Think Freely, Speak Freely.: NBA where amazing happens -PART 2- Han Si Hun(jake)

NBA where amazing happens -PART 2-

HAN SI HUN (JAKE)

As I mentioned earlier in the first section of my blog entries, nine out of ten NBA players are blacks. They are namely Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and etc. looking at these NBA star players, two big questions always come to mind when: Why are the majority of the NBA players black? Is there racism in NBA?

Jeff Greenfield, a television journalist wrote an essay "The Black and White Truth about Basketball", greatly inspired by the theories from the book, “Foul” written by David Wolf. In his essay, he mentioned that today's modern game of NBA basketball we have come to a form of recognition that the majority of players are black. Greenfield also said that over the last two decades, no more than three white players have been to make it as one of the ten starting players on the NBA All-Star team [1](Greenfield, 2009). David Wolf claimed that this dominance of blacks in the NBA is due to a natural inheritance of talent and condition. Wolf said that basketball is a pastime of the urban poors since the fact that most of them were not financially able to play sports such as hockey, baseball, football, or other fairly expensive sports that requires the use of sporting tools. Alas, basketball is something that they can feel prideful about. Most of the urban poors are black people. Lebron James is a perfect example of this.

LEBRON JAMES TOP 10 plays of the 2012 NBA season

Lebron James is one of the NBA's the most valuable stars in today's game. He came from poor black slums. His parents split up because of financial issues. His mother, Gloria Marie James, was left to raise Lebron when his father chose to abandon the family. They were forced to move around due to his mother’s job nature; she was unable to hold a proper job. During his childhood, he did not have the money for football, baseball, not even for hockey. This led him to turn to cheap playground sport called basketball. Like many other black players in the NBA, Lebron took pride in developing his basketball skills on playground courts in the slum. Basketball was an activity that temporary kept Lebron away from his harsh life. (Fox Sports Net: "Beyond the Glory"). Looking at the story of Lebron James, I agree with Greenfield and Wolf when they said that black dominance in the NBA is due to natural inheritance, and that basketball was a sport for the urban poor. Greenfield stands by Wolf's idea— basketball isn't the same as it once was. However, I sometimes do not agree with Wolf's idea that basketball is about black or white.

"More than a game" -Kristopher Belman [2](krisopher Belman.2008)

(this video is about how Lebron James become a success as NBA player)

Basketball is just like a society mixed with different styles, people, colors, races and cultures. The lines between black and white has blurred. Steve Nash, a white player was named MVP a couple of seasons ago, and therefore, showed that color or race not necessary determine a valuable player. It is about style, moves and even grace; about how much you devote for the sport. Back then there was no pro women’s basketball. But now, WNBA teams can be seen in almost every major metropolitan city in the U.S. Basketball is commonity among cultures, races, classes. Basketball brings us together not only to play the game, but to interact with one another in harmony.

Steve Nash top 10

We see here that due to the living condition of the blacks, they have prided themselves to this sport and have prioritize it in their daily lifestyle, honing their skill and using it as a mean to escape the poverty cycle to some extent.