Wilbon on the Olympic Movement and Basketball Season ...

Mike Wilbon recently wrote:

International Diplomacy, Domestic Unrest

By Michael Wilbon
Sunday, June 8, 2008

BOSTON -- The NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics won't be the last basketball battle of the summer. Sixteen years after the U.S. Dream Team initiated an Olympic and global basketball renaissance, and four years after the worst Olympic showing in U.S. history caused unprecedented self-examination, there is widespread domestic disagreement on what Olympic role, if any, NBA players should have.

The Beijing Olympics begin in two months and for the fifth time NBA players will compete. The U.S. team again will have only professional players, to the delight of NBA Commissioner David Stern, but to the detriment of the league, if you believe skeptics such as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Lakers Coach Phil Jackson.

The difference of opinion was highlighted one recent day in Los Angeles when, before an NBA playoff game, Stern and Jackson expressed their opinions about NBA player participation in the Olympics. Jackson, who has had one hip replaced and walks with the assistance of a cane, said: "The wear and tear of the NBA game on the body of a player . . . you only have to watch me walk out to the court to understand that is probably like putting ten years into one year of a normal human being's body because of the grind of this game. So, the rest and recuperation they can get in the offseason is really important for the players. [But] we've joined world basketball in this cause to chase whatever . . . whatever it means to the NBA to have our game worldwide and to notify the rest of the world how good our teams are in the USA."

Jackson believes the NBA is putting its greatest assets, its players, at risk in its quest to promote its brand worldwide. "We've tried to chase the gold in the Olympics and the World Cup," he said. "I just think we're taking some of our best players and putting them in positions where it's tough for them to continue to play. I thought it hurt [Spurs star Tim] Duncan the year they went to Greece [2004]. I think San Antonio asked [Manu] Ginóbili to not play this year in the trials and he didn't participate with the Argentina team. . . .

"Kobe [Bryant] and I talked . . . we were plotting out the real scenario from here on out for his career about the protection of his career. You know, taking care of his body, resting when he has to rest, and not doing an undue amount of work without cause or purpose."

Bryant, along with the Celtics' Paul Pierce, Cleveland's LeBron James, Orlando's Dwight Howard and Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire, are among the all-stars expected to play in Beijing, against international teams that are also led by NBA players.

Minutes later, told of Jackson's comments, Stern said: "I don't think they abuse their bodies during the Olympics period. It is extra basketball. But that's the reality of it. The Olympics have helped the NBA, the globalization of basketball, our coaches and our players. . . . The reality is it remains an extraordinary stage, and the basketball ticket in Beijing will be the number one ticket in the sport."

Cuban openly disputes even the notion that playing in the Olympics is the best business move. In his blog Cuban writes, "I've said it before and I will say it again: The NBA is making a huge mistake by letting our players participate in the Olympics and its qualifying competitions."

Cuban takes exception even with the way the NBA uses its brand in the Summer Games. "It can be a decent business if done right," he writes about involving the league in international basketball. "Unfortunately for the NBA, this is the only place where we give away our trademark and assets and we shouldn't. If the game of basketball truly has grown to the level of interest we all think and hope it has, then we should just dump playing for the Olympics and hold our own tournament. If we were really, really smart we would work with the NHL, NFL, MLB and USA Track & Field organizations, tennis and other sports with strong professional bases and create our own games. Then, supporting the international development of the games would make sense."

In a recent conversation about the Olympics, Cuban, too, worried about the physical toll on the players. He fretted over the health of his all-star, Dirk Nowitzki, Germany's best player, as Jackson did Bryant.

Asked this week at the NBA Finals about the physical risks of playing for his country, Celtics star Ray Allen, who played for the U.S. in the 2000 Olympics, said: "It definitely takes a toll on your body. And as guys get older it becomes more difficult to play all year. But you've got a lot of issues here. As Americans, we have such egos when it comes to international basketball. Me? I wouldn't have it any other way than NBA players representing the U.S. The other countries are putting their best players on the floor, which now means professionals. So we need to put our best on the floor. The process probably is an issue, with the qualifying. But if you're asking me if we should use amateurs, the answer is no. No. I am in favor of having the teams determined by essentially open tryouts. Put the 12 best on the floor, not the 12 hottest NBA players at the moment."

Allen probably hit on the most critical issue for those concerned about players' health. Charles Barkley, who played on the Dream Team in Barcelona in '92 and again in 1996 in Atlanta, said yesterday: "The issue, if we're talking about health, starts with qualifying. If these guys stop messing around and go ahead and win the gold medal, they won't have to take more than three weeks to a month out of their lives. A month of playing other great players in the Olympics is good preparation for the next season. But if you don't win gold or you're not the host nation, then it can take two years of playing and practicing to qualify. And that takes the big physical toll. It takes more out of you physically to do all the stuff to qualify than it does to play six games or whatever you need to win to win the gold."

So the question was put to Barkley, now an analyst for TNT: Should NBA players compete in the Olympics? "There are some interesting arguments on both sides, but I think the answer depends totally on whether we want to win or not," he said. "It depends on what it means to the NBA and to the United States to win a gold medal. I'm telling you right now that if it's important, you have to have pros. You can't put a bunch of college kids out there and expect them to beat Ginóbili, [Andrés] Nocioni and [Luis] Scola of Argentina. Those guys would kill a team of college kids."

There is no sign whatsoever the NBA is turning back. During those recent comments in Los Angeles, Stern said the NBA is going to take four teams to Europe and two teams to China in October, which means Jackson, Cuban and others can object all they want but it isn't about to alter the current course.

"Just as baseball is played in [Japan] and football opened in England," Stern said, "that's the next sort of step in the expansion of American sports. . . . And hockey is going to open, I believe, in Scandinavia . . . so it's happening and that's just a fact of life. You can say if we went back to a 60-game schedule that would also put less wear and tear on our players. But commercially, that's not going to happen. And internationally, it's not going to be cut back. It's going to continue to grow."

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TL commentary: I think it is simply amazing how selfish and short-sighted Phil Jackson and Mark Cuban are in regard to this topic. To Jackson, I ask this question. "Do you think the popularity, growth and exposure of world basketball might've helped Kobe become a little bit better player while he was growing up in Italy? Is it possible that world basketball and the NBA's/USA Basketball's role over the years might've helped Spain's Pau Gasol improve his game a bit?" To Cuban, I ask, "Mark, do you think somewhere along the line in beautiful downtown Wurzburg, the ability to watch and learn from the NBA game on German TV might've taken Dirk's game up a level or two? Is it - at all possible - that a small part of Dirk's success might've been the result of Holgar's exposure to the American coaching and style of play? And, before that, don't you think that Steve Nash's emergence as an elite NBA player might've been the direct result of Nash's game and confidence being tested when he led Team Canada to an unimaginable second place finish at the 1999 Tournament of the Americas and a bid to the 2000 Olympic Games?

No. You want it all. You want it to be a one-way street. What is good for you and your team is all that matters. Screw everyone else. The hell with the rest of the kids growing up in far corners of the world. The hell with the sport of basketball playing some small role in the world being a better place to live. To hell with Yao Ming being able to carry his country on his shoulders as the Olympic Games open in Beijing. (And promoting the NBA game afterward!)... To hell with Andrew Gaze carrying Australia's flag into the Opening Ceremony in Sydney. You guys have NBA teams to run and NBA titles to win, and win now. No sense in budgeting time, effort, and human resources into building the future. You guys won't be around for it anyway.

And, psst, wanna know a secret? Your attitude and public stance is exactly why the rest of the citizens of the world look down upon Americans in the year 2008. Some of them hate our guts because of that attitude.

The rest of the world used to look to an American to be the common denominators, the conduits to peace, justice and a better world. Now, the rest of the world views America as SELFISH, SELF-CENTERED, SELF-YOU-ADD-THE PHRASE. It's a crying shame.

Now, I fully recognize the toll an Olympic Games and its preparation take on a player. In '92, when the minutes were distributed evenly and the Jordans and Pippens carried the team and played 20-25 minutes in doing do, it was a lot easier. But, now, in the Year 2004-2008-2012, a march to the Olympic Gold Medal is going to take hard work and dedication, blood and sweat. God forbid an NBA player risk that, eh?

Now, I think it is 100-percent right for the likes of Shaq-Duncan-KG to say, "No thanks, I did my part. It's time for someone else to try." I'm okay with that, unless the player WANTS to play in more than one Olympic Games or they are pursuing their dreams of an Olympic Gold medal. (Let me repeat, God forbid that an NBA player actually wants to face that amazing challenge, eh?)

The bottom line is this: A player should have every right in the world to play for his country, whether it be the USA, Germany, China or any other country to attempt a run at the medal stand. What is wrong is for someone to second-guess the right of a player to play and participate in the Olympics, especially if that someone has never stood anywhere near an Olympic locker room and has never seen the likes of an Earvin Johnson, David Robinson or Alonzo Mourning react like little children when they dressed in their country's colors on the way to walk in the Opening Ceremony of an Olympics.

Common Sense, common courtesy or ?

A Golfweek Magazine editor named Dave Seanor thought he would put some 'Heat' on the Golf Channel and anchor Kelly Tilghman. A PR Newswire desk worker thought he would be a wiseguy. Both were shown the door.

Deservedly so, I agree.

As a PR advisor, my jaw just drops when I see such a terrible, terrible story. Most people call it "stupidity." Others will say, "carelessness." I chalk it up to a combination of both and pass along one thought, not related to these two incidents.

A certain lawyer I worked with - (No, not David Stern) - would always teach, "Never miss an opportunity to keep your mouth shut."

Here is Mike Wilbon's take on it:

Language Was Hurtful, But Actions Were Profane

By Michael Wilbon
Sunday, January 20, 2008; D01

Sadly, it seems the few conversations we have about race and sports anymore are limited to extreme reactions to language. They're not so much conversations as they are confrontations, usually angry ones and increasingly with severe consequences. Our parents never told us that words could hurt just as much as sticks and stones.

Already a broadcaster has been suspended, a magazine editor fired, and feelings deeply bruised from the inappropriate use of one of America's ugliest images: lynching. And we certainly haven't heard the last of the Kelly Tilghman-Tiger Woods-Golfweek Magazine controversy because Woods opens his 2008 season this week, which might be remembered more for what he says about all this than how he plays.

Sen. Barack Obama even weighed in from the presidential campaign trail in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning when he said Golfweek Magazine's use of a noose on its cover showed "a lack of sensitivity to some of the profound historical and racial issues. . . . We have to understand there's nothing funny about a noose. There's a profound history that people have been dealing with, and those memories are ones that can't be played with."

This could have and should been handled more professionally all the way around, starting with Tilghman, whose apology for saying younger players on the PGA Tour should "lynch [Tiger] in a back alley . . . " should have come immediately and repeatedly, not two days later. The Golf Channel, instead of waiting several days to publicly reprimand Tilghman, should have done so immediately, perhaps avoiding the need for a suspension. And Golfweek absolutely should have used the controversy as a teaching tool, examining black participation (or lack thereof) in the golf industry with sidebars on lynching and why so many people were offended by Tilghman's words. But Golfweek conducted no such examination, meaning the picture of a noose on the cover did little more than inflame, which is inexcusable.

As black folks everywhere telephoned, e-mailed, texted and tried to make sense of this latest language episode, former NBA star Charles Barkley made as much sense as anybody when he said: "I don't want to hear that the golf industry's biggest problem is something Kelly Tilghman said. If Golfweek really wanted to examine racism, as the editor said he did, they would look at golf and country clubs excluding Jews and black folks. . . . Look at their restrictive policies and explain why the only black folks you see at most clubs are working in the kitchen . . . just like it was 100 years ago."

As a matter of disclosure, Barkley and Tilghman are friends. So are Tilghman and I. Neither of us defends what she said; it's regrettable and hurtful. But there's context to everything, beginning with the fact that Tilghman has not at any other time we're aware of uttered anything even remotely similar. Nothing in her television work hints at anything mean-spirited or bigoted, which is also the reason Tiger Woods has said it's a non-issue to him.

This isn't Don Imus insulting the Rutgers women's basketball team. Imus is a serial offender when it comes to race and gender. Imus meant to insult; it's been his M.O. for years. Tilghman has zero incidents in her history. I'm not prepared, as someone who speaks into a live microphone regularly, to hold anyone to a standard of perfection. The two-week suspension for Tilghman is more than enough. What annoys me more than what she said is that producers weren't in her ear immediately, calling for an apology after the very next commercial break.

What's also much worse than Tilghman's split-second gaffe is Golfweek's decision regarding the noose. The magazine had more than a week to think about its cover choice, days and days to assess the potential reaction, and still blew it. I was happy to hear Jim Thorpe, an African American and 16-time winner on the PGA and Champions tours, say so. Thorpe also defended Tilghman because he knows her work and said, "It was a bad choice of words. But the guy from Golfweek [fired editor Dave Seanor]. . . . Let him get barbecued. That was a major mistake on his part. . . . [Putting the noose on the cover] was absolutely stupid. That was throwing fuel on the fire. Why would you do that? He knew better."

What tends to go unexamined also is the number of black producers working in positions of impact at networks such as the Golf Channel (or ESPN or the national networks for that matter) or black editors working at magazines and newspapers who sit in on meetings where covers are discussed and ultimately decided. Were these staffs more racially inclusive, certain thoughts and notions would be challenged before something becomes a finished product.

The images of lynchings are still too vivid in my mind's eye. My father fled Georgia in the early 1940s because he feared he wouldn't move quickly enough (if at all) to the back of a bus to make room for a white person. The punishment for such a crime quite often was lynching -- if not burning then lynching.

We don't study these atrocities anymore or the shame they produced. This new ignorance is a cultural issue as much as a racial one. If it can't be found on YouTube it's not going to be consumed. Sadly, it's why we need the upcoming Black History Month, so even black children and teenagers can learn about somebody black who didn't dribble, tackle or rap, and what happened to, and with, African Americans for 400 years.

Kelly Tilghman knows the sting of discrimination because not all the men in the golf world welcomed her with open arms last year when she became the first woman to be the lead announcer for PGA Tour events. Even though she grew up in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and graduated from Duke, I wonder what, if anything, she knew about the history of lynching in America before last week. Partly, I wonder because she said, "lynch him in a back alley." And anybody who knows anything about lynching also knows black men weren't strung up in alleys, or anywhere urban enough to have alleys.

While some of us believe the reaction to Tilghman's words were overly dramatic, the reality is that this is now a full-blown issue, large enough that many black critics are pounding Woods for not being angry -- as if his saying this should be a non-issue is an indictment of his blackness. That's not just wrong; it's downright dangerous.

These episodes tend to raise the volume but not always the level of discourse. Al Sharpton, in a stereotypical knee-jerk reaction, called for "him" to be disciplined, obviously not knowing the basic information about Miss Tilghman. There's a scene in Denzel Washington's new movie, "The Great Debaters" that illustrates very horrifically a black man having been burned and lynched, which should be required viewing during Black History Month. I'd like to sit with Tilghman and Sharpton and watch the movie, then discuss exactly what it means, without the threat of suspensions or the fear of learning something that might change our minds and our behavior.

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Gene Weingarten.

Gene.. I am just checking to see if you are still reading this blog? BTW, I get a real kick out of your blog and will enjoy it from here on out. Good luck and give my best to George in his semi-retirement.