Thursday at 7pm on ESPN an interview with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson along with Carmelo Anthony/Le Bron James airs. According to an article Bird made some interesting comments about the state of the game, which supposedly includes comments about the NBA needing some more white players. One comment during the interview attributed to Bird are "its a black man's game and always will be". Bird has always been known to say what he thinks. I will be at work and will miss it(been a huge Larry Bird fan all of my life, because I grew up in Indiana and Larry played college ball at my former university).
Here is the link and ESPN has a poll for those of you who may be interested. [link]http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=765&partnersite=espn>1=3584[/link]
He'll never live it down, the media will slam him for it and he'll be labeled a racist.
IF every sport that has majority white players is pressured to be more "open" towards race, then every sport that is dominated by black people should be more "open" too, shouldn't they ?
IF every sport that has majority white players is pressured to be more "open" towards race, then every sport that is dominated by black people should be more "open" too, shouldn't they ?
I agree. As for comments he made, he never slammed anyone or any race.
I don't agree that a few players of any race should be added just to spark more interest but............the fact remains there is currently no white player of Larry Bird's caliber at the moment AND in my opinion pro basketball is not nearly as interesting as college basketball.
first off, pro-basketball is a 100% complete joke, most pro sports are heading this way, but basketball leads the pack. Its not about being a team sport anymore, its 5 individuals against 5 individuals. The reason Bird, and the Celtics of that time, were so good was that they played TEAM basketball. You simply can't stop 5 good players playing together.
that said, Bird is wrong about needing more white guys. Basketball, and all sports, should draft the best basketball players. Simple as that, if they are black, white, yellow, purple, whatever, shouldn't matter. Take the best.
Bob - Look at the Pistons and rethink your above post.
9-10 guys, no super stars among them, and they all work together under Larry Brown giving 100% effort. Kinda like what Hubie did in memphis this year.
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that said, Bird is wrong about needing more white guys. Basketball, and all sports, should draft the best basketball players. Simple as that, if they are black, white, yellow, purple, whatever, shouldn't matter. Take the best.
Why the double standard ? The NBA - all rpofessional teams, are pressured to hir black coaches, admin etc etc - even the announcers now are all black and it aint by chance people because Charles barkley is certainly one of the worst guys I've ever seen, right up there with Michael nose blow Irvin on NFL Sunday !
hey larry didnt make a statement he was answered a question- which was something like do you think the sport needs more white american players? wasnt racist, wasnt anything just a question that was answered correctly. think about it more white people watch basketball than any other race. and i think the media is too hung up on the race stuff.
It doesn't matter the color of the people playing. Sure, basketball has mostly black players, but why is this an issue? Its not like white players are being shunned or anything.
Larry Bird's interview
