Your Black World: Eddie Jordan Fired, Everyone Outraged

Eddie Jordan Fired... But Why?
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer - YourBlackWorld.com

On Monday, Nov. 24, The Washington Wizards fired veteran coach, Eddie Jordan, who helped transport the Wizards to the playoffs four years in a row. Over the last few days, however, many fans/sport columnists, pundits, and even coaches have expressed their regret over this brash and unexpected decision. Here are a few reactions:

We've all seen this movie before: A general manager stocks his roster with a dysfunctional mixture of players, but since he's the one who procured the players he thinks they're better than they really are. Eventually the team loses, and the coach is canned — because it's easier to fire the coach than to fire the players, and because the GM is certainly not going to fire himself. This is approximately what happened to Eddie Jordan in Washington. [...] Since he's been in Washington, Jordan has done a magnificent job with this team even though Arenas and Etan Thomas have been periodically down and out — repeatedly leading them into the playoffs.

- Charley Rosen from MSN Sports

When a team struggles out of the gate of a regular season, the fans harboring the fringe of the team's fanbase always begin hollering for a change of leadership.Some franchises are mature enough to disregard the cries of the extremists, however, others are as weak-minded as stormtroopers—easily influenced by forces beyond them [thank you, Obi-Wan Kenobi.] From the firing of Eddie Jordan and his assistant Mike O'Koren, the Washington Wizards have proven to be the NBA's weakest franchise as of this moment for the 2008-09 season and, perhaps, the next couple of seasons to follow. Moronic is not even a strong enough word for this debacle. Travesty is a better word. Abortion! Now, that is the best word for this fiasco...abortion! Disgusting, inhumane, immoral, stupid! [...] This decision to fire Eddie Jordan was not moronic. It was not a travesty. IT WAS AN ABORTION!

- Thomas Cogliano from The Bleacher Report

"I'm very, very disappointed, not just because he's a close personal friend, as well as Mike, but when he came to Washington (they) hadn't been to the playoffs in like 20 something years," Frank said, "(and they) go there four straight years and to do what he did last year, where you could have made a very easy argument that he should have been the coach of the year, or at least co-coach of the year along with Byron (Scott). [...] It wasn't like they were losing by 40 points a game. He was doing a hell of a job, so it's very, very disappointing he won't finish out what he started."

- New Jersey Nets Head Coach, Lawrence Frank at a Press Conference

So what was Eddie Jordan supposed to do? [...] Jordan has nursed the Wizards to the playoffs four years in a row despite dealing with, at different times, significant injuries to Antawn Jamison, Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. Now, this year, Haywood is out and backup point guard Antonio Daniels is sitting, too. [...] Don't forget, when the Wizards hired Jordan, he was one of the most sought-after assistants in the league, and his dedication to the Princeton offense makes him a unique asset. Just about every team in the league has stolen from Jordan's playbook[.]

- Sean Deveney in Sporting News

Your Black World: Houston Police Accused Of Assaulting Donald Driver's Dad

HOUSTON — Three Houston police officers under investigation for allegedly beating the father of Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver have been taken off patrol duty.

The decision was welcomed by Marvin Driver Jr.'s family members, who said they now want the officers fired and brought up on charges.

"We just want justice," Michael Driver, Marvin Driver's son, said after a news conference Friday outside his father's home.

Officers Bacilio Guzman, Gilberto Cruz and M. Marin have been reassigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said in a statement Friday.

Hurtt said he made his decision after receiving a preliminary briefing late Thursday.

"We take allegations such as these very seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation into the matter and be transparent in our findings, whatever the conclusion," Hurtt said.

Houston police spokesman Victor Senties said he did not know how long the investigation would take to complete.

Family members of 56-year-old Marvin Driver claim he was arrested early Monday morning outside his mother's home, where he also lives, for outstanding traffic warrants. But before arriving at a Houston jail, they say, he was taken to a gas station, where he was beaten by at least two officers and had something forced down his throat.

Marvin Driver's family initially said he was only able to communicate with them through handwritten notes.

Michael Driver, 26, said his father, who earlier in the week had been in critical condition, was in good condition on Friday and his health was improving.

Doctors have told family members the injuries were the result of blunt force trauma and that he suffered head injuries and has bruises in his abdomen area from being kneed to the stomach, Michael Driver said.

Hurtt said investigators are awaiting medical reports on Marvin Driver to determine what injuries he sustained.

In his statement, Hurtt said that Marvin Driver, after being arrested during a traffic stop at about 1:30 a.m. Monday, was taken to a city jail. At the facility, a doctor found him unresponsive and he was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

The Internal Affairs Division of the Houston Police Department is investigating the family's claims.

From The Houston Chronicle

Your Black Politics: Did Tiger Woods Pave Barack Obama's path?

Did Tiger Woods pave Barack Obama's path? Are you joking?
By: Dave Zirin
Originally Appeared In NY Daily News

It's always dangerous, but never boring, when a newspaper sports columnist uncorks a political thesis. Enter Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel. Bianchi thinks that there are some unsung heroes who deserve credit for helping put a black man in the White House - and they are athletes. "If you're searching for tangible reasons why it became possible for Barack Obama to make his historic run at the presidency ... look no further than the golf course, basketball court or football field."

Bianchi believes that, since sports have conditioned white America to accept African-Americans as heroes and leaders, black sportsmen deserve a pat on the back. He wonders: "Where else but sports can you go to Amway Arena and see 15,000 mostly white fans cheer and celebrate the accomplishments of a team that is mostly black?"

Sounds lovely. But it happens to be embarrassingly wrong - and an insult to the reason that millions waited on long lines to cast their vote.

For more than a century, masses of white audiences have cheered black entertainers and athletes. And for most of that time, blacks struggled mightily to climb the corporate or political ladder. Why? Because being wowed by the ability of blacks to perform on a field or stage is not in the same ballpark as accepting their political leadership. Not even close.

More to the point, the rare black athletes who have dared to make waves have been pilloried for not knowing their place. After men like Jack Johnson, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos got too political, the phrase "just shut up and play" emerged - to smack down future jocks for trying to do more than entertain.

This is not just a hypocrisy of the musty past. On Thursday, Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall caught the winning touchdown pass against the Cleveland Browns. He then - horror of horrors - wanted to take out a black and white glove to make a statement. "I wanted to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me, our multicultured society," he later said.

But we will never know how the public might have received even this tame message because teammates, led by Brandon Stokely, put the kibosh on him. Commentators then came down on Marshall like blitzing linebackers. ESPN anchor Neil Everett said, "It's not about you and what you think. It's about the team."

Our sport-mad culture has hardly softened the ground for black political leadership. If anything, it's produced a value system that prizes material gain and the almighty scoreboard over any kind of collective responsibility.

This is seen even more clearly when we look at the three figures that Bianchi holds up as the most crucial trailblazers: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy.

Bianchi writes, "the two most successful product pitchmen of the modern era - Tiger and Michael Jordan - are both black men who won over white corporate America." But at what cost? These are also the two most aggressively apolitical athletes to ever walk the earth. They live by the creed that taking serious stands gets in the way of good business. If anything, Obama has had to overcome the racial landscape these two have charted, which says you must wear the cool mask and betray nothing.

Dungy is a different case. One of the most respected coaches in the NFL, he is also an evangelical Christian who has raised funds for the Indiana Family Institute. IFI organizes anti-gay marriage initiatives and takes part in the process of what's called "praying the gay away."

In fact, when you think about it, Woods, Jordan and Dungy - signifying respectively disengagement, corporate greed and the right-wing side of the culture wars - hold the values many voters wanted to repudiate.

No doubt, black American athletes unafraid to be political will be part of charting us out of this wilderness. But it will not be those content to be money-making sideshows when the main stage is a real-world battle for change.

Zirin is author of "A People's History of Sports in the United States."

Your Black World: No Obamamania For Brandon Marshall

No Obamamania for Brandon Marshall

By: Dave Zirin

All Brandon Marshall wanted was the opportunity to be part of the moment. The Denver Broncos wide receiver wanted to feel connected to the thousands who have flooded into the streets and the millions in a state of shock and awe around the world, celebrating the election of Barack Obama.

Marshall's plan was to score a touchdown on Thursday night and then take out a black-and-white glove and hold it up to the sky. "I wanted to create that symbol of unity because Obama inspires me, our multi-cultured society," he said after the game, choked with tears. "And I know at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico,Tommie Smith and John Carlosraised that black glove in that fist as a silent gesture of black power and liberation. Forty years later, I wanted to make my own statement. I wanted to make my own statement and gesture to represent the progress we made."

Unfortunately, we will never know what would have happened, or how the crowd would have reacted. We will never have that image of a football player bringing politics to the field. Marshall did score a touchdown, but as he removed the glove from his pocket, his teammates stopped him.

The problem was that Marshall's touchdown came with only one minute and twenty-two seconds left to play, putting the Broncos ahead, 34-30. His teammates--particularly fellow wideout Brandon Stokley and tight end Tony Scheffler--saw what he was about to do and stopped him, fearful of an automatic fifteen-yard penalty for "unsportsmanlike conduct."

One can be charitable toward Stokley and Sheffler, given the moment in the game--although the image of two white players surrounding a black player to block his political statement is the antithesis of the very ideas Marshall was attempting to communicate.

Yet the reaction from ESPN was even worse. The first talking head back at the SportsCenter headquarters took a shot at Marshall's emotional press conference saying, "Well, the sentiment is exactly right, even if the speechwriting needs some work." His partner then said of Marshall, "It's not about you or what you think. It's about the team and what they need to do." Ex-player turned broadcaster (and sometime soap opera star) Mark Schlereth called it, "The best play of Stokley's career." The Sporting News' Chris Mottram quoted Cleveland based blogger Vince Grzegorek,who called it "Marshall's Moronic Touchdown Tribute to President-Elect Obama."

Grzegorek then wrote of Marshall, "He's not bright, or flat out selfish, or a combustible mixture of the two."

There is no question that Marshall was taking a risk. There's no question he could have cost his team the game.

His coach, the stone-faced Mike Shanahan, has a written rule about not bringing politics into his all-business locker room.

Marshall could have risked the ire of the NFL, known as the No Fun League for cracking down on any hint, any whiff, of individuality on the part of players.

But maybe Marshall thought that the moment was more important than the game. Maybe he looked at basketball players like Kevin Garnett, who had the slogan "Embrace Change Vote '08" written on his sneakers, or Carmelo Anthony, who said that he would score forty-four points Wednesday in honor of the forty-fourth president. Marshall wanted to be part of the energy that has inspired more pro athletes to take part in this election cycle than ever before.

Instead of derision, Marshall merited our respect--sports fan or not-- which should actually be exponentially higher since he was willing to take this risk when the game was on the line. The image of a pro football player raising a black-and-white hand to the skies forty years after Smith and Carlos and two days after the election of a black president in a country built on slavery could have echoed through the ages. Someone should tell the suits and ESPN: some things are actually more important than sports.

From Edge Of Sports

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Brandon Marshall on what the glove symbolizes:

Your Black World: Iverson Traded To The Pistons?

DETROIT (AP)—The Detroit Pistons shook the NBA in a big way Monday—landing former MVP Allen Iverson from the Denver Nuggets.

The Pistons gave up All-Star point guard and former NBA finals MVP Chauncey Billups and top reserve Antonio McDyess.

The trade was confirmed by a basketball official, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not been announced.

Pistons spokesman Kevin Grigg declined to comment, and messages were left for a Nuggets spokesman as well as for an agent representing Billups and McDyess.

The blockbuster deal comes two games into the season for Detroit. The Pistons have been a model of consistency in recent years, but they were determined to change their core following a third straight exit from the Eastern Conference finals last summer.

The Pistons play at Charlotte Monday night. The Bobcats are coached by Larry Brown, who led Billups and the Pistons to the 2004 NBA title and also guided the Iverson-led Philadelphia 76ers to a spot in the finals in 2001.

Billups returns to familiar surroundings—he was born in Denver and played in college at Colorado. McDyess also will be enjoying a homecoming of sorts, having been a Nugget from 1995-97 and 1998-02.

From AP Sports