Larry Birds's "racist" comments....

[greasywheels121]

This was all hyped for ratings. This was for the Bird/Johnson & Lebron/Melo interview. Jim Gray asked him if he thought there should be more white people in the NBA; Larry Bird didn't just say this out of the blue. After hearing it in context, it was definitely a s***load of media hype.

 

BTW, this interview is kind of cool, with the exception of Jim Gray being the interviewer. It's Bird and Johnson & James and Anthony, and it was filmed in Milan HS's gym in Milan, IN. Milan is the team the movie Hoosiers is based off of.

[danman31]

It was a pretty good interview. I saw about 10 minutes of it. I wish I saw the whole thing though.

[greasywheels121]

Rick Telander hit this right on the money....

 

Network gain: ESPN really the Bird of prey

 

Network gain: ESPN really the Bird of prey

BY RICK TELANDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

 

I'll tell you what this whole Larry Bird/racial flap is really about.

 

ESPN.

 

The sports multinetwork/ multimedia conglomerate is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and it has justifiably honked its horn loudly and often as the festivities begin.

 

American society, check that -- global society -- has been changed by ESPN since the company started in 1979 as a low-level cable venture in back-country Connecticut.

 

And what ESPN does now is what modern, powerful media companies are able to do. It not only broadcasts big events, it creates big events, comments on those big events, and acts at once as conscience and cheerleader for the events it has spun from the fabric of its own contrivance.

 

Quite often, the nightly Bob Ley-hosted news program, ''Outside the Lines,'' dissects issues created by its own network at an earlier moment.

 

Such issues include the way sports television shows too many game highlights, fights, gossip, criminal matters and shallow sports moments rather than simply letting the games speak for themselves.

 

Ley and panel will wrangle passionately over these developments, and then ESPN will return to its regular programming.

 

Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James were recently brought together by ESPN, for ESPN's benefit, to be filmed answering questions tossed at them by host Jim Gray.

 

''The past and the future meet in the present to have a conversation,'' Gray said at the outset.

 

The hourlong ''roundtable'' that aired at 6 p.m. Thursday was enlightening and entertaining in a modest way.

 

Anthony, who made an ill-fated decision not to go back into a game in this his rookie season, told Gray, for instance, that Michael Jordan had called him afterward. ''Just don't let it happen again,'' were MJ's words of advice.

 

But the show had been trumpeted on ESPN before airing, and that's how Bird's comments that the NBA, in his opinion, could use more white American stars, became a flashpoint.

 

Bird also said that he didn't like being guarded by white players, because it was -- given their lesser talents -- basically an insult.

 

''It's like ...'' Bird said, struggling for the right word. ''Disrespect,'' Johnson finished for him.

 

Gee, Magic, a black man, knew exactly what Bird was talking about.

 

So, obviously, did the makers of the old hit Woody Harrelson/ Wesley Snipes movie, ''White Men Can't Jump.''

 

It is unfathomable, after all, to think of a movie being made called, ''Black Men Can't Swim.''

 

But the point is that the tinderbox that is now -- and seemingly forever will be -- race in America was stirred up when Bird made his comments, and ESPN was there to reap the reward.

 

ESPN Radio and TV host Dan Patrick even interviewed Gray on Wednesday on Patrick's radio show, promoting the show that the parent company for each had made happen.

 

Gray crowed that getting the principals together took something like 3-1/2 months of labor, and that getting four heads of state such as George W. Bush and ''Gorbachev'' to meet would have been much easier.

 

Then Gray, the feisty interviewer, under grilling from Patrick, refused to have any opinions about Bird or anything else in the show, or on the planet.

 

What's good for the goose, or Bird, apparently isn't good for the Gray gander.

 

What people must remember most is that the "E'' in ESPN stands for entertainment.

 

And something is always going to provide that entertainment. Or else the ESPN TV-radio-magazine-restaurant biz is going to go down the tubes.

 

The buzz the company got out of the Bird comments -- by the way, has anyone ever accused Bird of being a genius or anything other than an ungodly good ballplayer? -- was worth 3-1/2 months of effort.

 

And the subtext of race was off-the-charts water cooler material.

 

It's interesting to note that during the program, Johnson called Bird ''boy,'' and nobody got upset.

 

Johnson also said, and consider the racial overtones of these comments, that ''Players can run faster and jump higher'' now than in the old days, and ''The game is played above the rim more today,'' and -- best of all -- ''But I don't think the players today are as smart as we were.''

 

These were opinions, and what is wrong with that?

 

Nothing.

 

When Bird said the league could use some white superstars, what is wrong with that?

 

I, for one, certainly agree with him.

 

A white, mid-sized, American-born, American-raised superstar who played a dynamic, athletic, above-the-rim game -- like, say, LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony -- would garner the interest of millions and millions of fans, if for no other reason than for the sheer novelty of his presence.

 

Wouldn't a white superstar NFL running back get your attention?

 

How about a black, male superstar tennis player?

 

No, ESPN has made Bird's comments bigger than they are.

 

And the funny thing is, both Bird and Johnson vehemently agreed that when they were growing up, their love of the game was pure and unadulterated.

 

Why?

 

ESPN didn't exist.