Day one.... Greedy Old Men

Greedy black basketball players, is he worth that much, wasted talent, all phrases that I have heard when conversing with people about sports (Football, Basketball, and Baseball), its to the point that talking about sports is a almost a social taboo, like politics, and religion, you can love your team, but lets not talk about money, sports and race. On an evening in June Larry Bird, one of basketball greatest players made some interesting comments not really from a racial perspective (at least not from my perspective, because they are points that we all have heard before) but from one as a business man. Now while the NBA commissioner David Stern quickly denounced Birds statements as wrong, if one is to look at it from a business perspective its was as if he was still on the court hitting three pointers, Bird stated that the NBA needs more white players, or at least more white players who excel at the sport. Larry Bird champions diversity in the NBA, I was surprised when I heard it, but not in sarcastic fashion, more in the fact that Bird who was recently in the running to purchase the charlotte hornets (which was later sold to B. Johnson BET creator) may have inadvertently spilled the beans on the NBA owners as a whole. But Larry if it’s a black mans game why would any owner pay anyone who doesn’t fit the demographic anything? Because in the end its about making money not race relations in the sporting world or lack thereof.

“ the majority of the fans are white America”

Larry birds calls for diversity in the NBA can generate an interesting set of tangents, First of all money, so Larry wants to make sure his fan base keeps coming back, nothing wrong with that, but isn’t it ironic that while Larry calls for more white players, Black players are calling for more management positions, Corporate spots with teams etc. So we have an interesting paradox, created by who, the owners.
Essentially “sports” is the exploitation of demographics for money, and I’m pretty sure Larry Bird agrees to a degree, he is pretty intense in his efforts to purchase an NBA team and he will have the chance some time soon to prove my theory. When I say demographics it has nothing to do with talent, that’s gotta be the dumbest thing as well as racist (the 2 usually go together) thing I have ever heard. If you give group A 100 bicycles you are that much more likely to have a great bike rider emerge from the group than group B who has 2 bikes and one is broke, group B is going to look for another form of expression not from a lack of interest (most athletes have the desire to win no matter the sport) but from a lack of resources and exposure to the necessary environs required to excel in the given area. Owners in their due business practices have created the modern day economy in the NBA, in the early 1970's the ABA was emerging as an upstart league, stealing talent from the NBA, bringing in black players in droves, underclass men, even high school players, in order to generate revenue, crowds, make money. Thus a bidding war ensued which results in the so called inflated wages we see today, The salary cap was created not by greedy players but by greedy owners, so the super rich don’t compile an advantage over the not so super rich. So the next time you wondering why a player is making $100 million for 6 years, ask the owner how much he made last year. You’d be surprised…