Sports
Joel Embiid and when criticism of athletes goes too far
It doesn’t appear to be almost three years have passed since one of Philadelphia’s favorite sons knocked the taste out of Chris Rock’s mouth. I remember the initial outrage and how people insisted this is able to be the top of Will Smith’s profession. In a fun twist of irony, a series of movies called “Bad Boys” brought Smith back to prominence and reminded people of his greatness.
I could not help but think of The Slap because the Philadelphia 76ers play center Joel Embiid – pushed columnist Marcus Hayes after the columnist made a cheesy shot in a single of his comments. It was a banner week for Philadelphia sports icons like former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce barbed a rowdy call on Penn State’s campus after a “fan” used a homophobic slur against his brother. Kelce apologized, saying he was met with “hate hate.” But is not that the American way?
These incidents were a reminder of how comfortable society is with crossing boundaries to attack athletes, but most individuals only discover with these conflicts when they turn into physical, resembling Kelce’s encounter or Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts versus several bandits in Yankees apparel through the World Series. But what happens when the media gets involved in these attacks?
The NBA’s investigation into the incident led to: suspension for 3 matches for Embiid. “Mutual respect is paramount to the relationship between players and the media in the NBA,” Joe Dumars, NBA executive vp of basketball operations, said in an announcement. “While we understand that Joel was offended by the personal nature of the reporter’s original version of the column, interactions must remain professional on both sides and must never become physical.”
Dumars lacked professionalism and mutual appreciation long before Embiid lost his cool. From my perspective, the Push was not as damaging as this excerpt from Hayes’ short-sighted and insensitive column:
AP Photo/Matt Slocum, file
These lines have since been faraway from Hayes’ column, however the damage was done not only by these specific words, but in a general sense. Russell Westbrook’s response to a racist fan needs to be met not only with a swift reprimand, but additionally with actionable steps taken to stop such incidents from happening again. Because we treat athletes as in the event that they are part of the entertainment and not people, we allow incidents to occur because we consider they’re simply part of the circus.
This sense of politics amongst skilled leagues may be more common if some members of the media didn’t fan the flames with their very own antics. People go so far as to call it “journalism,” regardless that our industry will not be nearly reporting or the top product. It’s about how we engage with the community, whether we use words to construct or tear down.
It was hard for me to get mad at “The Slap” or “The Shove” because I understand America. Violence is irrevocably woven into our DNA, each in terms of poverty and politics. The nastiness we allow in our divisive and hyperpolarized politics – which has little room for decency, let alone democracy – has driven this country mad. What does a single punch or stabbing mean in a world where police brutality continues? When will violence against women, each within the family and in health care, proceed?
This generally is a challenge for individuals who need to separate politics from sports, but there has all the time been reciprocity between the 2. This is why LeBron James has to shut up and dribble while the San Francisco 49ers defense finalizes Nick Bosa’s headgear selections and Harrison Butker’s political kicks, regardless of how right-wing, are celebrated. Moreover, the old saying about “sticks and stones” when it involves words has all the time been intellectually dishonest. Words hurt, and what’s more, words are the start of the narrative that drives this particular industry, for higher or for worse. , you say?
Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
When media corporations and their underlings, regardless of race and gender, step out of line in a distorted sense of holding athletes accountable, it’s a race to the underside and we’re all losing. Our industry is full of fast food hot takes that not only perpetuate the “fake news” narrative, but additionally devalue each the athlete and what people perceive as journalism.
When – says Embiid that he has done too much for this city for people to say he doesn’t need to play is a comment that goes beyond the court. Contrary to the narrative of individuals who don’t care, athletes put money into their communities in ways in which transcend superficiality or, for cynics, viewing charity as tax write-off. Less than a month ago, I went to Memphis and was impressed by how town has embraced fellow South Carolinian Ja Morant, flaws and all. His teammate, Jaren Jackson Jr., spoke persuasively about players’ conscientiousness when it involves their civil rights legacy on the Freedom Award, the National Civil Rights Museum’s premier event.
Embiid demonstrates this commitment to town in two ways, naming his charitable gestures “In Memory of Arthur.” The faces these initiatives serve are just like mine. And him. They are necessary to those of us who care about greater than just workload management and titles.
The prospect of a championship is really the ironic element of all this. Do you must see Embiid in November or through the playoffs? The Games definitely left their mark on him, but his presence was crucial for this country to win the gold medal. A person needs time to regain his full strength. It’s part of the Process, whether you prefer it or not.
Our industry needs a cultural reset. Our criticism of athletes and celebrities shouldn’t dehumanize them. When celebrities or athletes reply to terrible behavior in a fit of rage, it doesn’t make them any less human. This makes them more human because they repel darkness. Our industry should attempt to do the identical.
Gregg Popovich, the most important coach of San Antonio Spurs Gregg Popovich, won the highest and maybe the largest coach in NBA history outside the side line. It also disappeared, but actually not forgotten, Popovich used his platform to talk against racial, social and political injustice.
“He was probably one of the first trainers of the modern generation, who really spoke about politics and social injustice,” said coach Golden State Warriors Steve Kerr, a former guard of Spurs near Popuvich. “One of my favorite trainers is (former basketball coach of men from the University of North Karolina) Dean Smith. Dean Smith in the 1960s. He helped break the racial barriers in the south, refusing to take his team in some places for staying or eating. Coaches who really distinguish me. “
Spurs announced the retirement of Popovich from coaching on May 2 after 33 years as the most important trainer. Naismith Hall of Famer is the NBA leader in the field of coaching victories with 1422 wins in the regular season. The three -time NBA coach led Spurs to 5 championships. The 76-year-old also took third place in winning the playoffs.
Popovich trained the Spurs dynasty, which included the NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014, Hall of Famers David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Future Hall of Famer Kawhi Leonard. With the NBA All-Star Center Victor Wembanyama, in its composition, Popovich trained only five matches this season, after which he suffered a stroke in a team facility on November 2, 2024. He never returned out of bord.
Popovich will remain in Spurs as the president of basketball operations and was replaced by Mitch Johnson, who was a short lived team of the team this season.
“It’s a sad day. It’s also an encouraging day,” said Kerr on May 2. “This is a natural transition for him organizationally to go to the next role. He also gives him space and time that he must regain after health problems.
“So I got a lot of mixed emotions … mainly my love for pop. My empathy for what has gone through with the Spurs organization. All of the above. This is a very emotional day for everyone involved. Thank you, pop.”
Coach Houston Rockets, Ime Udoka, former guard of Spurs and assistant coach near Popowicz, said on May 2: “This is a sweet -bitter day, of course, for all of us. But I am glad that he is in the good place. And I am glad that he is good with his family. A special day. A special person. One of the best for it. I am happy that I have a chance to work with him and call him.”
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Popovich also had an impact on the world, undeniably using his platform to speak about injustice. What made his openness much more unique was that he was a white man who spoke about marginalized individuals who didn’t seem like him.
Former San Antonio Spurs Forward Lamarcus Aldridge once described Popovich as “color blindness” to Andcape. Popovich was also known that he normally had an inventory with international talent.
“When you meet him, color doesn’t matter to him,” Aldridge said about Popovich. “It can refer. People can say that he and Stephen Jackson are really close. Stephen Jackson is the opposite of being from Europe. It doesn’t matter who you are. He connects with all people … He is so open to everything.”
Popovich once expressed respect for the playmaker San Francisco 49ers Colin Kapernicka and his national protest. These were the words of a person who attended the American Air Force Academy and obtained a bachelor’s degree in the field of Soviet studies. He served five years of the required lively service in the Air Force and once considered a profession in the CIA.
“A quite good group of people immediately thought that they did not respect the army,” said Popovich once. “It had nothing to do with his protest. In fact, he was able to do what he did because of what the army was doing for us. Most people think about it, but there will always be an element that wants to jump on fashion and this is unfortunate in our country.”
Popovich once took Spurs to the private screening of the film “Chi-raq” with the famous film director Spike Lee. Popovich had a former John Carlos track star, who joined Tommie Smith to get a controversial salut of black power on the podium medal during the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, confer with his team. Popovich gave his players the book “Between the world and me” by Tahisi Coates, who was written as a letter to the writer’s teenage son about reality, emotions and symbolism of being an African American in the United States. Popovich also took his team for the show “The Birth of the Nation”, the film Parker invested about Nat Turner, who managed the historic riot of slaves in 1831 and see the famous art of “Hamilton” in New York.
“It is obvious that the domestic plane of slavery still penetrates our social system in this country,” said Popovich once. “People want to ignore it, they don’t want to talk about it because it is uncomfortable.”
Popovich also described the race in America as “elephant in peace.” He believed that the White Americans didn’t understand the pain and stress related to being an African American. Popovich remembered listening to the black assistants of trainers about how that they had to confer with children about the best way to cope with the police in the event that they were confronted. He said it was something that as a white man never had in common together with his two children.
“It’s easier for white people because we haven’t experienced this experience. For many white people it is difficult to understand the everyday feeling with which many black people are dealing with,” Popovich once said. “I did not talk to my children about how to behave in front of a policeman when you stop. I did not have to do it. All my black friends did it. There is something that is wrong in it and we all know it.”
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Popovich also also talked about what he thinks were injustices in the American government, particularly against President Donald Trump. During October 27, 2024, a press conferencePopovich described Trump as “pathetic” and accused him of supporting the culture of racism and division in America. Popovich also added that he believes that Trump has confirmed racism, which normalized and legitimized discrimination on this process.
Popovich recurrently talked about the control of weapons. In 2023, Popovich gave an unnecessary, nine -minute lobbying lobbying for the laws of weapon control in America and criticizing “cowardly legislators who are selfish” before the match in Dallas. Popovich criticized republican legislators in Texas and Tennessee, and in addition expressed contempt for the expedition of representatives in 2023 Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Chamber of Representatives in Tennessee. Two black democrats were demonstrating weapons control on the floor of the chamber after a shooting in Nashville. Popovich called the provisions on the resistance of weapon control, an try and “clog all these things (in) the myth of the second amendment.”
“I was wondering because we have a governor and governor governor and prosecutor general, who made it easier to have more weapons,” Popovich said, referring to politicians from Texas. “It was a response to the murder of our children. I just thought it was a bit strange decision. But it’s just me.”
So how did Popovich develop into so conscious, caring and vocal?
The son of a Croatian father and Serbian mother organized naturally about other cultures, growing up in a racially diverse eastern Chicago in Indiana, 18 miles from the Chicago center. According to the universal census of the United States of 2010, Eastern Chicago had 42.9% black, 35.5% white and 19.1% of other races. Popovich attributed his military origin for making him aware of the world. He also learned about the world when he played basketball for the American Basketball Team of the Armed Forces in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
“When you meet him and learn about his upbringing and his origin, raised in (suburbs) Gary, Indian, in a multicultural district …”-said Udoka. “He all the time talked about the neighbors he had – an Italian family, a Jewish family, a black family. Everything around him was immigrants and his.
“This is the core of who it is. It is appropriate, regardless of whether you are black, white or different.”
Kerr also spoke about social injustice, racism, violence with weapons and political problems during the training of warriors. He recognized Popovich for uplifting him to make use of his platform to talk.
“I was 100% inspired by pop for the courage to speak and take the hits you do,” said Kerr. “I met POP after I signed a contract with Spurs in 1999 during the blockade. You can see the sacrifice for his country. A proud air force graduate. From the first national anthem (played in the game Spurs) I saw how he stood on an unusual American flut.
“This is a belief together with, say, the Shenanigans of this country politically – in actual fact all BS began at the moment, at the turn of the century … between social media and Buffoners politically, on this era, wherein everyone screams against one another.
In the sports industry value a billion dollars there isn’t any image more quietly threatening to the system than a robust, engaged black father.
We see it time and again.
Lavar Ball is known as boastful.
Deion Sanders is known as selfish.
Richard Williams was crazy long before the world learned the names Venus and Serena.
Lebron James is in some way criticized for being too publicly supporting his son Brony.
Earl Woods was presented as a controlling character, even when he raised one of the biggest golfers he had ever seen.
Cecil Newton Sr. He met with public control simply following his son CAM.
The plan is evident: when the black father stands at the center of his child’s success – leading, protecting, moving away from exploitation – the media paint him as an issue.
As Egomaniak.
As someone “bothers”.
Why?
Because strong black fathers disturb the narrative.
The system is just not only invested in the talent of black athletes – it invests in controlling them.
A young black athlete without suggestions is less complicated to control. Easier to pay. Easier to face against others. Easier to the brand, profit and reject when it’s comfortable.
A powerful black father changes the terms of the contract.
Requires higher contracts.
He asks about coaching decisions.
It protects the mental health of your child from the franchise.
He reminds the world that his son or daughter is just not only an asset – but a human being along with his family, dreams and dignity.
And that is where real fear lies.
The image of a united black family – not broken, absent, not broken – a challenge of deeply rooted stereotypes on which American society has long been about the justification of inequalities.
A powerful black man standing next to his child and says that he is just not perceived as an act of love, but as an act of revolt.
It is less complicated to submit a father than to confess that the system is designed to make use of athletes, while they’re young, sensitive and isolated.
It is less complicated to make fun of yourself than to confront the truth:
Black families who stick together support one another and are fiercely in favor of their very own, are irrefutable, not a threat.
When Deion Sanders tells his sons that they’re kings, not goods, it worries the old order.
When Richard Williams insists that his daughters are larger than tennis, he prescribes the rules.
When Lavar Ball dreams loudly for his sons, he scares a system that prefers black athletes to be grateful and quiet.
But let’s be clear:
It is just not their trust that threatens the sports industry.
It’s their love.
Their refusal to permission to their children used and rejected to the side.
Their impudence is consider that they deserve sitting at the table – and pull up the chair without not asking for permission.
Black fathers in sport should not villains.
They are architects.
They are defenders.
These are a shield between industries value a billion dollars and kids, otherwise they consumed.
Or possibly this can be a real story that America doesn’t wish to tell.
”
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“Ball Up Top” is a weekly NBA video series in which David Dennis Jr. With AndScape he talks about hot topics in the league and popular culture with special guests in addition to personalities and sejds.
In episode 8, David is joined by a senior author Justin Tinsley to debate Los Angeles Lakers, who was rejected from Playoffs and what to do next. In addition, a really exciting opera clip that David cannot stop enthusiastic about.
Episode 8, 2 May 2025
Host: David Dennis Jr.
Guests: Justin Tinsley
Manufacturers: Charles Abankwa, Ryan Cortes, Rodney Davis, Chris Gavin, Charles Peach
Archives
Episode 1 (March 7, 2025): Quentin Richardson on Phoenix Suns, his moment “Welcome to the NBA” and beef with “Nad edge”
Episode 2 (March 14, 2025): Plus/Minus! Nikola Jokic (not) MVP, whose Knicks and Lakers don’t need to see, asks Cooper Flagg
Episode 3 (March 21, 2025): Danny Green evaluates his pretenders to the Western Conference, members of the Abrevocal Team
Episode 4 (March 28, 2025): Talking Heat Culture after the outbreak of warriors, more plus/minus
Episode 5 (April 4, 2025): The most vital games left in the NBA schedule
Episode 6 (April 17, 2025): Kazeem Famuyide talks NBA Playoffs, Wrestlemania 41, Army X
Episode 7 (April 24, 2025): Which NBA Playoffs teams are cooked/not cooked?
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