BUZZ BISSINGER AND MARK CUBAN ON RACE - WHITE MEN CAN'T ROOT
Buzz Bissinger recently wrote an article entitled "NBA All-Star Game: White Men Can't Root."
I immediately sent off a series of tweets on the matter and will share them with you in the body of this post. Dallas played in Philadelphia on Tuesday, March 1, 2011. Buzz wanted to talk with Mark Cuban about Cuban's tweets on this article. Click to get running commentary of the discussion between Buzz & Cuban.
Buzz Bissinger is a coward. Your editor asked you to write about a topic you don't know & had no interest in researching You didn't have the balls to say no. 1st. belief <> facts. 2nd. Resorting to name calling = cowardly. 3rd Choosing race as subject when given a topic = semantics. 4th referring to studies after the fact and trying to make it seem like you did the work = CYA
Buzz's Response:
So why am I fucking coward. Because I say what I believe and not a self-aggrandizing spoiled rich boy like you. Hey Cuban, nobody in print or in Twitter has more balls to say what is on his fucking mind more than me. Right or wrong. Hey Cuban, sorry I don't own a basketball team and try to buy baseball one because of homoerotic need for boy toys. Talk about a fucking coward Cuban. Call me out and don't even say why. Seriously show some balls. Tell me why I am a coward. Instead of hiding behind your pathetic business bromides like anyone listens.
Trust me. @mcuban will never tweet me back. Too busy having pajama party with other spoiled brats Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder. Cuban kind of guy who plays 1-on-1 with Nowitski for two seconds. Goes home and won't shower for six weeks. even the baseball owner, biggest bunch of donasauruses ever, wouldn't let @mcuban into their club. First thing he would do--raze Wrigley. Then @mcuban after razing Wrigley, would build new stadium in shape of his whale body and call if the Cube. I agree. I just think for a guy who thinks he is so tough @mcuban calls somebody a coward and gives no reason.
Fellow Twitterites have spoken and I listen--enough of @mcuban. Next move is his if he is able to move fat-assed body. I am going to Mavericks-Sixers game Tuesday night. Come find me. Will give you seat no. Or get me floor pass. You won't.
Absolutely untrue. I came up with topic. I believe it. Studies show it. Editor is Howard Kurtz. He is on Daily Beast. Ask him. Because you're an entitled spoil brat, you talk without knowing a fucking thing. Don't like column Fine. But don't make assumptions. You just make assumptions because you are used to getting your own way until you routinely make ass of yourself.
Mark Cuban Responds Back:
@buzzbissinger I will be there. Just get a media pass from the Sixers. You are a blogger who blogs about the NBA. I'm easy to find..
Buzz Bissinger Response:
@mcuban So let's meet. How do I do it? Don't have press press. Don't regularly cover league. I am serious. Get me floor pass or I will give you seat number. If I try to approach you security will never let me close. and I I hope will talk seriously about column. He is NBA owner. Drop the coward BS he accused me of. Read last tweet to @mcuban. Want to meet him talk seriously about column. His input has total cred. Final thought @mcuban if we meet the point is to have discussion, not scream at each other. If he makes good points, I will def. share them. @mcuban I write a sports column for Daily Beast. I don't blog NBA. Will try with Sixers. Why doesn't your PR guy get me pass? You own team. @mcuban I did obtain press press. i will see you at game Tuesday night.
IT'S ON. CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR THE RESULTS OF THE TALK. THIS COULD BE BETTER THAN THE GAME. IN HONOR OF BUZZ & MARK, WHO HAVE "A THING GOING ON," I WANT TO DEDICATE THIS BILLY PAUL CLASSIC TO BOTH OF THEM:
Buzz & Cuban are two peas in a pod. I follow both of them on twitter. They both are authentic, raw and speak their mind. Expecting Michael Tillery to give us a blow by blow on the conversation. Hell, if the NBA was smart, they would set it up like a Presidential debate and have beat writers ask questions on the issues involved. Good stuff.
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On 2/18/11 I wrote about Buzz's article, "NBA All-Star Game: White Men Can't Root."that discusses if whites have trouble getting excited about black athletes. First, Buzz's point of view interests me because he's a white man. I'm black, was educated at an all-black catholic school for the 1st 8 years of my schooling. After that, I went to majority white schools. I'm a product of the segregated South. Race has intrigued me all of my life. I actually love discussions revolving around race. I'm aware of white's perceptions of blacks. and vice-versa. I love that my children, who've been raised in California, are not as race conscious as my generation. My kid's friends are multicultural and multidimensional. I'm hoping they don't grow up with the racial hangups of my generation {My reflections on Tanglewood}
All that said, I have a hard time buying into @buzzbissinger premise that whites are reluctant to celebrate athletic greatness because of the color of one's skin. I go deep into my childhood to support my point of view. Since this is Black History Month, I might as well give a shout out to my dad. He's the 1st Black Coach who was inducted into The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. Proud of that honor, but he would tell you that it's not deserved. His mentor John McLendon was inducted before him as a contributor. People are mad about Reggie Miller not being a HOF finalist, be mad that John McLendon, the Father of Black basketball was not inducted as the first black coach. I'm digressing on the issue. Dad coached a lot of great players in the 50's & 60's. His greatest was Earl Monroe. In Earl's senior year, whites in Winston-Salem were clamoring to see Earl "The Pearl" Monroe." The late 60's were a time of racial turmoil. School's were starting to get integrated and whites and blacks in the south had their boundaries. Earl Monroe broke down barriers:
People don't care about the color of one's skin when it comes to sports. They are mesmerized by greatness. Same goes today and even more so. Michael Jordan is a transcendent figure in American History, not just American sports history. I was part of the Bulls organization for 11 years and saw first hand the love people had for him & the other cast of characters of those great Bulls teams. If the NBA has a problem, it's that they are pricing the average fan, white or black out of the game. I've always boiled our problems down in this country more on a socioeconomic level than racial. Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive about the racial animus in this country, but if you show you've got the goods in this society, people will accept and respect you. The NBA's perceived problems of popularity amongst it's fan base when measured by fan attendance can't be boiled down to white's not getting excited about black athletes. It's about whether U want to spend your discretionary $$ on a product that has a devalued regular season that's too long and too expensive. NBA & other sports have priced the common man out of the equation. Can you measure it by the number of TV sets? Don't think so. So many alternatives available to the viewing eye today as compared to yesterday.
In conclusion, if you're a basketball fan, you don't give a damn about the color of one's skin. Witness Blake Griffin. He's biracial. From a racial angle, whites got something to latch onto & blacks do too. But does anybody care. No! All they care about is seeing Blake soar to the moon & slam one home. It generates excitement. Blake creates a buzz @buzzbissinger People buy tickets & an owner who has his own issues with race, Donald Sterling, prospers. If that ain't America what is. As the great Don King says "Only in America!" I rest my case. Always willing to hear your viewpoint. Weigh in!
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