Abdul-Jabbar compares calls for Olympic boycotts in 1968 and 2008
May 4, 2008
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Special to The Los Angeles Times
- In 1968 I was a 20-year-old college junior whose basketball success had made me famous. I’d been honored as most outstanding player in the NCAA tournament, named the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. player of the year, and played the “game of the century” against the Houston Cougars at the Astrodome. So it wasn’t surprising that I was invited to try out for the Olympic basketball team to represent the U.S. in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Any other year I would have been proud and elated at the prospect of playing for my country against the world’s elite athletes.
But 1968 wasn’t like any other year.
March Madness, May Sadness
March 30, 2008
Denise Stewart, TheRoot.com
Years after the NCAA approved sweeping reforms designed to boost the academic performance of student athletes, a significant gap remains between black and white basketball athletes, according to a study released Wednesday by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES).
For evidence, one need look no further than this year’s Sweet 16 Round men’s basketball championship. More than one-third of the teams in this year’s Sweet 16 graduated 20 percent more white players than black players, according to the report. Three of the Sweet 16 teams graduated a larger percentage of black players than white players, but most reported double disparities into the double-digits.
Can D.C. Stadium Reunite Blacks, Baseball?
March 27, 2008
Stephen Smith, CBS News
Not a single inning has been played at Nationals Park, but Keith Stubbs has already witnessed the stadium’s energy. Stubbs, who runs a local baseball program for inner-city youths, recently took some of his kids on a tour of the freshly manicured diamond.
“They’re lighting up when you take them down on the field,” he says. “They can start to visualize and imagine what it would be like to play there.”
This Sunday, Nationals Park will host the first primetime game of the 2008 season. The newly minted $611 million stadium marks not only a rebirth for the local team, but a potential sea change in the nation’s capital. Built along the Anacostia River in southeast Washington, the ballpark is poised to revitalize a long-neglected area of the city and help renew African American interest in baseball.
LeBron should be more careful with his image
March 20, 2008
Jemele Hill, ESPN
If you’ve ever seen photos of LeBron James away from the basketball court, it’s obvious he takes great pride in his appearance.
LeBron’s image clearly means a lot to him, maybe even as much as pursuing a championship. And that’s why I can’t understand why he would allow Vogue to feature him with supermodel Gisele Bundchen in such a distasteful manner.
She looks like she’s on her way to something fashionable and exciting. He looks like he’s on his way to a pickup game for serial killers.
Now, maybe the point was to show the contrast between brawn and beauty, masculinity versus femininity, strength versus grace. But Vogue’s quest to highlight the differences between superstar athletes and supermodels only successfully reinforces the animalistic stereotypes frequently associated with black athletes.
New NCAA rule pushes for black head coaches, but no penalties involved
March 18, 2008
Sarah Lake, NNPA Special Correspondent
All NCAA Division I-A football programs must now interview at least one racial minority candidate when a head coaching position is available.
This new policy was modeled after the “Rooney Rule” in the NFL, designed to help assure fairness and equal opportunity in the recruitment of head coaches. But unlike the NFL there is no penalty for noncompliance.
The Division I-A Athletic Directors’ Association put the rule in place this year with hopes of diversifying the largely white sidelines. Of the 119 Division I-A schools, only six have black head football coaches.
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