When the story fits...

There is a part of journalism that has always bothered me. It was when a preconceived notion is made by a writer and no amount of factual information or direct quote reporting will reverse the opinion of the reporter. Then, of course, the writer goes on to write the story anyway.

An example of this is when three or four players from one of the many National Teams that participate in a summer tournament suffer injuries in the opening months of the NBA season.

A reporter will make the leap: "Player x, player y and player z are all on the sideline because of the fact they played for their national team this past summer. Never mind, the injury might have occured when the player awkwardly turned an ankle, or was knocked down under the basket, fell and bruised a bone.

They blame it on a 'long summer.' No rest (even though the player might have rested from late April until July).

The flip side of the story is happening now. With the exception of Lebron James' recent stretch on the bench with a painful left index finger injury and Jason Kidd's recent migraine-gate date, the USA national team from last summer has been injury free and are dominating in the stat categories of the NBA.

I have found that media like to pair things together. It might even take three or four occurances to grab the attention of the media and talk show hosts to make the connection. Never is the word 'coincidence' used when something might happen, it is written or discussed as fact.

One of the other examples in basketball was a common misconception that was written something like this: "the league wants more "European" players so there will be more white players in the NBA."

It is a ridiculous statement, I know. But it's out there.

The word "European" always caught my attention as it was frequently used instead of the more appropriate "International" player. But, that is beside the point.

First, conjuring up the idea of league executives gathered around a conference room table planning or even discussing such a thing is downright revolting. Secondly, it makes a quantum leap of assuming the league has any influence in the selection of players by the NBA teams at NBA Draft time.

Now, take that aide, when you play it out, the influx of the international players over the past five, 10, 15 or 20 years has provided the NBA with dozens of talented players 'of color.'

So, an African-American writer or two and a misinformed Village Voice writer, named Dan McGraw, made total fools of themselves when they were quoted and when the latter wrote in 2003: The Foreign Invasion of the American Game.

McGraw went so far as to dismiss his own notion - buried in mid-story - when he wrote: "And many of the foreign players are themselves black, including Tony Parker, the San Antonio Spurs' star import from France."

Now, McGraw singled out Parker, then, an all-star in the making for sure, but he didn't mention the others I had quickly rattled off during the interview, such as: Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, Luol Deng, Nene, Desagana Diop, and others from France, Haiti, England, and Africa. Aren't they international players, too?

No, he wanted to concentrate on players like Dirk Nowitzki.

That made his story work much better.