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Hey J.J. Redick, your budding ESPN broadcasting career may end fast if you’re not careful.
You’ve been speaking out forcefully about racial issues in the NBA in recent days, and you’re coming across as angry and pretentious. You talk and cop an attitude like “I went to Duke and am smarter than the rest of you guys, and I know more about basketball than the rest of you. I can research and formulate a solid argument. I have better critical thinking skills. So listen to me. I know what I’m talking about.”
Your intellectual arrogance doesn’t sit well with anyone.
I bring this up because of the candid racial debates you, a white man, have been fully engaging in on TV with ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins, who is black.
Perkins set aflame the sports world recently when he said Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic will get his get third-straight NBA Most Valuable Player Award this year because he’s white – not necessarily because the most deserving. Perkins said most sportswriters who vote for the MVP are white and will be biased to vote for a white player.
You popped back with statistics that make a strong case Jokic, who is white, deserves the award. You’re not backing down. You keep digging in and telling Perkins and ESPN viewers and listeners on your podcast that Jokic has world-class statistics that outshine everyone else.
But it doesn’t matter what you say. Your arguments won’t matter. This isn’t about logic. It’s about deep emotions. Emotional debates don’t pivot on persuasive facts and cogent thinking. They boil down to visceral feelings.
This is about Perkins believing a black player, Joel Embiid, deserves the MVP more than Jokic and he wants to see that happen. There’s a good chance it will happen.
Yet if Jokic wins, this debate will continue and the NBA will boil over with these questions: Did Jokic deserve the MVP? Did he win because he’s white? Didn’t Embiid have a better season?
The pressure Perkins is now applying to NBA sportswriters to vote for Embiid will likely sway more votes to the Philadelphia 76er superstar.
The truth is Embiid is, arguably, just as deserving of the award as Jokic is. The vote will be close. Both players are posting statistically comparable overall numbers and are dominant in driving their teams to winning seasons.
But J.J., the more you keep arguing with Perkins, the more likely you are to raise the racial issue in the MVP voting. You better think twice before wrestling with Perkins again. It’s not making you look good; you look angry and too self-assured in your brain power.
You went to one of America’s most privileged universities with some of the most intellectually arrogant people on Earth. You come across like you think you know more than others. You may or may not. But in this situation, you’re embroiled in a losing battle you cannot win.
You’re gaining national attention stepping into this hot mess, and that may boost your podcast audience numbers for a while. But at what cost? I believe you’re wading into waters too deep to escape.
This is concerning because I admire what you’ve done as a basketball player. You worked hard at your craft to become National Player of the Year at Duke. That took sacrifice and sweat.
Equally impressive was what you accomplished in the NBA. After sitting on the bench your first few years, you worked to improve and ended up having a solid NBA career.
You’re a worker. You’re passionate. You’re ambitious. You want to be an insightful, well-prepared basketball analyst. But you also come across as arrogant, like a know-it-all elitist. That turns people off including me.
In this MVP debate, you’re going to lose not only the argument but possibly the respect of many fans. If you’re not careful, you may get canned from your ESPN gig and be labeled a racist the rest of your life. Nothing less than your reputation and livelihood are at stake.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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