Jerry Colangelo Can’t See Darfur for the Trees while Silencing Kobe, Lebron, & Team USA
August 5, 2008
USA Team National Director Jerry Colangelo told USA team players in a June team meeting that “he believes that the Olympics shouldn’t be used as a political platform”according to ESPN’s Shelley Smith in this Outside the Lines report. And judging from these before-and-after June meeting statements by NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Lebron James on the ongoing genocide in Darfur, the message has been clearly received.
Kobe in May Public Service Announcement:“We have the power to unite people. If we can unite people who are willing to take a stand, miracles could happen. What do you stand for? In Darfur hundreds of thousands have been murdered, mutilated, families torn apart. Please take a stand with us. We have the power to save lives.”
Kobe after June Meeting: “Our focus is to play basketball. That’s what we’re there for. That’s what we do best. We’re not politicians or government officials.”
For his part, a much younger Lebron James has recently shown signs of a political awakening. This past week he publicly endorsed and financially supported Barack Obama’s campaign, and although he has handled the Darfur issue cautiously over the past year, he came out of his shell a bit in this May ESPN interview:
Lebron in May: “At the end of the day you are talking about human rights. People should understand that human rights and people’s lives are in jeopardy. We’re not talking about contracts here, we are not talking about money, we are talking about people’s lives being lost. That means a lot more to me than some money or contract…”
Lebron after June Meeting: “We want to keep basketball and politics separate… We are focused on getting a gold medal and not focused on politics…” Lebron later adds: “that situation will be taken care of and whatever happens, happens.”
Whatever happened to “human rights”, “people willing to take a stand”, and “the power to save lives”? A meeting with Jerry Colangelo is what happened. And quite possibly some marching orders from David Stern and pressures from Olympic sponsors happened. Either way, since that meeting the word “genocide” has been reduced to “politics”, Kobe and Lebron have been lobotomized, and the rest of Team USA have suddenly transformed into the Stepford Wives Club. Judge for yourself:
Dwayne Wade: “We’ll let the politics take care of itself. That is not for us to worry about.”
Deron Williams: “There is a time and a place for politics and right now is really not that time.”
Carmelo Anthony: “We’re here to play basketball and represent our country, and we let the government deal with the politics.”
Coach Mike Krzyzewski: “We look at the Olympics as sport — not a political forum.”
Yes, Coach K, often lauded as a great teacher in an NCAA land of unethical coaches, also got the memo — if he didn’t help write it himself.
In the ESPN Outside the Lines report Colangelo says: “We don’t put muzzles on our players. It’s up to them as individuals to respond however they care to”. Okay Jerry. And it is also up to them as individuals to reap the consequences of their actions. How much Colangelo spelled out these repercussions may not even matter. Just convening the meeting was enough. Any employee of any company who has ever been called into a team meeting where the big chief has expressed their “personal opinion” knows exactly what the deal is. Former Arizona Diamondbacks player Matt Williams once said of Colangelo: “He’s a powerful, powerful man … You can tell when he’s in a room even if you can’t see him. All you have to do is look at the way other people act.” By the way the USA players are now acting, one need not be a fly on that China meeting wall to get an idea of what was explicitly said or clearly implied.
But that is the most benign meeting interpretation. As Dave Zirin has thoroughly pointed out two years ago (hat tip: FanHouse), Colangelo — a deputy chair of the Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign in Arizona — has a long history of merging sports and “politics”: HIS politics. This includes: contributing to the private evangelical group called the Presidential Prayer Team; designating the Phoenix Suns’ contest against Minnesota Arizona Right-to-Life Day; and helping to launch a group along with other baseball executives and ex-players called Battin’ 1,000, the largest anti-choice student network in the country. So it probably comes as no surprise that Colangelo — and politically like-minded Coach K — brought in maimed and crippled Iraqi troops to speak to USA players (Really, read Zirin’s piece).
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In May, Lebron said: “We are all going to Beijing. It [Darfur] should be brought up and we should all have a game plan on it… as a unit… it should be all 12, 15 guys, the coaching staff, the whole board. We should all have a game plan on how to attack the situation.” Well, the game plan is now set by Colangelo and Coach K:
1st Quarter: Reduce “genocide” to an issue on par with, say, off-shore drilling.
2nd Quarter: Cut off the balls of team leaders Kobe and Lebron.
3rd Quarter: Have rest of team parrot “separation of sport and politics” line;
4th Quarter: Convince all youth looking up to players that it is more important to put a round ball in in a cylinder than attempt to end mass murder, rape, torture, or any other injustice.
Result: Win Gold Medal, bypass greatest lifetime opportunity to affect change, and let the likes of Colangelo and Coach K deal with all the grown up stuff.
Last month ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith wondered if any Olympic athlete would step up and use the Olympic spotlight for more important human rights purposes as Tommie Smith and John Carlos did 40 years ago. Today, it is far less likely that any such action will come from NBA players. This is despite the fact that Kobe Bryant and Lebron James have recently spoke about “the power to change lives” and “human rights”.
At this critical time where all-world athletes are finding their worldly voices, they have been clearly told to get back in their place. And while those athletes who willfully accept their “jock-only” status should not be immuned from criticism, it is time to fry some other fish. Too few media microphones, too few expectations, and too little condemnation is being thrown the way of hypocritical and self-centered multi-millionaire coaches and executives in leadership positions like Mike Krzyzewski and Jerry Colangelo. While many will continue to write stories about the “civic responsibility” of today’s athletes, it is also time to turn a clear and sharp focus on those who silence them.
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Media End Note: By far and away, ESPN’s very best TV show (Outside the Lines with Bob Ley) and website division (TrueHoop with Henry Abbott) have helped give this story some much needed legs. These two divisions seem to be the only ones that have some measure of independence in reporting stories that reflect poorly on the NBA as a league. (Case in point: TrueHoop was the only ESPN spot this week where it was reportedthat famed FBI agent Philip Scala reported his belief that Tim Donaghy was telling the truth about widespread NBA referee corruption”)
Related Links:
- Team USA’s Complicated Relationship With Human Rights (TrueHoop: Aug. 4, 2008)
- The Political Defanging of Team USA (Fanhouse: Aug. 4, 2008)
- Lebron James, Darfur, and Michael Wibon’s Perspective Lapse (SOMM: Aug. 1, 2008)
- A Ballers Experience in Darfur (Ira Newble) (Signal to Noise: May 20, 2008)
- Lebron Speaking Out on Darfur: (ESPN: May 16, 2008)
- Is That Darfur Letter a Slam Dunk? (TrueHoop: June 7, 2007)
- Troops and Hoops (The Nation: August 20, 2006)
Comments
27 Responses to “Jerry Colangelo Can’t See Darfur for the Trees while Silencing Kobe, Lebron, & Team USA”
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Modi, Good read. Can’t figure out why these players allowed Colangelo to snatch their backbones and stifle their voices. It’s not like any of these players run the risk of being whiteballed from the league.
Clearly this is one of those rare moments in a persons life when they have the world’s ear to address a topic that’s bigger than themself. In this case the opportunity to speak out against genocide.
I hold out hope that someone will take a principaled stance and speak up about China’s role in the genocide. It would be a sad day indeed if all just took their 40 million $$ and went quietly into the night.
I’m guessing that not only the above Colangelo, Coach K, and Stern were involved, but probably also some sponsors. Shoe companies have factories there and are trying to sell shoes to the Chinese. Unfortunately, with today’s athletes thinking of themselves as more of a brand than as a person, they’ve essentially castrated themselves if money is their #1 goal. Also, if a player speaks up in Beijing, Stern is going to make their life miserable.
This kowtowing is sad but no disappointing, when one considers the personalities and individual stakes involved. Cats like Kobe and Lebron can relatively say anything political, with repercussion mind you, but a sacrifice that would bring the whole illicit temple down on the pointed ears of Herr Stern.
They don’t/can’t/wont do so because of one thing and one thing only (I apologies to the sensitive ears)…”niggers are scared of revolution”.
They are a product of this society, in that they have seeded power over their souls to Colangello and Stern, Madison Avenue and the Caucasian house.
We will be sadder for it because we are still expecting 21st century entertainment whores to be vanguard of political and social change. The mad scientists of America Inc. have learned from the sixties and have vowed to water down the DNA chain of resistance in many sentient beings, much less the “trained” performing animals in the arena.
Kos…………….exactly.
Stern and Colangelo are just the tip of the iceburg. We are talking Mcdonalds, KFC, Nike, Reebok, microsoft and many other large corporation not only in america but all over the world. And lets not for get their pit bulls also known as the MSM. These corporation also have connections with big time politicians. Heck even bush will be at the game vs. China. Man if one of these dudes spoke out it would be the end of them. And everyone will have a hand in their demise, politicans, corporations, stern and colangelo.
The only way Kobe or Lebron can be turned into eunechs is if they hold the knife themselves. Does anyone really think that Jim Brown would let Jerry Freakin’ Colangelo contol him?
There is one person responsible for turning modern athletes into apolitical corporations and it’s Michael Jordan. Lebron and Kobe and the rest learned that you don’t become a “Global Icon” by actually being interesting or having opinions or trying to make the world a better place. You do it by selling underwear.
Anyway great post Modi. And believe if Philip Scala were to kick up enough dust with that NBA ref mess. His career would be over too.
And I still can’t see how Donaghy got 18 months or whatever he got.
kos and origin, thanks for bringing up the sponsors which are bigger than any single individual in this — even David Stern. Probably a missing piece in the article.
Myron, while I probably agree on Jim Brown, i honestly don’t know how many of those 1960’s politically-minded athletes would have come forward if they had as much to lose today. Maybe I’m wrong. This difference between MJ and Lebron and Kobe today is that at least the latter have shown the initial willingness to use their power. That is what makes it so frustrating. I really don’t know how colangelo gets off the hook…. okay, I do know…
Origin, Philip Scala’s career IS over, and i believe he is starting a private firm. If this guy could bust John Gotti, gambling referees should be easy — unless he gets killed by the mob first (for ANY case). This Donaghy thing is going to come back bigtime. Does anybody really believe that all those calls to Scott Foster were to wish him good luck before he refs games?
Modi,
The 1960’s athletes had a lot to lose. Ask John Carlos & Tommie Smith what did they lose. Ask Ali what did he lose for speaking out against the war in Vietnam. Ask Curt Flood what did he lose. Their losses relatively speaking ,were far greater. The modern day Black athlete has lost his connection to his soul. As W.E.B. would say these athletes have become marginal men, that lack a moral fabric and a foundation..
Peace & Blessings
MODI, great piece and I read those Zirin posts before so Colangelo and Coach K’s top-down style doesn’t surprise me. Those two get their marching orders from a higher authority somewhere above David Stern and just below God but not by much.
Forgive us, Sankofa, for still thinking to whom much is given, much is expected but when you see young people of color with access to the media no matter how limited it’s disheartening to see them more interested in branding themselves than standing as free and right thinking individuals. It wasn’t that long ago that King James was running around the projects in Akron and what about Kobe’s international education where he’s supposed to know what goes on past American shores? To each his own though because each man has to make peace with his soul and if these guys can’t take a stand, silent or otherwise, then get the hell out of the way and stand over in the dusty, dark corner of history with Avery Brundage, Billy Payne, and the leaders of Mexico in ‘68 who murdered protesters in the street rather than let them ‘embarass’ their country in the run-up to the Mexico City games.
Athletes I think would remain unbought and unbowed: Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Lee Evans, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Allen Iverson (yes, AI because he never bites his tongue when he has something to say).
A eunuch compelled to eat his own balls couldn’t have said it any better than Kobe, LBJ, Wade, Carmelo and the others.
MODI -
The players today actually have less to lose. When a man with $40M loses $30M he’s still up big. When a man making $65,000 gets WHITE - LISTED, he lives hand to mouth and depends on the kindness of friends, family and persons of good will OR he goes to Africa like Kermit Washington and refashions the world in his own image.
These BAN’s (figure it out) have absolutely nothing to lose. Each of them - TODAY - has enough material wealth to sustain themselves and their immediate posterity well into the 23rd century.
No excuses. The men and women in the 60’s were cut from a different cloth. And, not everyone from that era took the same stand. People wanted Jim Brown to shut the fuck up too. He simply told them he’d bust their ass if they pressed the issue - and they knew he would — and THEY shut the fuck up. All the cats are straight bitches.
HarveyDent, i over stand your sentiment very much…as well as the other posters. My reaction is and have always been, stand up for something or get the fuck out of the way. Maybe because I am somewhat older than some of you cats, maybe I am trying to live my life as if I only have one year left. Either way, i realy have a short fuse for bullshitters…and I am just as hard on myself for screwing up when I know better. Do I dwell on it? NO! But it doesn’t mean I can’t strive for better!
Many of these entertainers come from an impoverished environment. I don’t mean lacking in money, I mean the mental state they’ve been conditioned to exist in by White Supremacy. This forces them to always see themselves as apart from the collective, apart from the elders, apart from the lessons of the past. Many have chosen to Isolate themselves except for some yes men to sooth their fragile egos.
While we are correct in calling them on the carpet, we need to devise a plan to counter the castration of our entertainment Icon. Maybe a real life drop squad is needed. Maybe…though right know the forces of evil have the upper hand.
Statesman and Temple: Fair enough. I may have been a bit reckless, and was looking at it from strictly a monetary dollar perspective across the board — which has been pointed out — is still flawed even if it is technically correct.
Having said that, it bothers me that the players all get all the media questions, yet Colangelo and Coach K basically get a free pass.
This is just one of the reasons why we rail against Black journalists who pink sock and flip flop their diseased wares–switching like runny nosed half nekked chicks–all the way to the top in the name of get that money assimilation. These cowards help sustain and also propagate the current climate of athletes whom can’t seem to muster the soul power to stand up to their employers, let alone the world.
In saying that, when are athletes going to hold themselves accountable for disgustingly turning the blind black eye time and time again to the powers that be while the sponsors give it to them royally with no vaseline right in front of our faces?
Why in the hell should we criticize them for Darfur when these mothafuckas won’t address bullshit happening in their own hood?
Darfur is indeed a tragedy, but what about America?
I’m sick of hearing about Darfur and that’s no disrespect to the dead or dying.
Some of these cats hate when I surface in the locker room and that’s when my voice gets the loudest.
I challenge LeBron every time I speak with him for he’s not 15 anymore.
Mike was indeed the coward model all of these cats choose to emulate…so when they give up half to their exes…they’ll still come off. I had a long conversation with The Captain at the Finals and while he rightfully said some just aren’t equipped (so we should lower our expectations), he was quick to call out one MJJ.
In this day and age my brothas, there are no excuses. Either put up or shut up.
I gotta offer a couple of words of criticism Modi. You know damn well D is gonna be hot you linked to both Truehoop and Fanhouse in the same piece.
Abbott wrote a DWil hit piece and FanHouse…well that’s just self explanatory.
It might be immaterial to some, but you should know better.
It occurred to me that many of the teams that will be competing in the Olympics will have at least one NBA player on them. I wonder if any of them will have the bravery to speak out. It would be the ultimate irony if Dirk Nowitzki, Andrew Bogut, Andrei Kirilenko, or someone competing for another team spoke out about human rights abuses and everyone from the U.S. team remained silent.
Mizzo, thanks for the post and all criticism coming from you is always deeply respected.
“Darfur is indeed a tragedy, but what about America?”
99% of the time, I would be in full agreement with you on this concept, but for me genocide is that one clear exception to the rule. It usually only happens only once or twice on earth in any given decade and when it does, I believe that every other issue under the sun becomes secondary. There is nothing comparable to genocide — not even war where death is often collateral damage, but not the goal in and of itself. Personally, I can’t try and fight racism at home without attacking its very worst manifestation whether it rears its head in rwanda, yugoslavia, Cambodia, Germany, Nanking, or whereever. Mizzo, please note that I am merely explaining my own personal value system and not trying to say that my moral compass is any better than yours. It is just what makes sense to me.
Having said all that, if Kobe or Lebron didn’t speak on Darfur, but sounded the horn on our pathetic educational and criminal justice system, then that would obviously be of great value.
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On the TrueHoop and Fanhouse links, I should probably explain my personal philosophy. When D-Wil rightfully ripped FanHouse a new one recently, I was the very first one handing out an “amen”. In fact, in most of D-Wil’s harshest criticisms to blogs you can see my support. Why? Because I usually agree with him. And even before I joined SOMM, there was no writer who I linked more to than D-Wil.
But at the end of the day, I’m also fighting the common misconception that I am “anti-mainstream”, “anti-big blogs”, or anti-anybody. I am “pro-good journalism”, “pro-anti-racist & anti-sexist journalism”, and “pro-fair journalism no matter where the source. I’m all too aware that there are thousands of people who will never drop by SOMM, The Starting Five, or The Edge of Sports to get some of the real shit. If I rip on mainstream and sometimes “big blogs”, it is because they are putting out god-awful shit. But if good important shit is being put out in between the cracks, then I have to applaud it and just hope that more of it continues. Negative criticism in isolation loses its power, and I have recently made a commitment to myself to balance out my criticism with some more praise. (note: I do refrain from criticizing some writers and blogs for “pick-your-battle” reasons)
We can all agree that Fanhouse suck balls, but it is my desire that they do better and post more pieces like the one that they did about “The Political De-Fanging of Team USA” (note: although, I would have framed it as a human rights issue, and not a political one). They simply have too many caveman readers who could be a tad enlightened by that article. For me, the business of promoting positive journalism trumps the personal — whether D-Wil OR myself.
A personal note about Abbott: Firstly, I thanked him for unexpectedly giving my Steve Nash/White Privilege piece some legs last year, but shortly after that, he objected to a harsh piece I wrote about one of his ESPN colleagues and personal friend. Abbott told me so, and subsequently never ever linked to another article of mine (10 months now). Was Abbott being petty/personal with me? It sure seems that way from my seat. It is hard to imagine that none of my shit was worthy considering some of the crap he has linked to. Also, his hitpiece on D-Wil was straight petty bullshit. But honestly, in my way of thinking, it’s not about me, D-Wil, or blog politics.
It is about doing whatever small thing I can to raise the field of journalism. And Abbott is ESPN’s most valuable NBA writer — because he is the only guy who seems to have a shred of independence from the NBA machine and the ESPN-NBA partnership (it is probably in his contract). He has consistently written about the Donaghy story where others wouldn’t, he has investigated poorly reffed games where others wouldn’t, he has been loud on Katrina, he routinely posts links of positive athlete accomplishments, and most relevantly he has been ESPN’s only consistent voice on Darfur. ESPN is better with him than without him. And to me that trumps all the other personal this and that.
If Jason Whitlock, Mike Lupica, Skip Bayless, Mitch Albom and Will Leitch all wanted me to join their cause tomorrow to end genocide in Darfur… or eliminate crack-cocaine sentencing disparities… or promote equal funding for schools then I will link to every single one of their articles. Business never personal. .
Finally, I am pretty sure that something I wrote pissed off D-Wil at one time or another, that I could have handled some situations better, that I could have been less careless here and there with my words/links, but I trust that he knows that I am operating out of good faith with a larger picture in mind. At the end of the day, he know how much I respect what he does and how he does it (as I do you).
Anyway, I belabored the freakin’ hell out of this overall point, so please don’t interpret it as an insult to your intelligence, but I just wanted to be clearer on my blog philosophy for any other regulars who I may have sent mixed signals with my personal writing approach.
Modi duly noted but this blog will never be what is considered mainstream and thusly shouldn’t be scathed by it.
If that was the case, we’d all be rich and taking drunk ass pictures in NY.
Abbott has linked to me on the regular on slam as well as tsf, but until I get a question answered from him regarding D’s hit piece, I can’t post a very compelling interview with him.
To do so would be a slap in D’s face.
I gotta stick up for Chris Broussard as well ’cause that’s my dude.
Let me make something clear. The Darfur point I made was in reference to shit th going over here that never gets addressed…i.e. the judicial, prison and fucked up educational systems.
Any money spent abroad should be reserved for our own best natural resource, the children.
We are killing our own if we don’t.
Of course I want to end genocide, for the leaders, intellectual phenoms, commoners as well as the revolutionaries potentially lost whom might have changed the world is shocking.
I’m just saying we need desperately to get it together over here.
No disrespect to the dead or the dying because obviously they need help ASAP.
Could it be that Kobe and LeBron changed their tune because they would have had their visa’s revoked and sent back to the U.S.? No matter how upstanding the gesture that would probably be spun as letting the team down.
On his website, Abbott bascially calls the idea of Lebron and Kobe leaving the NBA for mega dollars in Europe unpatriotic. Oh, he uses a bunch of caveats, but that’s what he says. Check this passage:
have no problem with people working overseas. Nor do I have a problem with people who create a lot of value making a lot of money. And I love Europe. I don’t begrudge Bryant, James, or anyone else taking the best offer they can find, no matter where that may be. (If they paid bloggers $50 million a year in Europe, I have to think I’d be teaching my kids to speak Greek right now.)
Just a little weird to be getting the red, white, and blue memo from the same exact players who are also reportedly willing to ditch that red, white, and blue for some green.
Now, the last time I checked, Lebron and Kobe would be ditching the NBA, not America. The NBA is not red, white and blue. The NBA is green. It’s a business that makes money. This pissed me off.
T3 says
“No excuses. The men and women in the 60’s were cut from a different cloth. And, not everyone from that era took the same stand. People wanted Jim Brown to shut the fuck up too. He simply told them he’d bust their ass if they pressed the issue - and they knew he would — and THEY shut the fuck up. All the cats are straight bitches.”
I gotta agree, even my boy Kobe.
As everyone has said, the black athletes from the 60s and 70s had plenty to lose - namely their lives. It’s actually somewhat amazing that no one ever fired a shot at Ali considering his association with NOI, his refusal to enlist, and his general cockiness and outspokenness.
I actually have a little hope in Greg Oden. I mean, endorsing Obama is hardly a revolutionary stand, but Jordan waited until 2000 to make any kind of political statement….and that was endorsing Bill Bradley….in a primary.
Keyboard is wet…my keyboard is wet. Tears of anger, sadness or frustration? Don’t know. But…my keyboard is wet. My keyboard is wet.
Nah Myron,
Jordan made his first political stand in 1990.
grace
That ain’t good
mizzo, I very much like Chris Broussard as I do Ric Bucher who both write primarily for ESPN’s magazine. The quality, stories, and depth of The MAG is often superior to the stuff from the website NBA analysts. But I guess what I am saying is that my commentary is not so much about someone’s individual writing prowess is so much as what they are ALLOWED to write by ESPN. With that lens, I have noticed that Abbott has a far longer ESPN leash than anyone else.
If Rob King or whoever tells the NBA website crew “don’t touch this Philip Scala story on Tim Donaghy”, they all have to listen. But Abbott could touch it because he probably has some kind of independence clause in his contract. This is less about Abbott the person and more about the machinations of the ESPN machine. And when I link to anyone, I am linking to the messages, not the messenger. If other sports writers bang this Darfur drum, I’ll link to them too.
About Darfur, I understand your point, and i guess I am saying that I don’t see dealing with Darfur and getting our shit together over here as a mutually exclusive proposition. I had a chance to have a brief interview with Darfur activist John Prendergast last year, and he said: “if America spent one quarter of 1% as much effort diplomatically as it does with regard to Iraq, we can end the genocide in Darfur overnight”. Now I know the shit is quite complicated, but lets get “all of the above” done… or die trying…
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Myron, I’m also encouraged by Oden. He just turned 20 when he endorsed Obama. When I was 20 years old, I was… oh I’ll spare you!
I left a long rant on this topic over at TSF. I will not repeat the details here.
Suffice it to say that these are NBA guys, whereas I’m a Tommie Smith and John Carlos type of cat.
This is the very reason why I never intended on rooting for Team USA in the first place.
I’m deeply disappointed in these alleged Black men. Death to all willfull slaves, and go Angola!
note: although, I would have framed it as a human rights issue, and not a political one
I’m with Modi on this one speaking out on a genocide, Iraq, Afghanistan, whatever… tax cuts is a political issue, killing people is a moral issue. Unfortunately I think the extent of America’s capabilities these days is punishing the alleged barbers and chauffeurs of terrorists, I highly doubt we could stop a genocide.