Happy New Year!

Here's to keeping with the process, taking advantage of each day and the moments therein, and being better than I was yesterday.

The NBA and Globalism

With the NBA lockout looming, Deron Williams is considering playing in Turkey. Deron's move presents an interesting shift in the latest traditional flow of players, which usual draws top players into the NBA from other nations' professional leagues. If it comes to pass, and insider opinion is doubtful that it will, the move of players from the NBA to other nations will be interesting to watch. It's not that players from the US haven't gone to Europe to play, but it has usually been the case that players who do go to Europe are usually trying to work up to the NBA. If this precedent holds, there is potential for a more even distribution of talent across the globe. As well, the claim of "World Champion" might have to be backed up by challenging teams beyond North America. Who knows, the next GOAT might be ballin' in Istanbul right now.

Tropes of the BFM

Just came across this article in the NYT. The out and out attempt by the AZ state government to ban Latino studies classes is news enough. What's even more interesting, though, is the use of Civil Rights imagery by school superintendent Tom Horne to depict the Latino curriculum as segregationist. This is one example of how the tropes of the BFM shift in meaning across time. I hope to be able to place some attention to the use of Civil Rights imagery by people and groups that are not directly connected to the movement. What does it mean when these images get appropriated, by anybody, for the purpose of addressing issues of race in contemporary contexts?

My Boys

Noah and James,

This is just a quick note to let you both know I love you so much. I rant, press, prod, and repeat myself to you ad infinitum because a) that's what my father did to me, and b) I think it will help you understand a bit more about the world and how to be in it. Just know that I only want the best for you, and I will always be there, whether you want me to be or not.

Love,

Your Father

Doing my part for local history

A while back, a colleague from the U asked me to do a piece for The Public i, a publication of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Here it is. For the most part, the article draws on archival research that I've conducted on the Douglass Center, a sort of epicenter for the North End in CU. Honestly, I feel really good about being able have some of my research available to the public. And if I can get some feedback on the work, then all the better.

bodies, minds, race, sport

I had the chance to watch a lot of basketball over the break. Whether a blessing or a curse to my productivity, I've nonetheless started to process this reformed relationship with hoops. For the most part espn360.com has been a great find. In addition to offering access to live and replay action, during halftime the website offers special reports in an effort to get viewers to sit through x number of iterations of the same 15 second commercial. The reports are not all fluff, though. In particular, the "Outside the Lines" reports take up topics that are in the least provocative, and, when considered from a more critical perspective of raced bodies, downright intriguing. This particular episode reveals the individual saga of Kyle McAlerney and connects his trials to the declining numbers of white American players in the NBA. That is, white non-American players are classified in the data as international, a category whose numbers have since surpassed that of white Americans. Note that there is no separate category for players of African descent who are not American Born. Implicitly, then, the research offers a simultaneous denial and claim of a white/European diaspora, without acknowledging that people of African descent also constitute a diaspora.

Beyond that, though, there is no mention in the piece of racial (or national) representation in ownership or management. I don't have the facts at the ready, but two questions come to mind. Considering the NBA as a corporate whole, what percentage of people of African descent, as compared to American or international whites, actually earn some form of compensation (from residuals to a living wage or the like) from the corporation? Similarly, how does the money break down? I know there is more than occasional controversy over the pay players receive for their part in the whole institution. But if they can get those numbers, what to GMs make? Team Owners? Controllers of licensing agreements? Agents? I could go on. Considered from this perspective, the blackness on the court should draw more attention to the racial disparity in other aspects of the corporate entity. The fact is that there are only 450 roster spots. Even if black players held every single one of those jobs, they would still be a numerical minority in the NBA and related corporations. That said, Kyle might have better odds perusing a job in the front office.

Relatedly, I was forwarded this story. Seems that in order to be eligible to play in this league, players must be American born and have both parents be "of the Caucasian race." So only white and most likely male players will constitute all the players on the roster. Hmm. I wonder if there is room in the front office?

on strike

Here's to an intense, consolidated, fruitful, and hopefully short strike. It's important to be reminded of the role of labor, especially from my position as a burgeoning academic. Theory and research, while important, are indelibly linked to practice. Seems that the expression of dissent is coming back into vogue-evidence of a distancing from the "with us or against us" rhetoric of the past several years.

Here's to rights and responsibilities