Uptown wrote:

TripleThreat wrote:

smackeddog wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:what does this accomplish ?

What does doing nothing accomplish? People at the time would have said the same thing to Rosa Parks. At least they're trying to do something. Cast a stone into a pond and you never know where the ripples will reach.

Civil right leaders of that time chose Rosa Parks because she fit the optics of the situation. They could have easily backed Claudette Colvin but Parks was a known entity to the movement.

I generally do not ride the line political, but this has all become an actual NBA issue.

Jacob Blake, unlike Rosa Parks, does not fit any kind of practical fit for the optics around this situation. He has a previous criminal record. Including assault, drunk driving, domestic violence and sexual assault. Also the NBPA needs every team and every player to stop playing. Have they gotten that compliance? Remains to be seen. The other problem is the player are demanding change but have no and have given no clear definable goals. The legal system can't just convict a bunch of cops this soon after the Blake incident. The Rosa Parks situation was very clear. While it served a larger issue, the core issue was letting black people have equal rights on buses. It was a small controlled step towards pushing for larger change. The NBPA has no clear goal here. They are just shouting "Things need to change!" What things? These are things out of their control and that the NBA at large cannot control. We want black teachers hired in proportion to black students in X state. That's an actual goal in mind. That's giving the brands, the networks and the owners and league at large something to work around. Whether outrage is actually seen as good or bad, it's useless without a specific point. Don't keep shooting black people is not a practical demand. It may be a larger end goal in mind, but like Rosa Parks and buses, there must be some smaller controlled steps involved here.

You can argue all day about whether the NBA players are doing the right thing here, but this is a very very very curious case to make a stand behind. ( I'm calling the players actions stupid on this level. ) The NBPA could have waited for someone who was a school teacher and a former veteran in good standing who had no criminal record. They could have waited for anyone with a better optics situation than Blake. From a PR standpoint, this is actually worse than The Decision. I didn't think it was possible for a self inflicted PR nightmare worse than The Decision and Malice In The Palace, but these modern players have found a way.

Let's look at the practical fallout

1) Many people have already lost their jobs because of the pandemic that either directly related to the NBA or were indirectly benefited by it. More people will lose their jobs. Regular working stiffs.

2) If no one plays and the league cancels the season, the league will be in violation of their TV contracts. Since these teams are getting no gate revenue and the bubble was it's own massive expenditure, this is pretty bad. Now the networks are going to be in default with advertisers/sponsors, etc for these lost games. If the league loses it's TV contracts or they are torn up and reworked in a more punitive level, the BRI will collapse.

Canceling all games today was not an appeasement to make the players happy, it was an attempt to salvage this TV contract. The players aren't going to do this without talking to the NBPA, so now the league will be at war with the NBPA over this in private, so this could all lead to a future lockout.

Your post, especially the bolded is insensitive, lacks empathy, and is offensive! Not one time in your post do address the sickness of systemic racism running rampart through this country or the issue of police officers killing unarmed black men, women and children. The bolded shows a complete disregard to Black Lives. So, we are to sit back and allow black bodies to pile up and the widows and children are supposed to sift through their dead loved ones in search of a teacher or a doctor to hinge our protest or agenda too?! How insensitive does this sound?! Any black man, woman or child is disposable and we shoudn't bat an eye if they are killed by a police officer, who swore to protect and serve, if they have been arrested or suspended from school at point in their lives?!

Breonna Taylor, a black women, who was a medical technician, was killed while she slept by police officers who have yet to be charged! Is she good enough?!

Thank You! Well said !!!

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:LeBron James what a f hypocrite

He talks about oppression while he is financed by Chinese slave labor. He sits in a 50 mm dollar house telling us what’s wrong while people who earn .14 an hour put his sneakers together all day every day.
Athletes should really just play sports and help out in the community. They are Unapologetically hypocritical

When the Gm of Houston said something negative about China that was true. LeBron didn’t back him. In fact he went the other way and criticized Morey only because it would effect his pocket book

F u LeBron quit all u want.Watch what happens to fans

LeBron is a hypocrite, I agree. Just like you, he refused to acknowledge and see an issue that didn't affect him directly.

Big— Actually I’m hardcore against “Made in China”. I’m all for “Made in the USA” and I’m all in on rising American wages and higher minimum wages. I’m for anyone in the US to live a decent life and for those who are sick and can’t — I’m for taking care of that population the right way. Nope big—I’m totally against oppression. LeBron is a hypocrite of worst kind
The only way for me to show support for foreign slave labor or oppression is to ignore the products they produce. That’s my only avenue.

Lebron has used his platform to provide for At-risk, underprivileged children and family just as much if not more so than any other athlete that I can think of. The I Promise school which provides free educations for kids and their parents, free scholarships for teens to attend Akron, not to mention the voting organization that he established that has our very own James Dolan opening the doors to MSG for polling..

Has Lebron been hypocritical at times? Absolutely. How many people in this world cam say they haven't been at some point in their lives. Im totally against what's going in un China too, but as I'm typing this response, I just noticed I'm wearing Nike shirt. Am I a hypocrite too. How many of is have mobile phones? Wear Adidas?

How many of us complain about change we want to see from our couches? What are you doing to help rid the world of guns? Everyone has a part to play. Im from the Bronx, born and raised in the projects and I can relate to the kids that Lebron is offering free educations to. I'm just a high school teacher and can't afford to open my own school but I'm trying to play my part the best I can
I had an after school program last year for teens that focus on conflict resolution, teaching them love themselves, focusing on African American history that is not taught in school, current events etc. It's easy to complain and knock the next man but think about what we can do to make this country better...

Uptown wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:LeBron James what a f hypocrite

He talks about oppression while he is financed by Chinese slave labor. He sits in a 50 mm dollar house telling us what’s wrong while people who earn .14 an hour put his sneakers together all day every day.
Athletes should really just play sports and help out in the community. They are Unapologetically hypocritical

When the Gm of Houston said something negative about China that was true. LeBron didn’t back him. In fact he went the other way and criticized Morey only because it would effect his pocket book

F u LeBron quit all u want.Watch what happens to fans

LeBron is a hypocrite, I agree. Just like you, he refused to acknowledge and see an issue that didn't affect him directly.

Big— Actually I’m hardcore against “Made in China”. I’m all for “Made in the USA” and I’m all in on rising American wages and higher minimum wages. I’m for anyone in the US to live a decent life and for those who are sick and can’t — I’m for taking care of that population the right way. Nope big—I’m totally against oppression. LeBron is a hypocrite of worst kind
The only way for me to show support for foreign slave labor or oppression is to ignore the products they produce. That’s my only avenue.

Lebron has used his platform to provide for At-risk, underprivileged children and family just as much if not more so than any other athlete that I can think of. The I Promise school which provides free educations for kids and their parents, free scholarships for teens to attend Akron, not to mention the voting organization that he established that has our very own James Dolan opening the doors to MSG for polling..

Has Lebron been hypocritical at times? Absolutely. How many people in this world cam say they haven't been at some point in their lives. Im totally against what's going in un China too, but as I'm typing this response, I just noticed I'm wearing Nike shirt. Am I a hypocrite too. How many of is have mobile phones? Wear Adidas?

How many of us complain about change we want to see from our couches? What are you doing to help rid the world of guns? Everyone has a part to play. Im from the Bronx, born and raised in the projects and I can relate to the kids that Lebron is offering free educations to. I'm just a high school teacher and can't afford to open my own school but I'm trying to play my part the best I can
I had an after school program last year for teens that focus on conflict resolution, teaching them love themselves, focusing on African American history that is not taught in school, current events etc. It's easy to complain and knock the next man but think about what we can do to make this country better...

Uptown— incidentally wearing a Nike shirt is much different than actually profiting on slavery. LeBron profits heavily via slavery and child labor. When Darryl Morey spoke against China it was LeBron who rebuked him. It’s hypocritical to talk about oppression while profiting tens of millions directly from it.I just heard listen — then LeBron should listen as well.

BRIGGS wrote:LeBron is the same guy who rebuked Daryl money calling out oppression in china ( protests) and LeBron is the same guy who directly rebuked him— his first words were for “financial reasons”. So it’s ok to look the other way cuz it’s not your race and you’re making big bucks? It’s a load of sht and intensely hypocritical— spin it anyway u want

TripleThreat wrote:

Miami Heat veteran Udonis Haslem was reportedly a prominent figure during the emergency NBA players meeting that was held on Wednesday amidst the talk of a complete boycott of the rest of the season. In a report by Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes, Haslem allegedly singled out LeBron James and George Hill in portions of the discussion.

Haslem reportedly called out the Los Angeles Lakers superstar, putting him on the spot with his direct line of questioning:

With emotions all over the place, Haslem pressed James and asked the star what he planned to do, reminding him that he’s the face of the league and it goes as he goes, sources said.

James then said, “We’re out,” and walked out with almost all of his teammates following behind, sources said, with Dwight Howard being the only Laker who remained.

The Los Angeles Clippers followed suit, and they walked out of the meeting shortly after LeBron and the Lakers. Reports say the Lakers and the Clippers were the only two NBA teams that voted to cancel the rest of the season, with other teams opting to play it out.

LeBron was not the only person Haslem had in his crosshairs. The Heat veteran also took aim at Milwaukee Bucks guard George Hill, calling him out for what Haslem deemed to be an irresponsible act:

Haslem — in a clear message to George — stated that it was irresponsible and selfish for an established veteran to suggest that everyone should go home because younger players haven’t accumulated the wealth for such a drastic action, sources said.

.... NBA players voted to resume the playoffs in a meeting on Thursday. Games are set to resume on Saturday.

In a piece published in the Athletic last week, Ethan Strauss reported that the ratings for network NBA broadcasts have declined by 45 percent since 2011–12. Games on TNT are also down by more than 40 percent, while ESPN’s ratings have gone down roughly 20 percent. ....

Josh Levin: You’ve categorized explanations for why the ratings are down as excuses, so let me know if this is an explanation or an excuse. The NBA audience is younger than in some of the other sports that you’ve cited, and also more nonwhite than for other sports you’ve cited.

Ethan Strauss: I think there’s an element of explanation where younger people like the NBA, but the liking of the NBA doesn’t necessarily translate into them sitting down and watching two hours of an NBA game. If the NBA can figure out a way to make money off people enjoying seeing highlights over YouTube or highlights over Twitter, then, you know, good for you. It just doesn’t seem like they’ve been really able to do that.

I think it’s basic, it’s Occam’s razor. The interest in your sport is represented by people sitting down and watching your sport. That’s what it is.

If you look at Gallup surveys, the NBA doesn’t appear to be declining in popularity. If you look at “What is your favorite sport to watch?” it’s been flat over the last 15 years. If you look at people saying whether they’re a fan of that sport or not, interest in the NBA has gone up in recent years. So if Occam’s razor is that the NBA is declining in popularity domestically, then how do you explain the fact that on this metric of literally whether the NBA is more or less popular, it seems to either be flat or increasingly popular?

Is the metric what you do with your remote control, or is the metric what you say to Gallup? I mean, I think the quick and dirty measurement is whether you’re willing to watch the sport.

I mean, they’re down nearly half their viewership. Like, what are we doing? Why are we avoiding this? That’s what I don’t understand. Why are we avoiding this? You lost nearly half your audience in eight years. We’re going to talk about a Gallup survey. That just seems kind of ridiculous to me.

Would you rather be the NFL, where you have this huge TV audience, but there are also existential questions about whether the sport can exist?

If we’re just talking about pure profit, pure moneymaking, then yes, I think you would rather be the NFL. Now, do I want to morally be presiding over the NFL? That’s a different question. But as far as how entrenched they are in American culture and how much money they’re making and how much interest there is—I think it was over 15 million people watched the NFL draft. Yeah, they are at a starting position that is, I think, more secure than the NBA’s.

....

This season is a really challenging one to make any conclusions from, just because it’s so unusual. It’s games being played at a time they’ve never been played before in a world in which people’s lives have been, like, totally thrown into disarray.

But what does that have to do with the pre-pandemic drop?

You’re saying that there are a lot of small things that don’t matter, or that don’t explain the drop. Maybe if you add up a bunch of small things, that gets you some of the distance there. If you add up the fact that the league has this younger demographic of fans that’s going to be more predisposed to cord-cutting. If you add in the fact that we’re in a sort of generational shift in the NBA. If you add in the fact that a lot of the star power in the league is in the West. If you add in the fact that Zion Williamson was hurt all year. If you add in all of these other factors, maybe it doesn’t get you all the way up to 45 percent, but it gets you some distance of the way there.

.....

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:LeBron is the same guy who rebuked Daryl money calling out oppression in china ( protests) and LeBron is the same guy who directly rebuked him— his first words were for “financial reasons”. So it’s ok to look the other way cuz it’s not your race and you’re making big bucks? It’s a load of sht and intensely hypocritical— spin it anyway u want

Wow, where was this vigor when you supported a man who continued to call for the executions of black men who were proven innocent? You can focus on LeBron, but that still doesn't change the fact we have serious problems to fix in this "Utopia" we currently live in.

I’ve never said anything such— show me a remark like that— it does not exsist. I know my views aren’t perfect and I can be somewhat loud and even rude( although not intended) but I don’t call for the killings of people. Did I say that I felt the ya wouod need to potentially use nuclear weapons a couple of times — unfortunately I did but it was wrong. But wrong in that I don’t really want anyone to die from anything not that it was in favor of survival.

You didn't support Trump? Way after he said that insane sh!t about the Central Park 5?

I never said anything about supporting a killer of anything. And I promised I would t talk about that subject to the owner of this site and I am going to comply 100% to that. So please don’t go there.

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:LeBron is the same guy who rebuked Daryl money calling out oppression in china ( protests) and LeBron is the same guy who directly rebuked him— his first words were for “financial reasons”. So it’s ok to look the other way cuz it’s not your race and you’re making big bucks? It’s a load of sht and intensely hypocritical— spin it anyway u want

Wow, where was this vigor when you supported a man who continued to call for the executions of black men who were proven innocent? You can focus on LeBron, but that still doesn't change the fact we have serious problems to fix in this "Utopia" we currently live in.

I’ve never said anything such— show me a remark like that— it does not exsist. I know my views aren’t perfect and I can be somewhat loud and even rude( although not intended) but I don’t call for the killings of people. Did I say that I felt the ya wouod need to potentially use nuclear weapons a couple of times — unfortunately I did but it was wrong. But wrong in that I don’t really want anyone to die from anything not that it was in favor of survival.

You didn't support Trump? Way after he said that insane sh!t about the Central Park 5?

I never said anything about supporting a killer of anything. And I promised I would t talk about that subject to the owner of this site and I am going to comply 100% to that. So please don’t go there.

Ok. I won't go there then. Fact remains, you've never brought up your concern China and it's citizens until now. I agree, the NBA and LeBron punted big time on that issue. That doesn't change the fact that there's an issue here. This has turned into a political issue, but this is a civil rights issue. You call LeBron a hypocrite, but yet you continue to turn a blind eye to the atrocities that minorities and poor people deal with in THIS country. How can I take your sudden concern for the citizens of China seriously?

What are you talking about big? There is no f slavery in the US? These people who make Lebrons gear make .014 cents an hour. I support a higher minimum wage in the Us for every last citizen. I want everyone who lives in the Us to have the capability to live a good life. Again I’ll go back to this- any person born in the Us can become President — the most powerful position in the world. If you trickle that down there is great opportunity for every person to do great things. Look how far this country has come? You focus on the negative when there is a lot of positive.

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

BigDaddyG wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:LeBron is the same guy who rebuked Daryl money calling out oppression in china ( protests) and LeBron is the same guy who directly rebuked him— his first words were for “financial reasons”. So it’s ok to look the other way cuz it’s not your race and you’re making big bucks? It’s a load of sht and intensely hypocritical— spin it anyway u want

Wow, where was this vigor when you supported a man who continued to call for the executions of black men who were proven innocent? You can focus on LeBron, but that still doesn't change the fact we have serious problems to fix in this "Utopia" we currently live in.

I’ve never said anything such— show me a remark like that— it does not exsist. I know my views aren’t perfect and I can be somewhat loud and even rude( although not intended) but I don’t call for the killings of people. Did I say that I felt the ya wouod need to potentially use nuclear weapons a couple of times — unfortunately I did but it was wrong. But wrong in that I don’t really want anyone to die from anything not that it was in favor of survival.

You didn't support Trump? Way after he said that insane sh!t about the Central Park 5?

I never said anything about supporting a killer of anything. And I promised I would t talk about that subject to the owner of this site and I am going to comply 100% to that. So please don’t go there.

Ok. I won't go there then. Fact remains, you've never brought up your concern China and it's citizens until now. I agree, the NBA and LeBron punted big time on that issue. That doesn't change the fact that there's an issue here. This has turned into a political issue, but this is a civil rights issue. You call LeBron a hypocrite, but yet you continue to turn a blind eye to the atrocities that minorities and poor people deal with in THIS country. How can I take your sudden concern for the citizens of China seriously?

What are you talking about big? There is no f slavery in the US? These people who make Lebrons gear make .014 cents an hour. I support a higher minimum wage in the Us for every last citizen. I want everyone who lives in the Us to have the capability to live a good life. Again I’ll go back to this- any person born in the Us can become President — the most powerful position in the world. If you trickle that down there is great opportunity for every person to do great things. Look how far this country has come? You focus on the negative when there is a lot of positive.

I focus on the negative because I want us to do better.

Of course—I fully understand abd respect that. I always root for the good. Listen man. I do t want anyone to suffer for any reason. I hope this issue can go on the right path— we need to push for police reform together. I understand there are more issues but this would be a great start — it would be a great bonafide restart. I don’t give a sht about sports figures and entertainers — they aren’t regular people like me and you. My hope is for all regular people to get along.

BRIGGS wrote:

I’m not going to post video after video but there are dozens upon dozens of examples of white people being beat up killed bullied etc. by police. This video is exceptionally horrible. The cops get nothing. In the video it says the “cops were following correct procedures” any decent human can see that’s not true. The police system and rules are broken and archaic. A police officer has too much leeway to simply execute u. It is NOT any form of epidemic— roughly 1000 people get killed by cops a year but I think we all can agree the mentality of I’d say 40% of police in the US is predatory in nature. Read police sites they seem to refer human beings as animals they hunt. And while African Americans by a % basis might take the brunt all people can and do suffer via rogue police. It’s an issue for all people. I’m personally scared by the police— I’m no fan. Really who isn’t scared by the police? And it should not be that way

I’m no fan of the police in general either Briggs but 40% seems pretty harsh. Do 40% of them have any complaints at all?

Allanfan20 wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:

I’m not going to post video after video but there are dozens upon dozens of examples of white people being beat up killed bullied etc. by police. This video is exceptionally horrible. The cops get nothing. In the video it says the “cops were following correct procedures” any decent human can see that’s not true. The police system and rules are broken and archaic. A police officer has too much leeway to simply execute u. It is NOT any form of epidemic— roughly 1000 people get killed by cops a year but I think we all can agree the mentality of I’d say 40% of police in the US is predatory in nature. Read police sites they seem to refer human beings as animals they hunt. And while African Americans by a % basis might take the brunt all people can and do suffer via rogue police. It’s an issue for all people. I’m personally scared by the police— I’m no fan. Really who isn’t scared by the police? And it should not be that way

I’m no fan of the police in general either Briggs but 40% seems pretty harsh. Do 40% of them have any complaints at all?

I think it’s a mentality and it needs to be eradicated. Id say 40% of police have a disturbing attitude.Its not just a few bad apples. And this is not a put down of police— it’s the system