The Association

[Longhorned]

Tell me if I have this wrong:

Compared to the NFL and MLB, the NBA takes stances on social issues that draw a hard line. Players are vocally one-sided on issues that divide Americans. Commentators casually say things that take for granted that conservatives aren't listening. The other night on TNT, Charles said that Republicans are shamelessly pushing for voter suppression. How can a professional league with the second largest fanbase in the country be so comfortable about alienating potential viewers?

I dug around a little and I think I figured it out. In spite of the overall popularity of the NBA, white Americans who follow the Association have been on the decline for some time. Blacks in the U.S. are actually the majority of viewers and fans. White Americans are in the minority.

How many current White NBA players can you readily think of who are Americans? The decision to put Kevin Love on the Olympic team is a residue of a weird practice that's mostly in the past. After NBA teams gave up trying to represent Whites on their rosters, the fears of losing white fans turned out to be justified. Aging White men are still coaching teams and doing calling play-by-play, but all almost all the TV personalities and commentators are Black. The actors in the TV commercials are mostly Black. What might sound like a liberal perspective that's being broadcast is actually something else: These are Black TV personalities talking to a Black audience.

Economic inequality, which has so much to do with why there came to be so many more Black players than White players, can explain why the arenas are packed with mostly White people. The larger TV audiences are mostly Black, and the White fans of these teams and personalities probably overlap with Whites who aren't alienated by largely Black perspectives. But basically, we're talking about a league that has increasingly given up on catering to White people over the past 50+ years.

[Merkin]

Interesting subject professor. I actually had no idea. Although I don't watch any pro sports.

I just never really cared for the NBA game, with no zone defenses and the 24 second shot clock, but college ball is getting more and more that way by moving down the shot clock. Zone defenses just give a non-athletic team a better chance to win.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ ... in_the_NBA

During the 2016–17 season, 66 percent of the league's viewers were racial and ethnic minorities. Its audience was 47 percent blacks, 34 percent whites, 11 percent Hispanics (of any race), and 8 percent Asians.

Different question, so different results:

https://morningconsult.com/2020/09/10/s ... phic-data/

[Longhorned]

I had no idea either. It's probably another case of White oblivion.

But the NBA does have zone defense.

[EastCoastCat]

Or maybe we just needed Bird vs Magic to realize it’s about sports, competition and equality.

[gronk4heisman]

The NBA is the only one of the four I regularly watch.

[Merkin]

Or maybe we just needed Bird vs Magic to realize it’s about sports, competition and equality.

I frickin' hated and still hate Larry Bird. I was a Michigan resident at the time he was at Indiana State, so of course I was a fan of Magic at MSU.

Then Bird went to Boston, and which played some epic playoff games with the Pistons, led by Isiah Thomas. Still remember the game where the Pistons had the game won end of regulation, and Bird stole a lazy inbounds pass from Thomas. I couldn't even watch the end of the series since I knew it was over. That was just so demoralizing.

Recall reading some time back a study showed that it's not racist if you like players that look like you. And of course Legend did look like me. He was a doofus from French Lick, I was a doofus from Battle Creek.

This game was one of the most upsetting of my lifetime. The others being the 1972 Olympic basketball game vs. USSR, and the number one game being the 2005 UA game v. the Illini.

[Longhorned]

Through Merkin's link, the breakdown of minutes spent watch NBA is even more eye-opening than the general breakdown of race alone:

[Longhorned]

Or maybe we just needed Bird vs Magic to realize it’s about sports, competition and equality.

I frickin' hated and still hate Larry Bird. I was a Michigan resident at the time he was at Indiana State, so of course I was a fan of Magic at MSU.

Then Bird went to Boston, and which played some epic playoff games with the Pistons, led by Isiah Thomas. Still remember the game where the Pistons had the game won end of regulation, and Bird stole a lazy inbounds pass from Thomas. I couldn't even watch the end of the series since I knew it was over. That was just so demoralizing.

Recall reading some time back a study showed that it's not racist if you like players that look like you. And of course Legend did look like me. He was a doofus from French Lick, I was a doofus from Battle Creek.

This game was one of the most upsetting of my lifetime. The others being the 1972 Olympic basketball game vs. USSR, and the number one game being the 2005 UA game v. the Illini.

Maybe I'm wrong but I read EastCoastCat's post as referring to this. Isiah Thomas made that comment that resonated with other players about Larry Bird being just another basketball player if he were Black, and the media made a really, really big deal about it, and Thomas had to walk it back. A lot of people bristle about that pressure put on Thomas, but one thing it did was to force the conversation, and Bird was a part of the conversation that basically concluded that, beyond Black and White, this is about an amazing level of competition.

Obviously the NBA especially has broken down barriers, but looking at the numbers, there are far fewer Whites that are drawn to it.

[Merkin]

Bird didn't help by saying not to disrespect him by putting a white guy to cover him. What an arrogant son of a bitch. Although he was heckuva player, no matter the race.

In any event, the rise in NBA viewership was interesting to me, due to so many people cutting the cord. I couldn't watch an NBA game if I wanted to with the services I have.

Looks like blacks and Hispanics have a slightly higher rate of cable viewership than white people. https://www.statista.com/statistics/111 ... ethnicity/

This is dated, from 2016, but still telling.

https://theundefeated.com/features/whit ... a-players/

As of Sunday, there were 43 white Americans on 30 NBA teams with the season starting Tuesday. Eight teams didn’t have a white American player entering last season, while seven teams don’t have one now.

[Longhorned]

That's super interesting. Of course, the people making the money would know all of this. If Blacks and Hispanics watch more cable TV, they'd factor that in the decision to expand to cable TV. Everyone watches the Finals, Whites fill the arenas and you still have the same amount of games on ABC as you used to have on NBC, but it's probably right to say that the NBA is mostly a cable TV phenomenon. The TNT experience isn't a White experience.

I wonder if cutting the cord is one of those things that White people like, like hummus and farmers markets.

[EastCoastCat]

Or maybe we just needed Bird vs Magic to realize it’s about sports, competition and equality.

I frickin' hated and still hate Larry Bird. I was a Michigan resident at the time he was at Indiana State, so of course I was a fan of Magic at MSU.

Then Bird went to Boston, and which played some epic playoff games with the Pistons, led by Isiah Thomas. Still remember the game where the Pistons had the game won end of regulation, and Bird stole a lazy inbounds pass from Thomas. I couldn't even watch the end of the series since I knew it was over. That was just so demoralizing.

Recall reading some time back a study showed that it's not racist if you like players that look like you. And of course Legend did look like me. He was a doofus from French Lick, I was a doofus from Battle Creek.

This game was one of the most upsetting of my lifetime. The others being the 1972 Olympic basketball game vs. USSR, and the number one game being the 2005 UA game v. the Illini.

Maybe I'm wrong but I read EastCoastCat's post as referring to this. Isiah Thomas made that comment that resonated with other players about Larry Bird being just another basketball player if he were Black, and the media made a really, really big deal about it, and Thomas had to walk it back. A lot of people bristle about that pressure put on Thomas, but one thing it did was to force the conversation, and Bird was a part of the conversation that basically concluded that, beyond Black and White, this is about an amazing level of competition.

Obviously the NBA especially has broken down barriers, but looking at the numbers, there are far fewer Whites that are drawn to it.

That's part of the equation. Watch "Bird vs. Magic" special that I think ESPN did and you will get my point.

[Longhorned]

I love that documentary and I get it. "Best of Enemies." It's even better than "The Last Dance." The player interviews are amazing. If anyone ever forgets why they loved Magic so much, that documentary will make you remember real quick.

[EastCoastCat]

Yep, when Magic breaks down telling the story about Bird calling him once he announced he had Aids. Saying you know who your friends are at that point. And Bird's response that it was the second worse day of his life after his Dad's suicide and that he didn't even want to play basketball anymore.

That exchange was so telling.

[UAEebs86]

Yep, when Magic breaks down telling the story about Bird calling him once he announced he had Aids. Saying you know who your friends are at that point. And Bird's response that it was the second worse day of his life after his Dad's suicide and that he didn't even want to play basketball anymore.

That exchange was so telling.

Am I going to have to stop hating Larry Bird?

Of course being a Suns fan I hated the Lakers and the Celtics. I was so happy the year the Sixers broke through.

[Merkin]

Is this the documentary?

[Longhorned]

At the end when Magic is talking about hatred in the clearest and most direct terms, it's obvious he knows that he's talking about love.

[Longhorned]

Is this the documentary?

No but I want to see that one now.

[EastCoastCat]

Yes that’s the one.

[Longhorned]

Wait a minute. That's not what I'm talking about. I need to see your movie, and you'd love this:

http://www.espn.com/30for30/film/_/page/celticslakers

[EastCoastCat]

That’s a good one too LH but that one was more about the history of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, although Bird and Magic are front and center.

I think it’s the same Producer/Director so some similar clips are used like the one with Riley describing Bird’s last shot after Magic’s baby sky hook.

This was a 3 part series narrated by Ice Cube (for the Lakers) and Donnie Whalberg (for the Celtics).

[Longhorned]

Oh okay thanks. I'm totally excited about watching this one.

[azcat49]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/another-aba- ... 01417.html

Thought I would put this here. I was a big fan of the ABA. First time I saw Dr J play with the ABA nets. artis Gilmore and a guy by the name of Skeeter Swift who had some nifty around the back lay ups.

I think it is sad that the NBA, with all its money, can’t take care of those ABA guys. They are just another big GREEDY Corporate entity that sucks a$$. I for one am glad I don’t spend a minute watching them