On PTI Wilbon asked Kornheiser this question yesterday as to why a fight in the NBA is made into a bigger deal compared to NFL, MLB and NHL. Tony's response made little sense. Apparently to him it's because "NBA players wear shorts and jersey and are more visible to the public on the court. Thus when people see 'em brawling, they don't wanna pay money to see the product"(yeah, the attendance really fell down after the Palace Brawl ).
Gimme a ****ing break. How's are NBA players any more visible than baseball? Yet a fight in MLB doesn't receive anywhere close to the negative press an NBA brawl does. There could be no other reason for this aside from racism.
I think there are two main reasons why NBA brawls get more attention than baseball brawls. Number 1 Basketball is the only sport where there is no barrier between the players and the fans, so when a brawl happens, and it ends up in the stands where your paying customers are, then of course it's gonna get a lot more play in the media. The second reason is the debacle that happend in Detroit last year, that incident kind of brought the spotlight onto the league, and now just one year later we have another brawl that spills into the stands. It's just not a good look for the league.
Racism definitly exists, and rots at the core of our society, but I think it has almost no role in the coverage of this story. For instance when a brawl happens in Baseball it is confined to the field and the players, it's then shown on all the news that night, and that's the end of it, if that same brawl escalated into the stands, it would be covered with the same zeal as this one has. This has been backed up in Hockey where fights happen all the time with little to no fan fare, but when those fights have involved fans(ex;tie domi in philly) they are covered in the exact same way this incident has.
You can't compare hockey with white players to basketball with black players. Hockey is an unbelievably physical sport and fights are inevitable. I wouldn't look into the race aspect.
It seems that black athletes have this thing with "respect". Everything is about "being disrespected" and having to fight for respect. I never hear those words coming out of white guys mouths. What is this "respect" bull****? It's like an excuse to do anything.....
The problem with basketball though is that it's RIGHT NEXT to the fans. that's why it's dangerous.
With hockey, football, and baseball, there is a HUGE buffer so fights can't extend into the crowd. Basketball always has the potential to escalate into an out of control situation. I think that's why fights look worse in the NBA. That and also NBA players wear no gear, so punches are more dangerous.
i'm not disagreeing that there is a double standard when these fights occur... and it's sad that it happens to be that way... BUT, has anyone factored in WHERE these fights occur?
in a hockey game, the combatants are duking it out on the ice and the fans are seperated by a wall of glass so thick you could fire a piece of vulcanized rubber at it at 100 mph and it won't break.
in a baseball fight it usually happens somewhere between homeplate and the pitchers mound... once again the fans are nowhere near the brawl
but in basketball the fight often spills into the STANDS, where many fans are hurt when these 200+ lbs athletes come flying in slapping at eachother. there is nothing to keep the fans safe from the madness and that somehow has to play a factor in all this.
With regards to athletes in general (who usually tend to be black), it always amused me how channels like MsNBC, CNN, FoxNews, etc. who don't even cover sports or literally condense an entire sports night into one minute are always all over the story when it's about pumping up something negative that has happened. All of a sudden that sports minute turns into a 45 minute show with all kinda dudes coming in using words like thug, gangsta, etc. when we all know they want to say "******s." When it's something positive going on or just general highlights, nah it's not important enough to get on the network though.
That's why I never really had a problem with the NBA showing the NBA Cares commercials 100x during a game. If it weren't for them letting you know that they actually do good things in the community, you'd think all they ever did was get arrested, get sued, get DUIs, get into fights, etc. based on how they are represented in the media.
i'm not disagreeing that there is a double standard when these fights occur... and it's sad that it happens to be that way... BUT, has anyone factored in WHERE these fights occur?
in a hockey game, the combatants are duking it out on the ice and the fans are seperated by a wall of glass so thick you could fire a piece of vulcanized rubber at it at 100 mph and it won't break.
in a baseball fight it usually happens somewhere between homeplate and the pitchers mound... once again the fans are nowhere near the brawl
but in basketball the fight often spills into the STANDS, where many fans are hurt when these 200+ lbs athletes come flying in slapping at eachother. there is nothing to keep the fans safe from the madness and that somehow has to play a factor in all this.
just something to consider, thats all i'm saying.
I've seen fights spill into the stands in hockey, just can't remember the names enough. Guys have had to be carried off in stretchers as a result of hockey fights and they don't get nearly the negative pub the NBA brawl did
I've seen fights spill into the stands in hockey, just can't remember the names enough. Guys have had to be carried off in stretchers as a result of hockey fights and they don't get nearly the negative pub the NBA brawl did
lol, in the 70's maybe.
last time i can remember that barrier being crossed was a Leafs vs Flyers game and Tie Domi was sent to the penalty box. the fans started throwing whatever drinks they had in their hands at Domi who was in the box. Domi responded by grabbing a water bottle and spraying it at the fans.
1 fan got so pissed (1 very fat fan) that he tried to climb the barrier between the penalty box and the fans, and it ended up breaking under his weight and he fell into the penalty box with Tie.
also, just because you don't see the negative press during the fallout of hockey fights doesn't mean it isn't there. probably because living in USA people just flat out don't care about the NHL as much. if you remember two seasons ago an altercation between Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Moore. long story short at the end of the fight moore was taken off the ice in a stretcher, completely KO'd and his career has ended since. two years later it is STILL in the press as they are battling it out in court over a settlement.
Media bias but i dont think race is that big of a factor as some make it out to be. If this was Grat Hill sucker punching Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan chasing Grant as Jared Jeffries the commentary, the descriptions, articles written are entirely different. This is all about who is involve and the perception of said individuals. If Grant Hill suckered punched Carmelo Anthony because Carmelo hardfouled Jameer Nelson...i wouldnt put it past some of the media to say "Melo got what he deserved, Grant was wrong but considering who he hit and the action that took place? Can you blame him?". In baseball no one says anything when a black player charges the mound on a white pitcher. Its tradition and accepted. Whats not accepted is a player standing there watching his ball glides over a fence before leaving the batter box. That draws nasty things said bout the media "classless, arrogant, some way to show an example to kids there pal!".
Brawls occured back in the day. Dr J choked the life out of the white jesus named Bird. The media is just having a hard time adjusting, accepting the new generation of basketball players.
One reason is that there's never really much to talk about in the NBA during the regular season. I've heard the Nba's regular season referred to as "meaningless" countless times by media analysts. So sadly it requires sumthing like this for the nba to get attention.
Where as in say football, every week all the games are pretty much played on one day and u can break down games and matchups and predict next weeks matchups. and each game has signifigance so theres just much more to talk about when something negative happens in the nfl.
You can't compare hockey with white players to basketball with black players. Hockey is an unbelievably physical sport and fights are inevitable. I wouldn't look into the race aspect.
It seems that black athletes have this thing with "respect". Everything is about "being disrespected" and having to fight for respect. I never hear those words coming out of white guys mouths. What is this "respect" bull****? It's like an excuse to do anything.....
The problem with basketball though is that it's RIGHT NEXT to the fans. that's why it's dangerous.
With hockey, football, and baseball, there is a HUGE buffer so fights can't extend into the crowd. Basketball always has the potential to escalate into an out of control situation. I think that's why fights look worse in the NBA. That and also NBA players wear no gear, so punches are more dangerous.
So basically you're saying that the difference is because they can get into the stands. Well, is it the player's fault that they can get into the stands or the way basketball arenas are set up?
If it's such a concern, why not put barriers up in the stadiums then? What's that? The NBA wouldn't want to do that? OK then, don't put it on the PLAYERS when they get into a brawl more than you would a hockey or baseball player.
By the way, I don't believe the "stands" shyt. I think it's because a large part of white American feels threatened by black males, and it's somehow worse when a black male engages in the SAME negative behavior as a white male.
Lastly, the reason many blacks talk about "respect" is because if you knew the history of race relations in this country, you'd realize that black folks have been disrespected as a group more than anyone else. LMAO at whites, who as a group, control the majority of wealth and power in this country complaining about being disrespected.
Racism is most definitely at pay when it comes to the way in which the nba is covered. Prime example would be the way in which the medi covered kobe's fall from grace post rape charge. It seemed like they were saying like oh we thought he was a credit to his race. Listen to how well spoken he was, dressed different. And now he is just like the others. Like all the other black players in the nba. Nevermind that less than 1% of the league has ever been charged with a crime like rape. To put men in the same category as a guy that has been charged with rape shows the racist agenda of the media.
Also there are subtle differences in the way in which players are covered. For example marbury is considered to have a street ball type of game and nash is simply spectacular. Thats total rubbish because nash plays more 'playground" than any superstar in the league.
These types of bias are perpetated by the racist media all the time and when something like the brawl happens its like all their christmasses came at once.
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