Larry Bird sports/race philosophically

[Eja117]

I was watching that Bird Eminem video...you know the one...then I started thinking and my head started to explode.  I think we may be in a post racial society now but that's beside the point. I have no opinion or agenda here.

I was just thinking (I'm gonna use stereotypes for a second but only because I don't want to use quotations every single time...you know what I'm saying)

The Celtics were a team whose best player had been black and coach was white (Russell/Red) in a white town.  Then a white player from a white as heck college dominated a black sport with a black coach and brought white fans to it. Then years later someone used a white rapper rapping black music to commemorate this with a black player at the start of the film.

Now we've seen black athletes in white sports before like Tiger and the Williams sisters. But I'm not sure if we've seen them bring black fans into the sport.

So I tried to think of what this would look like the other way around and my head started to hurt

It's like if there was a black town (let's call it Detroit) and the hockey team had been very successful with a white player and black coach

Then a black player from Howard University started to dominate the sport with a white coach and brought black fans to the game who hadn't watched hockey.
Then years later a black musician accomplished in country music (or classical music) was used in a video where Wayne Getzky spoke about his personal rivalry with said player in Detroit

When you write it ..it seems easy enough.

But when you think about it your head starts spinning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULvo7__wwBU

Larry Bird and Magic.  Perfect timing.  Thank you for saving the NBA and college basketball at the same time together.

[Eja117]

Larry's experience was so different from Russell's ....was all this irony lost on people at the time or did people just go with it? I'm not sure we'll ever see this kind of thing ever again

[D.o.s.]

Now we've seen black athletes in white sports before like Tiger and the Williams sisters. But I'm not sure if we've seen them bring black fans into the sport.

Ok. So. This hurts my brain. While I would bet all the money in the world that we've certainly seen Tiger and the Williams sisters bring black fans into the sports (the Williams sisters especially), that comes down to a matter of opinion, so how would you measure that?

[Eja117]

Now we've seen black athletes in white sports before like Tiger and the Williams sisters. But I'm not sure if we've seen them bring black fans into the sport.

Ok. So. This hurts my brain. While I would bet all the money in the world that we've certainly seen Tiger and the Williams sisters bring black fans into the sports (the Williams sisters especially), that comes down to a matter of opinion, so how would you measure that?

Well I guess what I was thinking was that in the video it was almost all white faces, so I would say if I ever see a US Open match with almost all black faces (not that I watch tennis) then it would be undeniable that they had succeeded in doing that

[guava_wrench]

They are all just a bunch of individuals playing sports that they love or writing music that speaks to them. The interesting aspect to study in this is our expectations. The individual stories are quite similar for most athletes - physical tools plus drive to practice a lot. The race angle is just projecting our expectations on to the story.

As a sports fan, I suspect I am in the majority in not caring about the heritage of athletes as a general rule of thumb.

[ManUp]

Sorry, but i'm not really understanding the purpose of your post. But If you think we're living in a "post racial society", you're wrong. That is unless I misunderstood what you meant by that.

[D.o.s.]

Now we've seen black athletes in white sports before like Tiger and the Williams sisters. But I'm not sure if we've seen them bring black fans into the sport.

Ok. So. This hurts my brain. While I would bet all the money in the world that we've certainly seen Tiger and the Williams sisters bring black fans into the sports (the Williams sisters especially), that comes down to a matter of opinion, so how would you measure that?

Well I guess what I was thinking was that in the video it was almost all white faces, so I would say if I ever see a US Open match with almost all black faces (not that I watch tennis) then it would be undeniable that they had succeeded in doing that

As someone who watches tennis, you'll probably never seen an "blacked out" US Open, the same way you'll probably never see a "blacked out" NBA game for much of the same reasons.

[Celtics4ever]

People like people who try hard and win regardless of race.  To me our race is human!

[Eja117]

Sorry, but i'm not really understanding the purpose of your post. But If you think we're living in a "post racial society", you're wrong. That is unless I misunderstood what you meant by that.

mmm...well...first of I think it was just me talking out loud about something I noticed...I didn't really have a point except how awesome the whole thing was...hence the part where I said I had no opinion or agenda. I just figured others would pick up the ball and maybe run around with it and complete the thought.

Secondly when I say "white sport" or "black music" what I mean is "activity predominantly played by and consumed by X as a percentage generally" but that's way too long to write.