One of my favorite players in NBA history is Isiah Thomas. He put Detroit back on the map. Not Yzerman, not Sanders (both of whom I like for similar reasons). Thomas. Hard as a rock...had more game than a little bit.
Thomas gets a bad rap because of a number of reasons. But I think it all stems from the time he bumped for Dennis Rodman...who uttered a phrase that will go down in history. HAS gone down in history.
"If Larry Bird were black, he'd be just another good player."
Ralph Wiley has gone that route, on ESPN2 and because i'm in a writing mood I don't have time to track down the link.
But in an interview that will appear soon Larry Bird ups the ante.
A lot of stuff jumps out about the interview. I'll hit on some of it later. But to me?
The greatest insult of all is that they held the interview in the gym depicted by the movie Hoosiers. I say insult because Hoosiers is to basketball movies what Mississippi Burning is to Civil Rights Movies. (Only the drama was a better.)
Oscar Robertson had a piece in Men's Health about piece of sh*t historical revisionism that was Hoosiers. About how the all black school that played Muncie in the semi-finals was the creation of segregation. About how the majority of the crowd supported the little team that could because they were all white. About how tattered their uniforms and equipment was in comparison to the little team that could because of segregation.
Again, there's interesting stuff in the interview and in Larry's assessment. But the layout is where the real message is.
Posted by at June 9, 2004 12:08 PM | TrackBackThe buzz in the Motor City on all radio talk shows but absent from the print media is Jimmy Kemmel comment during game two in LA"if Detroit wins the fans would burn the city down"well after back to back Stanley cups that haven't materialize.ABC station in Detroit WXYZ pull the late night talk show and I'm hearing that the parent corp. pull it nationally.
tootsie
Posted by: tootsie at June 10, 2004 06:59 AM
LKS,I was hoping you would jump in the fray,after reading Bird's comment in the free press;Birds main point was since most of the fan's are white "the NBA need more white players to give them something to cheer".Lets examine a couple points one ratings Piston vs Lakers tv rating are high,in fact NBA is having a record year.Now lets take NHL and NASCAR two events that are suffering, to increase their ratings NHL and stock car racing are directing their sales to the Black communites.LKS its more going in Birds comments,than just jock talk.
Posted by: tootsie at June 10, 2004 06:51 AMtootsie