Larry Bird: Basketball a "black man's game"

[B-Man]

I found this pretty amusing. I'm sure the politically correct crowd will have a problem with this (which is nothing compared to Parcells' recent "Jap" comment), but I think this is pretty harmless and Bird is simply speaking the truth (as usual).

Anyone find this offensive?

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Bird ruffles feathers with ‘black man's game’ comments
By Boston.com Staff | June 9, 2004

Celtics legend Larry Bird ruffled feathers around the sports world recently when he called the NBA a “black man’s game” on an ESPN special that’s yet to air.

Bird said that he would like to see more white stars in the game, but the Indiana Pacers’ president of basketball operations also indicated that he was frustrated when another team would put another white player against him on defense back in his playing days.

Bird made these comments during an ESPN special called “Two on Two” that will air Thursday at 7 p.m. ET featuring Bird's longtime rival, Magic Johnson, and rookies LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.

During the taping of the special, host Jim Gray asked Bird whether today’s NBA has enough white superstars. "Well, I think so," said Bird, "You know, when I played, you had me and Kevin (McHale) and some others throughout the league. I think it's good for a fan base because, as we all know, the majority of the fans are white America. And if you just had a couple of white guys in there, you might get them a little excited. But it is a black man's game, and it will be forever. I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American."

Magic Johnson, a Lakers part owner, added: "We need some more LBs -- Larry Birds. ... Larry Bird, you see, can go into any neighborhood. When you say 'Larry Bird,' black people know who he is, Hispanics, whites, and they give him the respect."

"The one thing that always bothered me when I played in the NBA was I really got irritated when they put a white guy on me," Bird said. "I still don't understand why. A white guy would come out (and) I would always ask him: 'What, do you have a problem with your coach? Did you coach do this to you?' And he'd go, 'No,' and I'd say, 'Come on, you got a white guy coming out here to guard me; you got no chance.' ... For some reason, that always bothered me when I was playing against a white guy.

"As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me -- red, yellow, black," Bird added. "I just didn't want a white guy guarding me. Because it's disrespect to my game."

Magic added: "His game, you see, Larry Bird was the only (white) guy that was mentioned in the barbershop. ...'Cause that's where all the talking in our community is, the barbershop or on the playground."

A Pacers spokesman told ESPN that Bird will not comment further on the interview. NBA commissioner David Stern said he’ll wait to comment until after the interview is aired.

[Sooga]

[ QUOTE ]
"As far as playing, I didn't care who guarded me -- red, yellow, black," Bird added. "I just didn't want a white guy guarding me. Because it's disrespect to my game."


[/ QUOTE ]

Hahah.. that's pretty offensive towards whites... blacks should find nothing offensive about his statement. NBA basketball IS a black man's game. Compare the percentage of blacks in the NBA to the percentage of blacks in the general population and it's obvious.

[ThaSaltCracka]

I think his comments are a non-issue. He is speaking the truth, and its something that white people have known for a while, we simply cannot jump!!!
I think Magic's comment of "His game, you see, Larry Bird was the only (white) guy that was mentioned in the barbershop. ...'Cause that's where all the talking in our community is, the barbershop or on the playground." is probably more offensive to blacks than what Bird said. I love listening to a rich black guy "keepin it real".

Bird is right on this, offensive or not, it is something white people have known for a while. Honestly, that probably has something to do with the decline in popularity with the NBA.... to many thugged out players, mixed with terrible fundamentals. The NBA may soon go the way of the NHL.

[Rushmore]

I just can't believe Bird doesn't realize he'll catch sh*t for these statements. I also cannot believe that we all just accept moronic statements like these:

[ QUOTE ]
Magic Johnson, a Lakers part owner, added: "We need some more LBs -- Larry Birds. ... Larry Bird, you see, can go into any neighborhood. When you say 'Larry Bird,' black people know who he is, Hispanics, whites, and they give him the respect."

[/ QUOTE ]

Everyone's striving for this bogus reward called "street cred." Who gives a rat's ass?! I'm supposed to be impressed by the fact that Larry Bird has street cred, but the folks on the court and at the shop couldn't even tell you who Marcus Garvey or Jonas Salk or Lyndon Johnson or Maya Angelou or Desmond Tutu are?

When will the emperor admit he's got no damned clothes on?

[B-Man]

[ QUOTE ]
I also cannot believe that we all just accept moronic statements like these:


Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magic Johnson, a Lakers part owner, added: "We need some more LBs -- Larry Birds. ... Larry Bird, you see, can go into any neighborhood. When you say 'Larry Bird,' black people know who he is, Hispanics, whites, and they give him the respect."



[/ QUOTE ]

Magic's statement may or may not be "moronic," but like Larry's, it is the truth.

[ QUOTE ]
but the folks on the court and at the shop couldn't even tell you who Marcus Garvey or Jonas Salk or Lyndon Johnson or Maya Angelou or Desmond Tutu are?

[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately, there is a great deal of truth in that statement, too.

[ThaSaltCracka]

man, I really use to like basketball but now it is terrible, I don't think the NBA will be the same 5 years from now.

[Boris]

The report I read on ESPN has Bird saying the league needs more white superstars. This is direct contradiction to your source. Guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what he really said.

[B-Man]

[ QUOTE ]
man, I really use to like basketball but now it is terrible, I don't think the NBA will be the same 5 years from now.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed. I used to be a diehard NBA fan (in the 1980s), but now it is pretty much unwatchable. Hard to believe the NBA is equal to the NHL and just a notch above soccer in my book.

College basketball is still great, but imagine how much better last season would have been had Carmelo stayed in school, if Lebron had played in college (even if just for one year), etc. Yet another reason to hate the NBA.

The NFL is the greatest league/sport of them all.

[B-Man]

[ QUOTE ]
The report I read on ESPN has Bird saying the league needs more white superstars. This is direct contradiction to your source.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's not a contradiction. One of the first lines in the article I posted stated: "Bird said that he would like to see more white stars in the game..."

[adios]

zzzzz

[Boris]

[ QUOTE ]
During the taping of the special, host Jim Gray asked Bird whether today’s NBA has enough white superstars. "Well, I think so," said Bird,...

[/ QUOTE ]

[ThaSaltCracka]

see college basketball isn't even that good anymore either. All of the good players skip out of college or at the very least go for one year and then go to the NBA. Stern is making a huge mistake by allowing these guys to join the league. I know that some people say baseball has players that are 18-19-20 in the leaugue, but most of those guys earned there way into the league by performing in the minors. Basketball is different. They all want to draft the next Kobe or Garnett, but for every success story there is 5 failures.... This entire season, excluding Sonics games and the playoffs, I probably watched a total of 5 games, and I mean total amount of game time watched. Compare that to football and baseball and there is no comparison. The NBA sucks now!!!

[Duke]

I thought they meant that the ruffling feathers thing was a reference to fried chicken.

~D

[namknils]

I thought this would be brought up. I saw it on ESPN yesterday. I don't think that there is anything that any race should get offended by in Larry's quotes, but I'm sure people of both races (B&W) will get offended.

If you play basketball you certainly know that black people are perceived to be better than whites. For example I'm white and I can dunk. If I do it in front of somebody I haven't played against before (black or white) I'll get a comment about 90% of the time about being part black or something. It's always meant as a complement simply because everyone knows black athletes are more athletic than their white counterparts. No biggie.

I don't think Larry said anything wrong, but he is sure to catch some flak for it. I also thought it was funny that after any questionable phrase by Larry, Magic seemed to chime in and give it a more positive spin, to kinda keep him out of trouble. At least that's how it sounded on ESPN's article. I'll be interested in watching tonight.

[hetron]

[ QUOTE ]

Everyone's striving for this bogus reward called "street cred."


[/ QUOTE ]

I think the point Magic was trying to make was that Larry Bird had REAL skills, and was not just some big white stiff sitting at the end of the bench, or some European guy who can put 26 points a game but couldn't defend my grandmother. During the 80's and 90's (somewhat less so today) there were a whole bunch of players on the bench who were white and who arguably had no business being there at all. The Paul Mokeskes, Allan Oggs, Jack Haleys, Joe Kopickis, Rick Robeys, and Greg Kites of the world might only have been in the league BECAUSE they were white. Nowadays, you have white guys that are touted as "superstars" by the league who are better than those guys, but lack true "respect", "street cred", "dap", or whatever you want to call it because quite frankly, they a. can't stop a soul and b. choke in big game spots (see Nowitzki, Dirk as an example of a and Stojakovic, Peja as an example of b). Larry Bird never suffered from that because he was genuinely a great player with great skills. He was one of the greatest passers and shooters the game has ever seen, and unlike many of the Europeans who populate the game now, he could also rebound and play defense, and came up big as hell in big spots. This I believe is what Magic was referring to.

[BeerMoney]

[ QUOTE ]

Everyone's striving for this bogus reward called "street cred." Who gives a rat's ass?! I'm supposed to be impressed by the fact that Larry Bird has street cred,
When will the emperor admit he's got no damned clothes on?

[/ QUOTE ]

White people are supposed to think "Oooooooooooooh, even black people think Bird's cool!"

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
White people are supposed to think "Oooooooooooooh, even black people think Bird's cool!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Beermoney, you just said that perfectly. Where the hell does this come from? The other day, my friend's wife actually said that she loved Eric Clapton because "maybe you don't know it, but even black people love Eric Clapton."

To reiterate, who gives a rat's ass?! I don't care if the indigenous tribes of the Caucusus mountain region love him; it has no bearing whatsoever on my thinking.

To recap: I hear that "Justin" (remember, we're all on a first-name basis with our pop stars and sports heroes) is definitely "down."

That thing again about the buttocks of a rodent.

Uhhhh...Rushmore OUT, yo.

[Michael Davis]

I think the problem with what Bird said was his assertion that a white player couldn't, or shouldn't, be guarding him, coupled with the fact that Bird is the president/GM (I think?) of a team that carries white players on its roster.

-Michael

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

players on the bench who were white and who arguably had no business being there at all. The ... Greg Kites

Robert Parrish would disagree with you on this one. He used to say that the toughest defender he faced in his career was the guy who guarded him every day in practice...Greg Kite.

[B-Man]

[ QUOTE ]
I think the problem with what Bird said was his assertion that a white player couldn't, or shouldn't, be guarding him, coupled with the fact that Bird is the president/GM (I think?) of a team that carries white players on its roster.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why is that a problem? Do you think Larry Bird would ever do anything other than try to assemble the best possible team?

Bird spoke the truth, thats all. Let's face it, how many white players could successfully guard him?

Bird dissed his own race--that is perfectly acceptable in the PC world we live in, just as it is acceptable for black rappers to use the N-word in their songs and everyday speech.