statement said.

Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, who has publicly expressed his support for minor league teams in the past, said he would not do the same for this team.

“As a sports enthusiast, I have always supported bringing more sporting activities to Augusta,” he said. “However, in this instance I could not support in good conscience bringing in a team that did not fit with the spirit of inclusiveness that I, along with many others, have worked so hard to foster in our city.”

(Byler)​

League Commissioner Don "Moose" Lewis explained that racism has absolutely nothing to do with the AABA:

“There’s nothing hatred about what we’re doing,” he said. “I don’t hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here’s a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like.”

Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of “street-ball” played by “people of color.” He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas’ indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans’ dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.

“Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?” he said. “That’s the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction” ....

.... “People will come out and support a product they can identify with. I’m the spoken minority right now, but if people will give us a chance, it’ll work... The white game of basketball, which is essentially a fundamental game, works.”

(ibid)​

As I see it, there's not really much I can say. "Moose" Lewis speaks well enough on his own that there's not much to add. Although I will note that I can't wait for the expected partner, the WAABA.

I'm still hoping I just smoked too much pot last night and am hallucinating this. And maybe when you click the link the story will be about gardening or NASCAR. You know. That sort of, This isn't real, feeling. This isn't happening.

But it's such a vivid mirage. God, I must be lost in the desert somewhere.

Or maybe I'm hallucinating time. Like, it's really 1940, and what is this "computer" thing I'm typing on? And, really, typing? Isn't that women's work?

Okay, okay, write your own damn punch line. I'm still recovering from the reading experience.

I mean, those quotes up there can't possibly say the words I'm seeing, right?

I mean, do white guys really not grab their own crotches? I mean, I never really noticed before. Not that I'm on the lookout for men scratching their balls, or anything, but it never occurred to me that only the black and hispanic baseball players were grabbing themseles. I mean, I never noticed that the white guys didn't.
____________________

Notes:

Byler, Billy. "Basketball league for white Americans targets Augusta". The Augusta Chronicle. January 18, 2010. Chronicle.Augusta.com. January 23, 2010. http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/latest/lat_704670.shtml
 
As I understand how it all actually works in the USA, of course, only blacks can make accusations of "racism". If whites say it's "racism", people will just laugh and ignore them. Yep, if blacks think it's "racism" then it's "racism" .....but only then! And no where in your post did it say that any blacks had commented yet.

See? So we'll have to wait for a black man, or Rev Sharpton, to make the accusation. Until then, everything is fine.

Baron Max
 
mean, do white guys really not grab their own crotches? I mean, I never really noticed before. Not that I'm on the lookout for men scratching their balls, or anything, but it never occurred to me
Click to expand...

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://...zgQoAQ&usg=AFQjCNHsshKP0tD-CwVHht6N8kgVIbzI1g


As I understand how it all actually works in the USA, of course, only blacks can make accusations of "racism".
Click to expand...

Actually the whites have been talking about reverse discimination for over 40 years now, where have you been? Many cases have gone to court about this reverse discimination and very few have won .
 
cosmictraveler said:
Actually the whites have been talking about reverse discimination for over 40 years now, where have you been? Many cases have gone to court about this reverse discimination and very few have won .
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Exactly. Which is, basically, what I said! Reverse discrimination? ...that's when almost everyone laughs. When it actually goes to court, it's overturned or thrown out. See? Only blacks can cry "Racism!" and have it mean anything to anyone.

Baron Max
 
Actually it is ironic that the whites cry reverse discrimination after keeping blacks, Native Americans and others in slavery or indentured servitude for over 200 years!
 
cosmictraveler said:
Actually it is ironic that the whites cry reverse discrimination ....!
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How many whites cry "reverse discrimination"? How many of them riot in the streets, burning cars and smashing windows, etc, because of it?

No, Cosmic, you're barking up the wrong tree with that line of bullshit.

Baron Max
 
If a cop arrests a white man, he's doing his job.

If he arrests a black man, he's racist.
 
Stupid.

Eh. It won't last.

Though, I fail to see similar uproar against "Miss Black America" and "BET".

Part of being a unified society means actually being unified. Apparently these white basketball players aren't ready for a multi-cultural society. They'll get it, whether they want it or not, though.

~String
 
Norsefire said:
They should have a right to decide whom they want to associate with.
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Who said they shouldn't?

I've read this entire thread, and I don't recall anybody calling for a law banning this (which would never withstand constitutional muster). Just because something's legal doesn't make it right.

~String
 
Whether it is right or not is a matter of opinion, anyway. The Negro College Fund is discriminatory, then, is it not?
 
Norsefire said:
Whether it is right or not is a matter of opinion, anyway. The Negro College Fund is discriminatory, then, is it not?
Click to expand...

Duh, brainiac. This entire debate is "opinion". Why do I constantly have to dumb down the conversation when you're involved.

Forget it.

Have fun.

~String
 
Well, you said it wasn't right as if your statement was self-evident fact, instead of "in my opinion, x y z"
 
His message is a bit conflicting. He says it isn't really about race as it is about the fundamental rules of basketball. So why make it an all white league instead of a "strictly fundamentals only" basketball league? He makes a gigantic generalization assuming that all white people only like fundamental basketball and don't enjoy "street ball". I've played and watched basketball games my whole life and I can say that there are a lot of white people who love to show off their ball handling and crazy underhanded lay-u p skills. If all he truly wants is people to appreciate the fundamentals of basketball then he might be barking up the wrong tree, unless this is really exclusively about race. I'm sure there are people of color who would rather play fundamental basketball as well and not feel intimidated, offended, talentless, or whatever their issue may be around their "street ball" playing peers.
Then he'd only have to worry about actually entertaining the audience with boring game play, instead of players grabbing their crotches or sticking their tongues out :p
 
But it's ... so ... about ... race ... with this guy.

I just think there is something absurd about how his excuse for it not being racism is racist. The white good versus dark bad overtone is not strictly coincidental. It's absolutely bizarre.
 
If they want an all white league without actually banning black players, maybe they could just require that everyone pass one of those fire fighter or police exams.
 
this is just as stupid as all the womens only gyms which keep popping up everywhere here. Its hard for a guy to actually FIND a gym which accepts men now around here except those at the local swimming pools.
 
Asguard said:
this is just as stupid as all the womens only gyms which keep popping up everywhere here. Its hard for a guy to actually FIND a gym which accepts men now around here except those at the local swimming pools.
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and what are the men doing about it?
 
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