Nicholas
Brown
9/8/14
ENG
214
History of NBA Unification
Is
The NBA A Racist League?
The National Basketball Association (NBA),
is proven to be the most dominate professional
basketball league
in the world. Our Olympic record is 130-5, and our record in the FIBA world
games is 105-27, which is
the best record of all the countries in the world. However, the impact the
comments made by Donald
Sterling about African Americans, and the new comments surfacing
from Atlanta
Hawks general manger Danny
Ferry and owner Bruce Levenson towards African
Americans, the NBA is deemed to
be a racist
league. Although these comments had stained the
integrity of the NBA, the
league will always be the most
unified and popular sport in the world. Due
to the leadership of African
American men,basketball
has been revolutionized, and it has changed
the way we communicate with people
around the world.
The development of basketball becoming a
worldwide recognized sport, began with a defeat.
During the 1988
Summer Olympic Games, the USA men basketball team lost in the semifinal game
to
the Soviet Union. A
controversial game due to the suspect officiating, but an overall score 82-76
in favor of the Soviet
Union. After this loss David Stern (former NBA Commissioner) decided it was
time to take the Olympic
games more serious. In all the years before the USA would send off
collegiate
athletes to play in the Olympics.
However, after we lost in 1988, USA decided they would
invite our professional
NBA stars to
participate. In 1992, the Dream Team was
formed.
The Dream Team was a
combination of the most athletic, skilled, and glorified men in the world.
Including
the two figureheads of the NBA in the 80's, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, they were also
leading scoring and steals by the most identified basketball player of all time in
Michael Jordan. In
total the team
would have 12 hall of famers play for team USA. It is still, to this day, considered
the
greatest basketball
team ever assembled. However, the impact they had in Barcelona that year, was
the beginning of a new
era for the NBA, and basketball throughout the world.
The Dream Team defeated every team in the
Olympics on average by 30 points. But it wasn't
the victory that the US is most proud of, it
was the global expansion of NBA players. While
the
Dream Team was deemed as Gods in the basketball universe, they could not have
predicted the
effect
they would have on foreign basketball players joining the NBA. Players such as Manu
Ginobili, Dirk Nowitki, Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, and the list goes on. These were
basketball players
who said
they were inspired to play basketball because of the Dream Team. As more
foreign
basketball players from all
countries began to join the NBA, the world recognized the acceptance of
all
people by the NBA. This not
only started to springboard the game of basketball into new
horizons, but into
events all over the world.
Our NBA stars have also made huge contributions to
what is now a globalized
sport.
Although,
the racist comments made by owners have made people skeptical about the league,
no
one can deny
the unification of all people due to the NBA. Athletes in the NBA, after are idolized
by people around
the world. The racist comments made by owners and general managers in the
league
are a reflection
of them as men, not the NBA. The most notified sports player of all time,
Michael Jordan
is an African American , he began the globalized perception of NBA superstars.
Glorified for his talents
on the court, the love that people had for him stretched around the world.
The Jordan apparel to this day
sells more in China than in any other country in the world. This lead
to other African
American athletes
in the 90's such as Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Patrick
Ewing, and Karl
Malone who became globalized
superstars as well. due to the ties the NBA has
oversees, today's superstar athletes
such as Dwayne
Wade, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Kevin
Durant etc... (all African American) are
now recognized
by all industrialized countries that
participate in the sport of basketball.
The NBA has not only unified the sport of basketball, but it has unified people of all races. It is
unfortunate that the ignorant beliefs of a few people, represent the idea of the NBA. However, the
NBA would not be what it is today without African Americans. Growing up and playing the sport,
diversity was common. This created the perception that people from all races, can have a common
interest. I believe people in the basketball community have had similar experiences and have a
common outlook. Overall, the global influence the NBA has had on the sport of basketball is
unquestioned, and so should its influence of African Americans on the sport of basketball.
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