Asking For It

On the potential of an age limit to enter the NBA:

"In the last two or three years, the rookie of the year has been a high school player. There were seven high school players in the All-Star Game, so why we even talking an age limit? As a black guy, you kind of think [race is] the reason why it's coming up.

You don't hear about it in baseball or hockey. To say you have to be 20, 21 to get in the league, it's unconstitutional. If I can go to the U.S. Army and fight the war at 18 why can't you play basketball for 48 minutes?"

- Jermaine O'Neal, forward, Indiana Pacers

"But we live in America. Home of the free, land of opportunity. A country where they want to shift the age limit for someone to be able to make millions, but not the age limit to be able to die for it.

And just because the overwhelming majority of the people the new rule would affect are of one color ... well, in America, what's racist about that?"

- Scoop Jackson, ESPN Page 2


I agree with Jermaine and Scoop.

All of a sudden asking questions has made everyone nervous. People roll their eyes whenever issues of race are brought up like:

Didn't we solve that problem? Like, didn't we have get rid of slavery and have civil rights marches and all that?

Didn't OJ get off?

Just because you see a Black rapper on Tv doesn't mean Blacks are all of a sudden wealthy. (as Chris Rock said the men who write the checks are wealthy) In fact, it shows that, for many young Black men, the only legal way out of poverty is through music or sports.

Those of us who live relatively comfortable lives might tell these kids to go to college without actually picturing ourselves in their shoes, without contemplating what's considered being successful in America.

Images of bling-bling on TV aren't put there by Blacks.

Teenagers aren't being drafted into the NBA by Blacks.

The same people who complain that things need to be changed are the ones who started it and still benefit from it.

Does that make sense?

Don't ask me.

-CT

Full articles: "Why Can't O'Neal ask questions?" http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/050414

"Stern wants NBA age limit raised to 20"http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2035132