Vince Carter shoots during the men's semi-final game against Lithuania.

The Bottoms Line:

No Love for Black Team USA

By Tommy Bottoms
Special to SeeingBlack.com

Talk about the Black sports! Click here.

What's up Fam?...Another week, another paycheck...for those of you who actually get a check. I know that some of you are almost ready to pull out the ski mask and gloves since the "gub ment" decided to take away overtime.

For those of you who still can afford cable, did anyone pay attention to the USA Men's Olympic Basketball Team? These guys really got their tails kicked over there in Greece! The NBA star's weaknesses were really being exposed over there. They can't shoot the "three", they don't play defense, and they have not embraced the concept of playing as a team. Now, in Team USA's defense, they are playing against international teams that have been playing together for 10-12 years, and Team USA has only had a couple of weeks to gel as a team. The reality of the whole situation is that the rest of the world has caught up to American basketball, and we are no longer the best in the world. I mean, we still have the best athletes, but not the best ball players. I can live with that.

But what really upsets me is how a lot of these media outlets are encouraging people to root AGAINST the American team winning the gold. In the post 9/11, ultra-patriotic, flag waving times we live in, it is completely unbelievable that someone can get a away with saying anything anti-America. Could you imagine if Jesse Jackson was standing in front of a camera encouraging people to root against the USA Women's Water Polo Team? The media would crucify him!! These sports talk radio show jockey's are quick to say that they are extremely upset that these mega-rich, celebrity athletes can't run away with the gold medal.

Ladies and gentlemen, please believe that "rich athlete" is a code word for "rich nigger". The underlying anger comes from the fact that this all Black team is representing America in the Olympics...and these "rich niggers" can't even beat Lithuania. If you get the chance to listen to some sports talk radio, or even ESPN commentators every time they get to breaking down Team USA the first thing they do is start giving a list of White players that should be there on the team.

Even in the NBA, a lot of the white guys are in the league because the fans demand to have a few token white guys on the team, because the stands are 95 percent White. Basically, I say all of this just to say, pay close attention to what people are saying and what they really mean. Ironically, as I am writing this, I am watching a commercial on ESPN for Argent, which is an investment company. The voice-over on the commercial states: "A lot of people believe that athletes shouldn't be role models." The commercial then begins to show all of these different "athletes"...a swimmer, a golfer, a diver, and a race-car driver. The voice-over comes back in and states: "Maybe you're looking at the wrong athletes."

I will allow you to draw your own conclusion on what this commercial for Argent is really saying.

Tommy Bottoms is a spoken word artist who writes and distributes a column on the internet.

— September 10, 2004

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