The Lion King
Senior
Posts: 394
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-20-06 08:05 PM - Post#18487
. . . if he can figure out what Richard Just's Slate article
http://www.slate.com/id/2138220/
which Jake discusses in his blog
http://ivy.basketball-u.com/index.php?p=195
is about. (I would post my remarks there, except the type in the blog's comment section is too small for my elderly eyes.)
Jake thinks the author is blaming Princeton and its fans for the unsavory racial tinge that supposedly attaches, or used to attach, to Princeton basketball's favorable reputation. And maybe Mr. Just is indeed saying that. I couldn't decide whether the point of the article was that (a) love of Princetonball used to be motivated by racism, but it isn't anymore now that lots of mostly black teams are using it; (b) the "racist" angle was a fiction all along, and the spread of Princetonball to mostly black teams proves it; or (c) sensitive Princeton fans used to worry that people liked the Tigers for the wrong reasons, but that's not a problem anymore because nobody likes the Tigers. Or perhaps the author had something else in mind.
To me, the association of racism with Princetonphilia--past, present, or future, and whether practiced by Princetonians or outsiders--is an unsupported and unsupportable assumption, nothing more. The author can't quote any actual racist remarks, except for one mild and ambiguous throwaway comment he overheard in the Jadwin stands seven years ago. Instead he resorts to the usual mumbo-jumbo about "racist code, or simple nostalgia for an era when white athletes dominated." So the notion that praising Princeton basketball is (or is in part, or sometimes is, or might be) motivated by racism amounts to putting words in people's mouths and then criticizing them for saying them.
I hated the Princeton offense when Armond Hill--a black man, if that's of any relevance--installed it at Columbia (though I must admit I loved his Princeton defense). Does that make me a racist? Or a reverse racist, or a black nationalist or self-hating caucasian? There must be some subtext; it can't just be that I think he was a lousy coach. To find the answer, I guess I'll have to get in touch with Richard Just and have him run my thoughts through his secret decoder ring.
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