When
Latrell Sprewell, an African-American professional basketball
player, put his hands
around the throat of his coach P.J. Carlesimo, he was given
the harshest sentence in the history of the NBA. Although an
arbitrator
reduced his suspension from one year to seven months, Sprewell's
fine of 6.4 million dollars was the largest in the history
of professional sports. The public and media reaction was swift
and almost uniformly condemnatory. As Peter H. King wrote
in
the Los Angeles Times, "One might think he had stabbed
his wife to death."
He
was called pathological, a sociopath, America’s worst
nightmare. When he sued the NBA for lost income, he was compared
to Charles Manson!
Sprewell
became a symbol first for the perceived "thug" mentality of the NBA
(which term was somehow only applied to Black players), then
for "violent Black male athletes" and by extension
for all Black violence. Lurid headlines read: "Open Season:
Patients Now Running the NBA Asylum", "Sprewell Story
an Analogy for World Gone Mad", "Gang Chic as a Marketing
Tool".
Consider
the short, kinky saga of Marv Albert. The Knicks’ broadcaster (originator
of the ubiquitous "Yess!"), was accused of biting the
back of his ex-lover and forcing her to perform oral sex. He
was charged with forcible sodomy and assault and battery, and
faced, if convicted, life in prison.
Albert
denied all accusations. On the second day of the trial a second
woman testified, describing
two encounters in which Albert bit her and tried to force her
to perform oral sex. In one of the encounters Marv was wearing
a woman’s panties and garter belt. Two days later he pleaded
guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery. The felony charge
of forcible sodomy was dropped. The judge deferred sentencing
for a year and on October 9, 1998 his record was cleared of all
charges.
From the time of his
charge until the plea bargain, Albert continued to call NBA games
for NBC. By December 1999 Marv is broadcasting Knicks games,
MSG Sportsdesk nightly, Turner Sports, some basketball games
for NBC, the Olympic Games in Australia for NBC, and the Goodwill
Games.
A story of fall and
redemption to warm the heart.
After Marv Albert, we
did not read articles about the predatory nature of the broadcasting
industry and its thug mentality.
But
Spree, because of the intersection of race and sport, became
a symbol for all that
is "wrong" with the NBA:
too Black
too violent
too out of control
If
a well-known African-American sports-figure had been accused
of biting a woman while wearing
panties and a garter belt, we’d still be reading about
it five years later.
Mike
Tyson bites off a piece of an opponent’s ear in the ring.
Strange?
Yes.
But stranger than Marv Albert’s behavior?
This
is not to denigrate what is purely a personal choice - one’s
manner of dress.
But Tyson is forever
branded as an ear-biter. Latrell is still talked about as the
man who choked his coach.
When
did you ever hear Marv Albert referred to as the ‘cross-dressing, back-biting
sportscaster’?
Mickey
Mantle drank himself to death and remains a hero. Babe Ruth,
throughout his
career was a big drinker, a womanizer, irresponsible, and violated
team rules. Yet his image is not tarnished, he is known - affectionately
- as a "good ol’ boy".
What
Black athlete could have got away with The Babe’s behavior,
then or now, and not be pilloried?
Spree makes one mistake,
and in spite of five and a half years of sin-free living his
reputation is not rehabilitated.
The story of Kobe Bryant
- whether he is found guilty or not - is guaranteed to churn
out books about Athletes - their sense of entitlement, their
violent behavior, their immoral lives. And what will be unspoken,
but intended, is African-American athletes.
But the story of Marv
Albert did not lead to studies of the pathology of broadcasters
who assault women while wearing a garter belt.
All
of which is to say that race is always present, whether stated
or not. Race is why
Sprewell became a symbol of black violence against white authority
and why Marv Albert's "Yess" is again heard across
the land.
Race is why White Legends
- like Mantle, Ruth, Pete Rose - can have their transgressions
forgiven, or at least overlooked.
After
the Fall
The Black Athlete is never just an athlete - he
is a "credit to his race" - like the early Jessie Owens, Jackie Robinson,
or OJ.
(Simpson, before he
was accused of a horrific crime, was the darling of the public
and the media. He did what America demands of a star Black athlete
- embraced racial neutrality and sold himself to the highest
bidder. He was the first Black athlete to win major corporate
endorsements. Before there was Michael Jordan, there was OJ.)
or
he is an affront to
White people and the American way:
Jack Johnson, Muhammad
Ali in his prime, Dennis Rodman, Latrell Sprewell
Why is forgiveness not
available to the Black sports figure who falls from Grace?
The Black Athlete is
not allowed to be multi-dimensional; he is demonized or deified.
(The
two most popular Kobe web sites are FREEKOBE.com "Because
we're running out of heroes" and FRYKOBE.com.)
And if the Black athlete
falls from grace, he can expect no mercy. No redemption. This
is what America does to its Star Athletes who are Black, or should
we say to its Blacks who are Star Athletes.
It remains to be seen
where Kobe Bean Bryant will fall in this mix.
But when a Black man
stands accused of raping a White woman, know that race is not
absent.
Kobe might well heed the words of Tupac Shakur: "2Pac's
Anthem to the Black Male Athlete:'Don't Get Caught Up in the
Mix Because the Media is Full of Dirty Tricks'" (quote is
title of a paper by Dr.Carlton Keith Harrison, University of
Michigan).
Ellen Rosner is
a free-lance writer living in New Jesey.
is published every Thursday. 
