One of my passions is basketball. I played it as a kid. I coached (and still coach) as an adult. It’s one of those things that transcends any individual team to a love of the game itself. I enjoy both watching and playing. I like to think I’m a student of the game and how it’s played, not even close to the level of say a Krzyzewski or a Phil Jackson who I consider not just students, but generals… or in Jackson’s case, the Zen Master of the game, but a student none the less. It’s a game that requires the perfect balance of both a measure of brute strength and a soft touch, and I never tire of watching a perfectly executed pick and roll, a 30 foot jumper hit nothin’ but net, or an alley-oop dunked like a railroad spike being piledriven by the fist of an angry god.
Which is why it pisses me off to see somebody who was given the gift of being able to play this game at the professional level not only act like a grand mal douchebag, but do so in print. Professional athletics has no shortage of idiots lately and apparently Paul Shirley felt it was his sacred duty to add one more to the ranks.
His crime? Simply this: Being a person who has benefitted so much from getting things he really didn’t deserve slam people for being charitable to the earthquake victims of Haiti simply because he feels they don’t deserve it. An additional charge is basically ignoring centuries of history and socioeconomic exploitation that got Haitians in the position their in today as he thoughtlessly blames the Haitians themselves for their plight. 10 minutes on Wikipedia, or if you wanted to kick it old-school, his local public library, could have cured him of his condition.
Shouldn’t much of the responsibility for the disaster lie with the victims of that disaster?
Before the reader reaches for his or her blood pressure medication, he should allow me to explain. I don’t mean in any way that the Haitians deserved their collective fate. And I understand that it is difficult to plan for the aftermath of an earthquake. However, it is not outside the realm of imagination to think that the citizens of a country might be able to: A) avoid putting themselves into a situation that might result in such catastrophic loss of life. And B) provide for their own aid, in the event of such a catastrophe.
Oh brother.
- They live on an island you idiot.
- When they weren’t explointed by both the Spanish and the French, the people of Haiti were far too busy being exploited by their own leaders. You want to condemn Baby Doc’s relatives for receiving aid? Fine. Nobody else there deserves to be the brunt of your screed.
- A person having a 4+ year NBA career while averaging only 1.8 points per game stands out as one of the largest single recipients of charity that I know of.
Mr. Shirley is completely free to dictate where his charitable dollar is spent, or not spent in this case. However, when your reasons for doing so are as idiotic as are outlined in the aforementioned essay, it’s best to keep it to yourself. Notice the half-assed, backhanded apology he printed only came after he was fired from ESPN.
