In comparison to other sports leagues, the NBA just “gets it.” Not speaking of league leadership in general, but in terms of having more leading strong influential figures, the NBA is way more woke. College football and baseball just have too much of an old guard, stuffed shirt vibe.
The NFL has some progressive elements, but the game always has, and always will be, inter-twined with over-the-top jingoism and the military-industrial complex. There are some sharp, dissenting minds in the college basketball world, but unfortunately the NCAA cartel curtails their expression too often.
It all starts with Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, who has consistently taken Donald Trump on. Cuban, another attention starved, loquacious billionaire famous for a reality show franchise centered around business, may or may not be gearing up for the start of a tremendous political career.
Cuban went on Meet the Press in May, and expressed many of his political views, including:
Why he’s a proponent of Obamacare: “Really, to me, what it’s accomplished, I have a saying that I live by in a lot of my thinking. It’s called the risk doesn’t lead the systems.”
On student debt: “My solution has been put a limit on the amount of money that a family can borrow per student. If you limit that to, say, $30,000 in total, then the easy money is gone for colleges and tuition will drop like a rock, no ifs, ands or buts about it.“
On Trump’s temperament: “I just don’t see evidence that he wants to change. I think he’s trying to do what he thinks is the right thing right now. But there’s just so much coming at him at once, he’s looking for shortcuts.”
Read the rest of it over at this link.
Cuban has said repeatedly that he is not running for President in 2020, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation. Bovada still has him at 100-1 to win the presidency in 2020. The NBA was also the first league in which we saw openly gay player suit up and participate. Jason Collins saw actual minutes in a real regular season game.
Michael Sam became the first openly gay player after drafted into the NFL, but the league still hasn’t seen an out homosexual play a down in the league as of yet. The NBA also took the strongest stance against North Carolina’s anti-LGBTQ ‘bathroom law’, moving the NBA All-Star game from the state to New Orleans.
Remember that when the NBA showcase event tips off in 20 days.
The day after the presidential election, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich absolutely lambasted Donald Trump. Pop eviscerated Trump for the xenophobic, misogynist, racist, offensive and immature campaign conducted by the then President-Elect.
More figures from the NBA have consistently been calling Trump out. Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr pointed out the crude, low-brow direction that Trump took the race for the presidency.
That was back in November, Kerr spoke out against the Muslim Ban today. Have a look:
Steve Kerr, whose father was assassinated by Hezbollah while he was president of the American University of Beirut, responds to #MuslimBan pic.twitter.com/KZr39ivecG
— Omar Ghabra (@omarghabra) January 30, 2017
Toronto Raptors star Kyle Lowry called the Muslim “bull shit,” when asked if he wanted to opine again minus the swearing, he said no. Take a look at the video below:
Raptors star on Muslim ban: "I think it's bullshit." Reporter: Wanna try that again without swearing? Lowry: Nope. https://t.co/XewssEdg4C
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 30, 2017
Detroit Pistons Coach Stan Van Gundy highlighted the hypocrisy of the “morals” and “values” based voters who cast their vote for Trump. Jabari Parker and Joel Embiid expressed the serious concern they had for the direction of the country.
Gregg Popovich verbally destroyed Trump again this past weekend, pointing out the new POTUS’ thin-skinned narcissism and immaturity, among his many alarming defects.
After the Women’s March was a resounding success (even more so than even the most optimistic march organizer could have imagined) the NBA living legend articulated how pleased he was with the display of zeal and activism conveyed by the American citizenry.
Dwyane Wade encouraged more athlete social activism at Chicago Bulls Media Day, and on Martin Luther King weekend addressed the United Center crowd to give an important message about the lessons and teachings of Dr. King, and how they apply today.
Truly, America is more activated and engaged, more woke, than most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Every single bit of that resistance and more is needed right now, when you consider what we’re up against.
The opposite of Woke: The Alt-Right
Prior to the Inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, not many people knew who Richard Spencer was. On the streets of the nation’s capital, Spencer was in the middle of explaining what Pepe the Frog is, and the symbol’s meaning, when he got punched in the face.
The founder of an Alt-Right website with a URL that we will not name and definitely not link, Spencer and the video of his getting clocked has been going crazy viral for days, with no signs of stopping.
Have a look:
I made one of those Richard Spencer videos. pic.twitter.com/ToudvGAPhW
— don (@donswaynos) January 21, 2017
Here’s how the Southern Poverty Law Center defines the Alternative-Right or Alt-Right:
set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that “white identity” is under attack by multicultural forces using “political correctness” and “social justice” to undermine white people and “their” civilization.
Characterized by heavy use of social media and online memes, Alt-Righters eschew “establishment” conservatism, skew young, and embrace white ethno-nationalism as a fundamental value.
Basically, Alt-Right is the corporate sounding umbrella term under which white nationalists (that term itself a euphemism for white supremacists) reside. It’s basically Alt-Reich. Believers in this ideology basically have many of the same beliefs as Neo-Nazis, and they have enlisted Pepe the Frog as their mascot.
This is the KKK or Ku Klux Klan for the social media age, with Pepe and frog emojis now the burning cross and swastika of 2016-17.
As explained by The Daily Beast:
above his smirk, the phrase “SKIN HEAD” and a swastika; over his left eyelid, “14,” the numeric shorthand for “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”; and over his right eyelid, “88,” which stands for “Heil Hitler.”
Pretty disgusting and offensive, and these piles of human fecal matter are disturbingly now feeling emboldened due to the electoral college constitutionally placing Donald J. Trump in the presidency.
In other words, they don’t feel like they need to hide their racism and bigotry any more.
We need to show the Alt-Right that they are not accepted, and that their ways will not be mainstreamed.
We have to show them that hatred is not “a political position” and bigotry never a “political stance.” He must humiliate Neo-Nazism and that’s where this Twitter account Alt-Right Getting @PunchedToMusic comes in.
We need to make these people feel shame again, and let’s have a good laugh at the same time.
https://twitter.com/PunchedToMusic/status/823454143196971008
https://twitter.com/PunchedToMusic/status/823607514470039552
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, Bold and the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, appears regularly as a guest on CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN 1620 The Zone.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube