Jamaal Tinsley Traded to Denver

The Nuggets will be the most exciting team in the Association – all while giving up 130 ppg.

The strippers of Denver must be loving this acquisition.

get the game to do the player intros and it’ll be a thug party…this is gon’ be sumthin’

man stephen hunter is in every trade

Now i seriously wish they had Artest…

Is his Rolls Phantom moving to mile high with him?

Well Petey G, there is a notion in sports going back to the days of joe louis that sporting in America required a great white hope in order to dethrone the black champion. There are tonnes of sociological factors that explain why in the U.S., people of African American ancestry (as opposed to recent African immigrants) are over represented in athletics, and tend to dominate in the major sporting leagues (though it should be mentioned that in major league baseball, the demographic has changed and now the group most over represented is Latin americans irrespective of race). I can’t go into all the reasons here partially because I would have to do a bit of reading to give a comprehensive figure, but suffice it to say, there is no debate that black players are overrepresented in the league when compared to the general population.

Now my use of the term great white hopes is in relation to a several players in my lifetime who have attemped to fill that role of the superstar athlete of the caucasion persuasion who manages to equal or best his mostly black opponents. The ultimate example in our era was Larry Bird, who was truly a gifted player, perhaps the most skilled player in my lifetime (though not the best or most talented, as he had very little natural athletic ability). If you do a little research into the issue, during the celtics dynasty of the 1980′s, tonnes of racial tension surrounded the team (through no fault of the players or the organization itself). A good source of information on this matter is an authour by the name of David Zirin, who occasionally writes for this site. Look up his books on Amazon, or check out some articles of his online.

So there is a perception in white sports culture of something akin to an inferiority complex. It can happen for other reasons too (if they guy is from your state, city or neighbourhood you can cheer too hard for him) but what it does is psychologically cause you to identify with a player strongly and over estimate his talent. In referencing the great white hope, i was thinking specifically of players who were highly touted, but underperformed based on expectations, and not always because of a lack of ability (injuries). So recent examples would include Keith Van Horne, Wally Sczerbiak, Tom Gugliotta, Shawn Bradley and even my personal favourite player in the NBA, Arvydas Sabonis (who particuarly exemplifies a player who’s ability to shine was harmed by injuries).

Now my personal use of the term was not so much a projection on Kleiza for failing to live up to the hype, and that failure being tied to his racial background, but to appeal to the sense of humour of the regular posters on this board. I felt it would make them laugh because it made me laught. I don’t think too many read the thread beyond this point, and I would be surprised if anyone sees this posting now. Suffice it to say, I didn’t expect anyone to be upset by it. Since I’m as white as Kleiza is, it didn’t phase me. Now in response to some of your charges I will say the following. This is unrelated to any perceived double standards in society, but I bet you can’t even move past that cliche towards a specific complaint. You personally seem to be suffering from an inferiority complex because you exploded in anger on a basketball forum about a perceived slight in my comment, rather than asking in a more congenial term, ‘what do you mean by that?’ or ‘I was offended by that, explain yourself’. You reached for an infantile slam against me, and projected a terrible quality on my character that I am insulted by. Do some reading, and learn to act like an adult before addressing me again.