The NBA All-Star Game is broken and everyone has an opinion on how to fix it. Some fans have pitched a 1-on-1 tournament. Others have encouraged the NBA to create an equivalent to the successful NHL 4 Nations Face-Off. 

ESPN has a different idea. According to a new article, a columnist pitched the idea of turning the All-Star Game into a celebration of, wait for it, black history.

“Given all the gimmicks the NBA has tried, why not lean into real Black history?” asked William C. Rhoden.

“Next year, the iconic Harlem Globetrotters will celebrate the team’s 100th anniversary. The NBA should acknowledge the Globetrotters anniversary in its showcase game by returning to the East/West format and by naming the teams Team Globetrotters and Team Rens in honor of the New York Renaissance, the first Black-owned professional basketball team. Each team would wear the Globetrotters and Rens uniforms.

“At a time when attempts are being made to whitewash Black history, a Globetrotters/Rens NBA All-Star Game next year in Los Angeles would present an opportunity for the league to set the record straight. Such a game on the NBA’s main stage would educate many of its players and tell the public how the NBA came to have an abundance of Black players,” he continued. 

“By doing so, the players would honor these two iconic franchises and the Black men who played on them.”

You can read the full column below:

Who is whitewashing black history?

Stories like that underline the inherent flaw of Andscape–ESPN’s pro-black, anti-white vertical. Andscape serves the sole purpose of providing a race angle to the biggest stories of the day (to the extent that ESPN proper isn’t already doing that). However, not every story warrants a race angle.  In fact, very few stories do. 

Therefore, tools like William C. Rhoden humiliate themselves by writing articles claiming the solution to the NBA All-Star Game is making the game more political and divisive—which is exactly what Black History Month has become. 

Nothing has damaged the NBA’s brand more than pushing social and political messages. Fans just want to enjoy the entertainment.

By the way, this Rhoden character is arguably the most egregious ESPN has to offer. If the name sounds familiar, Rhoden was the columnist who suggested Nikola Jokic is only good for a white player and that the Lakers did LeBron James dirty by trading for a “white superstar” in Luka Doncic.

It’s unclear if Mr. Rhoden is a racist, but his writing sure suggests he wants his readers to think he is one.

Anyway, ESPN liked his recent article enough to promote it on the homepage of ESPN.com, right under an article celebrating the new black Captain America.

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