George Floyd
We witnessed
world-wide demonstrations regarding the death of George Floyd. We hear the term systemic racism tossed about
by several parties. Is there racism
existing in the NBA, of course there is.
At the same time, the league is far ahead of other professional leagues
in racial matters. We could begin this
discussion with former Clippers owner Donald Sterling. His racial remarks witnessed the NBA forcing
him to sell the team, in addition Sterling received a lifetime ban.
Every season Richard
Lapchick’s (Google him) group looks at each professional sport and provides it
a grade based on racial diversity in hiring, promotion, and other intangibles. NBA grades are far and above those registered
by other professional sports teams. The
act of kneeling prior to the National Anthem angered a great number of NFL
owners and fans, over the weekend we heard Commissioner Goodell admit “the NFL
got it wrong.”
A key point, whether
it was by accident, players association action or something else. The NBA appears (notice I said appears) to
have a better working relationship in diversity hires over other professional
sports. There have been labor issues
resulting in work stoppage but those are no different from other sports. It would be ridiculous for me to state there are
no racial issues in the NBA however anytime they crop up it expect action be
taken to address it. In my view the NBA
would not have allowed a kneeling type issue to exist without meeting with its
players to address it.
Kansas basketball
The penalty imposed
on Oklahoma State basketball is not good, not good for OSU and it might be even
worse for Kansas. If you remember last
week the NCAA imposed a one-year post-season ban for OSU basketball. In early spring the NCAA announced it levied 5
level one violations against Kansas basketball, for those unfamiliar with
violations level one is the most severe.
The most serious problem
the NCAA could levy is the “Death Penalty”, that is highly unlikely. Only once in history has that severe a
punishment been dealt. The death penalty
is not a reality however it is difficult to believe Kansas escapes without any punishment. I certainly could be wrong here, but I
seriously doubt it, there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth in Jayhawk
Nation before the end of 2020. NOTE: As this was completed came word the school wanted to separate football from basketball, the reasoning football was self-reported.
This is shocking
I was asked over the
weekend how I felt about my Lakers. I
responded by saying “late winter I felt good, now I’m not so sure.” Naturally if the Lakers win the NBA
Championship it certainly would be pleasing for me and Laker Nation. The start the stop and then re-start of the
season is not comforting to me. Some
claim LeBron will have re-charged his battery, others say Paul George and Kawhi
Leonard will have plenty of play on the court together.
Either hypotheses could
be true and maybe both, we must wait for play to determine the outcome. As I indicated I am okay with this reboot
except for the possibility of a resurgence in covid-19. In closing this is probably shocking for many
of you reading this. The number one and
self-appointed Laker fan in Kansas City having reservations. Oh well, sometimes things do change, and in this instance, this is one for me.
Wow
The State of
Missouri contains four Division I basketball programs, the largest is the
University of Missouri or Mizzou with its main campus in Columbia. Missouri State is in the southern portion of
the state not far from the Arkansas border, Missouri State University is in
Springfield. Then we have the St. Louis
Billikens located in you guessed it St. Louis, finally we have Southeast
Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau located in the southeastern portion
of the state.
All four schools are
in different conferences so its quite rare for them to play one another even in
the non-conference portion of the season.
Now that you have the lay of the land allow the story to unfold. Coach Cuonzo Martin once coached Missouri
State but moved to Tennessee and later Cal before landing the job at
Mizzou. The coach wanted to play
Missouri State and it was set to occur this fall and then it was not. For unknown reasons, the game now appears to
be cancelled with no apparent explanation, Rock M. Nation the fan website
claims it is political.
