dk7th wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

dk7th wrote:

Nalod wrote:

dk7th wrote:

Nalod wrote:

dk7th wrote:the hawks, like any other ball club, need to start winning meaningful games in the playoffs if this swine levenson wants to put asses in seats. levenson's biggest mistake was hiring mike woodson, followed by larry drew. before that lon kruger hello?!? at least stotts has improved in the last ten years.

you get stuck in mediocrity for as long as the hawks have-- when was the last time they made an impression in the second round?-- and eventually there is nothing to get excited about during the regular season when you know you get crushed in the varsity season.

racism and basketball as entertainment? if the hawks were winning would these issues even exist?

the knicks sold out for years not even making the playoffs. Why is he "Swine"???

metropolitan area has 20 million people and NYC is the business capital of the world. with plenty of corporate sh!tbags and general riffraff you can have a franchise that is as loose as a 65-year-old tijuana whore and still sell out.

atlanta area has a population of 4.7 million people. you have to work harder at being a draw, and that means treating the sport with enough respect to actually build a good team and have a cohesive front office on the same page. if levenson possesses the same "values" as that azzhole who owns the knicks then he will unleash a mediocre and marginally "entertaining" "product." but now i have seen everything-- a white owner using quasi-racist statements as a pretext to sell his interest at a potentially huge profit. if true levenson = swine.

meanwhile you know what's really entertaining: winning

Second longest playoff inclusion streak and tied for 6th place with Los Angelus having 15 fortune 500 companies in the United States. http://www.debate.org/reference/cities-hosting-the-most-fortune-500-companies

ATL metro area ranks 9th in the country in population.

Was it racist for the Hawks to attempt to market themselves to the black community in the first place? Or Racist to try to appeal to a wider (more White) Audience?

They found 9 emails out of 24,000,000 that were judged to have questionable content. I don't condone the hurtful words and there are more tactful ways to word things but an organization that is struggling to draw can't have a "comfortable" conversation about demographics without tripping up in either direction. Isiah rumored comment about white ticket holders and sexual harrassment was dealt with by giving him an extension!

Levenson is no where near Sterling territory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Atlanta#Major_shifts_from_2000_to_2010

so the upsurge in white population from 2000 to 2010 (and presumably to the present) is parallel to the hawks being somewhere between sucking and mediocre. if levenson wants to get some of these newer arrivals to the stadium he has to value winning over entertainment.

changing the cultural vibe of the games and alluding to their being too black is ridiculous. the franchise itself needs a change of culture! all they have to do is make a splash in the second round and not succumb meekly, woodson style, and voila!... you get crackers to games.

Dude! How are you any better than the man you are trying to admonish? "Honky"? "Cracker"? Seriously?

no, not seriously... i am joking. sorry the internet does not convey that.

Danny Ferry was probably joking too. It's why this stuff can be a slippery slope in the world we live in.

NardDogNation wrote:

dk7th wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

dk7th wrote:

Nalod wrote:

dk7th wrote:

Nalod wrote:

dk7th wrote:the hawks, like any other ball club, need to start winning meaningful games in the playoffs if this swine levenson wants to put asses in seats. levenson's biggest mistake was hiring mike woodson, followed by larry drew. before that lon kruger hello?!? at least stotts has improved in the last ten years.

you get stuck in mediocrity for as long as the hawks have-- when was the last time they made an impression in the second round?-- and eventually there is nothing to get excited about during the regular season when you know you get crushed in the varsity season.

racism and basketball as entertainment? if the hawks were winning would these issues even exist?

the knicks sold out for years not even making the playoffs. Why is he "Swine"???

metropolitan area has 20 million people and NYC is the business capital of the world. with plenty of corporate sh!tbags and general riffraff you can have a franchise that is as loose as a 65-year-old tijuana whore and still sell out.

atlanta area has a population of 4.7 million people. you have to work harder at being a draw, and that means treating the sport with enough respect to actually build a good team and have a cohesive front office on the same page. if levenson possesses the same "values" as that azzhole who owns the knicks then he will unleash a mediocre and marginally "entertaining" "product." but now i have seen everything-- a white owner using quasi-racist statements as a pretext to sell his interest at a potentially huge profit. if true levenson = swine.

meanwhile you know what's really entertaining: winning

Second longest playoff inclusion streak and tied for 6th place with Los Angelus having 15 fortune 500 companies in the United States. http://www.debate.org/reference/cities-hosting-the-most-fortune-500-companies

ATL metro area ranks 9th in the country in population.

Was it racist for the Hawks to attempt to market themselves to the black community in the first place? Or Racist to try to appeal to a wider (more White) Audience?

They found 9 emails out of 24,000,000 that were judged to have questionable content. I don't condone the hurtful words and there are more tactful ways to word things but an organization that is struggling to draw can't have a "comfortable" conversation about demographics without tripping up in either direction. Isiah rumored comment about white ticket holders and sexual harrassment was dealt with by giving him an extension!

Levenson is no where near Sterling territory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Atlanta#Major_shifts_from_2000_to_2010

so the upsurge in white population from 2000 to 2010 (and presumably to the present) is parallel to the hawks being somewhere between sucking and mediocre. if levenson wants to get some of these newer arrivals to the stadium he has to value winning over entertainment.

changing the cultural vibe of the games and alluding to their being too black is ridiculous. the franchise itself needs a change of culture! all they have to do is make a splash in the second round and not succumb meekly, woodson style, and voila!... you get crackers to games.

Dude! How are you any better than the man you are trying to admonish? "Honky"? "Cracker"? Seriously?

no, not seriously... i am joking. sorry the internet does not convey that.

Danny Ferry was probably joking too. It's why this stuff can be a slippery slope in the world we live in.

Well said, don't know why those words keep popping up in this thread as if they're a completely normal way to refer to whites.

Uptown wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:I think Larry Bird made some sentiments in terms of fanbase many years back and was immediately attacked in the press. I.E. about having more white superstar players in the NBA, it would draw more interest from mainstream white America in terms of the total league fanbase. I don't think that's racist, I think it's reality.

African Americans only represent a small portion of the total US population ( though they have large concentrations in certain regions/areas) Also the most desirable demographics ( i.e. the kind of folks who can afford the courtside seats and buy luxury suites for games) will likely tend to draw from a white fan pool rather than a black one.

That would require a functional change in how the game is played (i.e. more emphasis and rewards for shooting and fundamentals and less reliance on athleticism )

I think it's true, but I also think it's not politically correct. If the league had 10 Steve Nash type players in their prime, the league would simply generate more interest from mainstream white America. MLB and the NFL have the benefit of much larger rosters. The NBA though, it's player pool is height dependent, which will lend towards more African Americans in the game.

I don't think what Ferry said was right, but it was one incident in how many years of him being in the league as both a player and front office executive with no other history of racial issues. I actually think he's a pretty good GM ( dumping Joe Johnson's contract, not resigning Josh Smith, getting Millsap for cheap, getting Bazemore for almost nothing, making some nice pickups like Dennnis Schroeder. )

Black activists don't want racism to end, they'd be out of a job. Hence they try to push every possible incident involving race and it becomes a cash grab/lynching party.

Utter crap.

I don't get how anyone can not find Ferry's comments racist- (unless you think that the majority of Africans are not only salesmen, but dodge ones too) and to make matters worse it's in the workplace. Here they were deciding whether or not to employ someone and one of the reasons against employing him was because of a stereotype based on his heritage. It's up to people individually whether they are offended or not, but it's certainly racist. My dad is African, and I'm proud of my heritage. If I found out an employer in discussions about employing me, erred caution because I had 'some african in me', then I'd be p***d off. Loved Deng's response though!

The idea that the owner's comments aren't racist because he's just talking business and money is nonsense too to me- it's a slippery slope if you exempt business's from ethics. If a shop could get more white customers and more money by banning black customers, would that be okay? Is it okay to even have discussions on that issue?

They are racist--he said he was repeating the comments from notes he was given from his scouts. One of the owners did a 3 month long investigation on Ferry and found not 1 more item of racial bias. Maybe it was a matter of him just telling the truth--that he was repeating a scouting report?

There-in lies the problem with Ferry. It wasn't like he was reading the scouting report straight from a teleprompter ala Ron Burgundy. Ferry had a chance or at least should have read the report before reading out-loud. If he had done so, why not question the character of the scout and reach out to him and ask, "What the hell is this?!" If Ferry had a problem with the report, why not omit that part of the report before sharing it during a conference?

It's like someone telling a crowd a racist joke then saying they aren't to blame because they didn't make the joke up, they were just retelling it. And why haven't we heard anything about this scouts fate?

Nalod wrote:Can someone make a racist comment and at the same time not be racist?

Ferry has not been found of having any racial bias nor any history of racist comments. He read a report that contained a stupid comment.
Maybe he did say "WTF" but we just don't know.

Maybe in the world GM"s live in they see things like "the Big Country suffers from white mans disease" to discribe his lack of hops.

Once there was a movie called "white men can't jump". If it was "Black men can Jump" would it be racial stereotype?

I guess now we can't stereotype anyone.

Anyone can say or do something racist at any time- it's not like there's an immunity vacine!

smackeddog wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:I think Larry Bird made some sentiments in terms of fanbase many years back and was immediately attacked in the press. I.E. about having more white superstar players in the NBA, it would draw more interest from mainstream white America in terms of the total league fanbase. I don't think that's racist, I think it's reality.

African Americans only represent a small portion of the total US population ( though they have large concentrations in certain regions/areas) Also the most desirable demographics ( i.e. the kind of folks who can afford the courtside seats and buy luxury suites for games) will likely tend to draw from a white fan pool rather than a black one.

That would require a functional change in how the game is played (i.e. more emphasis and rewards for shooting and fundamentals and less reliance on athleticism )

I think it's true, but I also think it's not politically correct. If the league had 10 Steve Nash type players in their prime, the league would simply generate more interest from mainstream white America. MLB and the NFL have the benefit of much larger rosters. The NBA though, it's player pool is height dependent, which will lend towards more African Americans in the game.

I don't think what Ferry said was right, but it was one incident in how many years of him being in the league as both a player and front office executive with no other history of racial issues. I actually think he's a pretty good GM ( dumping Joe Johnson's contract, not resigning Josh Smith, getting Millsap for cheap, getting Bazemore for almost nothing, making some nice pickups like Dennnis Schroeder. )

Black activists don't want racism to end, they'd be out of a job. Hence they try to push every possible incident involving race and it becomes a cash grab/lynching party.

Utter crap.

I don't get how anyone can not find Ferry's comments racist- (unless you think that the majority of Africans are not only salesmen, but dodge ones too) and to make matters worse it's in the workplace. Here they were deciding whether or not to employ someone and one of the reasons against employing him was because of a stereotype based on his heritage. It's up to people individually whether they are offended or not, but it's certainly racist. My dad is African, and I'm proud of my heritage. If I found out an employer in discussions about employing me, erred caution because I had 'some african in me', then I'd be p***d off. Loved Deng's response though!

The idea that the owner's comments aren't racist because he's just talking business and money is nonsense too to me- it's a slippery slope if you exempt business's from ethics. If a shop could get more white customers and more money by banning black customers, would that be okay? Is it okay to even have discussions on that issue?

Don't even bother with the dude. He's not interested in having a conversation, he's interested in regurgitating century-old talking points. He won't even respond to you.

With respect to one potential free agent, a highly-regarded African-American player and humanitarian, Ferry talked about the player’s good points, and then on to describe his negatives, stating that “he has a little African in him. Not in a bad way, but he’s like a guy who would have a nice store out front but sell you counterfeit stuff out the back.” Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly, all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat.

We were appalled that anyone would make such a racist slur under any circumstance, much less the GM of an NBA franchise on a major conference cal. One of us can be heard on the tape reacting with astonishment.

Yikes. So scratch that benefit of a doubt of African/Euro comparison I was offering to the incomplete quote reported earlier.

Also a couple things:

- Is it even correct to call Deng "African-American"? Sure, he lives and works here, but his nationality is British and his birthplace is in South Sudan.
- It seems pretty clear that the comments were racist, or to put it mildly, very disparaging toward continental Africans. White people aren't the only people that do this, of course. Some of the worst smack talking about continental Africans I've heard from American Black folks. So whether you call it stereotyping, prejudice, racist, or whatever: I think we can agree on "dead wrong" and "unprofessional".
- TripleThreat: was the irony of accusing "Black activists" of "cash grab/lynching party" intentional? You do know that Black people used to be grabbed for cash and lynchings, right? That was (and still is?) a real thing, with real repercussions, not just some metaphor.

The position of power with the Atlanta Hawks' organization held by Michael Gearon had been neutralized by Bruce Levenson and Danny Ferry.

But Gearon was on a conference call with Ferry in June in which free agents were discussed.

The call proceeded with Ferry hustling through free agent names, a list that included Carmelo Anthony: "He can shoot the [expletive] out of it, but he screws you up in other ways," Ferry said, according to a transcript obtained by Yahoo Sports.

Ferry would go on to say of Anthony: "So is he really worth the 20 million dollars? … I would argue if he plays the right way, absolutely."

The Hawks never had an opportunity to pursue Anthony, but they did have a chance to sign Luol Deng.

Several sources told Yahoo that within the basketball operations, Ferry was Atlanta's biggest proponent to sign Deng.

Ferry started about how Deng "has got some African in him" and proceeded to make a comparison to Africans with phony facades selling counterfeit goods.

As soon as those words left Ferry's mouth on the call, Gearon responded in a dramatic way in the background of the tape recording, according to a partial transcript of the call obtained by Yahoo Sports.

"Oh my God, that comment sounds like Sterling on TMZ," Gearon said.

Gearon allowed Ferry to keep talking.

On Deng, Ferry said: "… For example, he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, 'That absolutely was not me. I can't believe someone said that.'

"But talking to reporters, you know they can [believe it]."

Ferry kept going on Deng: "… Good guy in Chicago. They will tell you he was good for their culture, but not a culture setter. He played hard and all those things, but he was very worried about his bobble-head being the last one given away that year, or there was not enough stuff of him in the [team] store … kind of a complex guy."

According to the report, Ferry appears to be making his own interjections on the call and not reciting words belonging to someone else.

Ferry knows if he's canned

It's never getting cracked open again

This dude is cooked, he's doneyan

Like a rotten onion

arkrud wrote:

F500ONE wrote:

The position of power with the Atlanta Hawks' organization held by Michael Gearon had been neutralized by Bruce Levenson and Danny Ferry.

But Gearon was on a conference call with Ferry in June in which free agents were discussed.

The call proceeded with Ferry hustling through free agent names, a list that included Carmelo Anthony: "He can shoot the [expletive] out of it, but he screws you up in other ways," Ferry said, according to a transcript obtained by Yahoo Sports.

Ferry would go on to say of Anthony: "So is he really worth the 20 million dollars? … I would argue if he plays the right way, absolutely."

The Hawks never had an opportunity to pursue Anthony, but they did have a chance to sign Luol Deng.

Several sources told Yahoo that within the basketball operations, Ferry was Atlanta's biggest proponent to sign Deng.

Ferry started about how Deng "has got some African in him" and proceeded to make a comparison to Africans with phony facades selling counterfeit goods.

As soon as those words left Ferry's mouth on the call, Gearon responded in a dramatic way in the background of the tape recording, according to a partial transcript of the call obtained by Yahoo Sports.

"Oh my God, that comment sounds like Sterling on TMZ," Gearon said.

Gearon allowed Ferry to keep talking.

On Deng, Ferry said: "… For example, he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, 'That absolutely was not me. I can't believe someone said that.'

"But talking to reporters, you know they can [believe it]."

Ferry kept going on Deng: "… Good guy in Chicago. They will tell you he was good for their culture, but not a culture setter. He played hard and all those things, but he was very worried about his bobble-head being the last one given away that year, or there was not enough stuff of him in the [team] store … kind of a complex guy."

According to the report, Ferry appears to be making his own interjections on the call and not reciting words belonging to someone else.

Ferry knows if he's canned

It's never getting cracked open again

This dude is cooked, he's doneyan

Like a rotten onion

It is pretty clear that in today America no white person should make any public comment mentioning African american or just African people in any form except of praising their excellent qualities. And this is good to praise people of any kind.
However if someone has burning desire to hate on somebody publicly he can safely say anything about white or Asian people.
They are used to this and don't give a damn anyways.

You mean like when Max Bretos of ESPN was suspended for 30 days and an editor was outright fired for using the headline "chink in the armor?" in a story about Jeremy Lin? Or like when Sherrly Sherrod, an African American of the USDA, was fired for making comments that were misconstrued as being discriminatory against white people?

Dude, we get it, you are racist and don't like Black people. But don't try to rationalize it with nonsense to fit your narrative. In the meantime, how about you educate yourself about the going-ons of the world so I don't have to take time out of my day to constantly correct you?

Signed,
A Black guy

NardDogNation wrote:

arkrud wrote:

F500ONE wrote:

The position of power with the Atlanta Hawks' organization held by Michael Gearon had been neutralized by Bruce Levenson and Danny Ferry.

But Gearon was on a conference call with Ferry in June in which free agents were discussed.

The call proceeded with Ferry hustling through free agent names, a list that included Carmelo Anthony: "He can shoot the [expletive] out of it, but he screws you up in other ways," Ferry said, according to a transcript obtained by Yahoo Sports.

Ferry would go on to say of Anthony: "So is he really worth the 20 million dollars? … I would argue if he plays the right way, absolutely."

The Hawks never had an opportunity to pursue Anthony, but they did have a chance to sign Luol Deng.

Several sources told Yahoo that within the basketball operations, Ferry was Atlanta's biggest proponent to sign Deng.

Ferry started about how Deng "has got some African in him" and proceeded to make a comparison to Africans with phony facades selling counterfeit goods.

As soon as those words left Ferry's mouth on the call, Gearon responded in a dramatic way in the background of the tape recording, according to a partial transcript of the call obtained by Yahoo Sports.

"Oh my God, that comment sounds like Sterling on TMZ," Gearon said.

Gearon allowed Ferry to keep talking.

On Deng, Ferry said: "… For example, he can come out and be an unnamed source for a story and two days later come out and say, 'That absolutely was not me. I can't believe someone said that.'

"But talking to reporters, you know they can [believe it]."

Ferry kept going on Deng: "… Good guy in Chicago. They will tell you he was good for their culture, but not a culture setter. He played hard and all those things, but he was very worried about his bobble-head being the last one given away that year, or there was not enough stuff of him in the [team] store … kind of a complex guy."

According to the report, Ferry appears to be making his own interjections on the call and not reciting words belonging to someone else.

Ferry knows if he's canned

It's never getting cracked open again

This dude is cooked, he's doneyan

Like a rotten onion

It is pretty clear that in today America no white person should make any public comment mentioning African american or just African people in any form except of praising their excellent qualities. And this is good to praise people of any kind.
However if someone has burning desire to hate on somebody publicly he can safely say anything about white or Asian people.
They are used to this and don't give a damn anyways.

You mean like when Max Bretos of ESPN was suspended for 30 days and an editor was outright fired for using the headline "chink in the armor?" in a story about Jeremy Lin? Or like when Sherrly Sherrod, an African American of the USDA, was fired for making comments that were misconstrued as being discriminatory against white people?

Dude, we get it, you are racist and don't like Black people. But don't try to rationalize it with nonsense to fit your narrative. In the meantime, how about you educate yourself about the going-ons of the world so I don't have to take time out of my day to constantly correct you?

Signed,
A Black guy

I remember the Lin thing... never heard about Sherrod.
Not sure why my comment is racist... it was not directed at any specific group of people

Signed,
Humanoid