Bad sports, good sports: Jalen Rose shows why he was not Duke material

Posted on March 21st, 2011 by Alan Spoll

As often as we are reminded that not all professional athletes are rocket scientists, it is amazing that they can still surprise us with various kinds of idiotic pronouncements. Jalen Rose, a basketball analyst for ESPN and a former NBA player, most notably with the Indiana Pacers, provided our example for this week in a documentary that aired about the “Fab Five,” a group of star freshman, including Rose, that started together for the University of Michigan in the early 90s. In the film, Rose was asked about the Duke Blue Devils, the team that defeated them in the 1992 national title game, and he stated that he felt that Duke only recruited black players that were, in his words, “Uncle Toms.”

This is wrong on so many levels. To start, I am pretty sure Jalen Rose does not understand what the term “Uncle Tom” means. When put in the context of his comments, he appears to be critical of the fact that Duke’s African-American players over the years have come from well-to-do-families with two parents, rather than being underprivileged kids from broken homes, like Rose himself. The traditional meaning of “Uncle Tom” refers to a black person who is subservient to white people. Even if it meant what Rose thought it meant, it was such an incredibly stupid thing to say. I can’t imagine what he was intending to accomplish, aside from offending a lot of people. Criticizing a basketball program because it chooses to recruit players that are intelligent, educated, and well-spoken hardly seems reasonable, especially when those players are also among the best basketball players in the country. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has created a program that has been so successful that he can get the best of the best, both in talent and intelligence. Disparaging those players because they were fortunate enough to grow up with more than Rose did was as wrong as it would have been for someone to criticize Rose for growing up the way he did. The use of a racially insensitive term like “Uncle Tom” made the offense that much more inexcusable.

Grant Hill, one of the players on that Duke team, responded to Rose this week, calling it “sad and somewhat pathetic” that he and some of his teammates were spoken of in such an ugly fashion in what was otherwise, in his view, a very worthwhile documentary. I obviously agree with him completely. Being jealous of someone else’s upbringing is one thing. Criticizing him for that upbringing is another thing entirely. Jalen Rose has since stated that his comments were referring to his feelings from back then, not the way he feels now. Rose chose to make the comments, though, and chose to include them in the documentary, which he, as the producer, could likely have prevented. Instead, he showed why, underprivileged upbringing or not, Coach K failed to recruit him to Duke.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Mario Henderson, an offensive tackle to the Oakland Raiders, was arrested this week when a traffic stop revealed he had an unlicensed gun in his possession. The blaring music, very darkly tinted windows, and unused seatbelt didn’t help him either.

3) Bryan McCann, a cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys, was arrested Saturday and charged with public intoxication. He is denying any wrongdoing.

4) NBA referee Bill Spooner is suing a writer for the Associated Press for stating on Twitter that Spooner admitted to calling a makeup foul in a game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets in January. If you watch basketball, it is clear that makeup calls occur quite regularly, but I guess it wouldn’t be a good thing for a ref to admit publicly.

5) The National Christian School Athletic Association’s National Championship game in girls basketball ended with no winner last week when a fight occurred on the court with just over three minutes remaining in the game, resulting in the ejection of most of the players on the two teams. As neither team could field enough players to continue, the game was a double-forfeit. I am guessing this was not exactly how the NCSAA wanted this to go.

Good sports:

1) Major League Baseball player Ichiro Suzuki, a native of Japan, donated 100 million yen (around $1.2 million) to relief efforts following the recent earthquake and tsunami.

2) NASCAR driver Jennifer Jo Cobb has parted ways with 2nd Chance Motorsports, a team in the Nationwide Series, after the team owner insisted she “start and park” at Bristol on Saturday, a practice where a driver goes a few laps and then takes the car to the garage, giving the team some prize money without risking damage to the car or spending additional money on tires. Good for her.

3) Anthony Robles, a wrestler for Arizona State in the 125-pound division, won the national title for his weight class on Saturday at the NCAA Division 1 wrestling championships in Philadelphia. Oh, by the way – Robles has just one leg, having been born missing his right leg. Well done.

Bad sports, good sports appears every Monday.

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02