Charles Barkley Thinks Clyde Drexler Has Always Been Jealous of Michael Jordan

nbk: “And China’s team, which won gold during the Beijing Games, just didn’t have a deep bench of new teen talent.” That would explain it–that has nothing to do with actually faking their ages. If it were proven beyond a doubt that the women’s team had been faking their ages, they would have been stripped of their 2008 medals. This hasn’t happened and I doubt it will.
USA is one of the worst losers in sports. It really is. During the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the US media ranked nations based on # of Gold Medals, because the US was the world leader in gold medals. Those same media corporations switched their rankings to total # of medals in 2008, just so they could put US as #1 when China was beating them. It’s insane.

I also knew a kid growing up that could dunk at 13. He was white and 6’8″. Unfortunately, he had no interest in basketball and spent most of his high school years stoned to the gills.

In 2000, there was at least one underage gymnast: Dong Fangxiao. Her true age wasn’t discovered until 2008, when she applied to be an official in the Beijing Olympics.
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(in regards to 2008) One of the gymnasts whose age was in question is He Kexin. As of now, the IOC officially accepts He’s passport, which states that she was 16 at the time of the 2008 Olympics. The investigation is currently closed. However, a blogger named David Walker did find cached web sites that stated that He was 14 at the time of competition, not 16.

“Swim white people swim while you still can…because the black seal is coming” – Paul Mooney

I’ve known several white kids (and other races) that could dunk when they were 12-13 years old. Two of the white kids that were dunking back then both played volleyball in HS and college and prefered volleyball over basketball. I think a lot of sports are dominated by players who have access to play that sport. More white kids have year round access to swimming pools, diving platforms and more likely have the financial means to afford golf lessons, gymnastics lessons etc. So some of the racial differnces I would argue are more about opportunity/access than anything else. Thats why so few blacks are in the winter olympics, many of the people who ski, snow-board etc are from Utah and other areas where they have more access to mountains. If more blacks/asians/latinos lived near ski slopes, you’d find more in the olympics. If more put thier kids in programs where they could get year round training for gold, tennis, swimming, gymnastics etc, you would find more culture in those sports as well. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the majority of beach volleyball players come from cities/states where there are a lot of beaches.

Hey Bike, did we go to high school together?

I’m white, 6’4, and I can dunk it pretty easily. Not trying to sway this convo into a “who can do what?” section. But, I’m just saying. White people can JUMP ! (Billy Hoyle anyone?) lol…
Anyway, racial stereotypes are still around with what someone can or can’t do…..

my boy was 5’9″ – he hit puberty at like 9. Kid had a 40″ vertical by middle school (he also played more hoop than anybody i knew at that age). He was white. It’s more a matter of when you mature, and how you go about athletic activities. Jumping high doesn’t just randomly happen. You have to develop the muscles.

To be clear, I’m disagree with the idea of these innate genetic differences caused by selective breeding.
I lean towards access and dedication as driving who excels at which sports.
But I think it’s funny that the same folks who make the argument for black folks that it’s all in the genes, or at least partially in the genes, rarely do the same for white rowers or bicyclists.

I honestly think that everybody that played during the nineties is jealous of Michael Jordan. If Michael Jordan hadn’t played then a lot of stars would have rings. Malone and Stockton, Barkley, Drexler, Ewing, and maybe Penny and Shaq. So everybody is jealous of him. But Charles is the one that talks about it most. My father and nbk’s troll both hate Michael Jordan because my dad was a fan of the Lakers in the nineties. Their worst era. My brother, as i’m sure every poster here is aware of is just an idiot.

And I agree with Teddy about how they did that Chinese girl. Little white chicks are setting world records four years AFTER getting rid of the bodysuits that were supposed to make world records unattainable and no one has any questions? Really now?

Jumping ability can be developed by hard work like playing lots of b-ball and plyometric exercises but it also has a strong genetic component. Some guys are born with a higher proportion of fast twitch muscle fibers. That goes for any race. In basketball, the most elite leapers are almost exclusively black. There really isn’t a track and field event that measures pure leaping ability – the high jump is more of a technical event and the long jump is more of a speed event. I guess that maybe we should assume the science behind this debate is guilty until proven innocent.

I am not arguing that China cheats more than other countries, or that our media doesn’t try and demonize other countries. At all.

@bdogg “…to be honest though he was a lot younger…” Clyde Austin Drexler- June 22, 1962. Michael Jeffrey Jordan- February 17, 1963. That’s eight months. He career falls directly in line with Jordan’s.

yeah, i was not trying to make it seem like i support the narrative played by the American Media. I know it came off that way, didn’t mean it like that. I think it’s total bullsh*t how this stuff is portrayed. For the record.

I can’t decide if that’s the real LA Huey or a troll.

U.S. and Europe media are big in the US and Europe, but not so big in the rest of the world. I doubt that the Chinese media made nearly as much of a deal about the girl being accused of doping as did the US media. It was huge news in China durig the beijing olympics about Phelps being accused of doping and having to undergo additional testing. However, that wasn’t widely discussed/reported in the U.S. My guess is that media likes to either protect or support thier own. I think any swimmer of any race that had such a dramatic change from thier previous timed swims would have had the exact same treatment as far as undergoing additional testing – it just makes since and is/was the prudent thing to do. Not because she was chinese but because she had never posted a time anywher near that before. It’s easy to point to race/nationality/creed etc. as an excuse/motivator, but sometimes it’s not that at all. Lance Armstrong has prbably be accused of doping more than any other athlete I can think of, and he’s a white guy with a ‘great’ story of overcoming cancer etc. I’m sure if he was black/asian people would say that it was racially motivated too.

The US/Europe have the most expansive media in US and Europe, not in asia (almost non-existent in China). During the last summer games it was huge news that Phelps was accused of doping and had been forced to take additional test. However, that got very little media coverage in the US. My guess is that this girls doping acusation isn’t getting nearly as much attention in China as it it in the US. Sometimes doping accusations just make since when an athlete has an unusually fast time compared to all the previous times that specific athlete recorded. Shaving a full 4 seconds off your previous fastest time is more than enough reason to cause suspetion. Lance Armstrong has been accsed of doping more than any other athlete I can name. I bet if he was black or asian people would say those accusations were racially motivated as well.

LOL. It’s me, homie.
Man, this slave-gene theory is so offensive. My mother is Japanese, my father is African-American, and I’ve been athletically active from a very young age. It’s annoying as hell, when someone assumes my abilites are based primarily on genetics and not the time and effort I put into developing my game.

If Clyde was in any other era, he would likely been in the debate as the best SG. He was a special player, no doubt about it. He played for a small market most of his career and didn’t have a very ‘flashy’ personality. I highly doubt he was ‘jealous’ of MJ or anybody else. He probably wondered why he didn’t get the hype, and I’m not sure if he would have wanted it or not. I think it was Chris Mullen who said that he would have hated to be in the shoes of Magic, Larry or MJ because wherever they went they would get mobbed and couldn’t live a ‘normal’ life. However, he could walk around town with his wife and kids, go to resturants, movies etc and possibly sign a few autographs, but nothing over the top. I think Clyde had the best of both worlds, he had money, fame, stats and most importantly a public life he could with his family. A 23 year old player probably wouldn’t have understood that, but by time he was on the dream team, he probably understood that well.

Huey, tell me about it.
You seen the “White Men Can’t jump” movie??
That movie has pretty much been my life story. A lot of my black and white friends seem surprised I can jump outta the gym, like I am not human lol. That’s not their fault for being baffled, but from the racial stereotypes still evident in today’s society….

Allenp
There were a lot of questions about Phelps doping in the 08 Olympics. He tested clean and I suspect Ye will too. I actually don’t believe that level of improvement is that unusual for a swimmer that young. But any spike in performance comes under scrutiny these days.

The Chinese Girl tested clean within a day of the race.
I mean, do people think the doping just magically kicked in for one race, but she didn’t use it in all her other heats and races? Because it’s not like she’s been blowing everyone out of the water in every race. It was just that one race.

It actually took me a second to catch that reference.
I don’t know if she was doping or not, she could be. But, like Teddy said, it grinds my gears that when some people are amazing their is one narrative, but when other people are amazing the narrative changes.

Mos def Ap, all I can say in response in LanceArmstrng in USA vs LanceArmstromg in France…