Quote:
Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall
http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/201...se/?ref=sports
I thought it was a bit of an empty, bullshit, defensive response. And that's understandable. Grant Hill is a good person. But he's missing the fucking point. Jalen Rose is no genius. And I think he placed too much of the focus on the black players who have played for Duke. What he should have said is, Duke looks at white players first. Then, they look at elite black players who fit Coach K's mold. And that mold sure as hell is not urban, street, ghetto-type players (no matter what their grades). It's the same with most firms. Are you an Uncle Tom if you accept an offer at Wachtell* and you're the only black guy there? Of course not. But Wachtell isn't looking for black associates who aren't the absolute cream of the crop at the top of their Ivy league classes. They have the defense of saying, "We only recruit those types of associates," but we all know what that means. That means they know exactly what type of mix they're going to get and it's lilly white.
If Grant Hill had any fucking balls at all, he would question the number and type of black players that Coach K recruits. He could do that and still confirm the character of his teammates (whether we agree with him or not). But there is no way Grant Hill does that because it's easier to write a fluff piece that ignores Rose's underlying point. It's well-written, talks about family and his teammates, but avoids any criticism of self or school. And I hate to say it, but it's just the kind of piece that makes white people happy. He's one of the good ones, that Grant Hill.
TM
*And I'm using Wachtell as the generic SuperEliteBigLaw firm.
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kids out of this city play their entire school careers playing with no white kids, and against few. it seems to me they carry the bias that white kids, and black suburban kids, are soft. in a way they're right. Detroit kids are tougher (not more skilled, rougher harder meaner), although the suburban kids can play to that level, they are playing tougher since they're on a court with city kids- the city kids are playing ball the way they play all the time. they walk onto courts knowing as much.
I also feel Grant Hill is soft, he can play, but when he was the Pistons' savior he was not tough- need a big shot? don't count on it-2 free throws to ice a game? Hill will miss one.
My sense is the toughness is mostly an economic/lack of hope thing- who knows.
Jalen did say he was wrong about Laetner and Duke, so the overall thing could have been ignored by Hill-
But if Hill was to respond, I sort of think he did okay. First, as to trash talking, the number one "win" is "scoreboard" and Grant called that.
As to what Grant defended, the Fab Five guys called out Duke not by citing player racial stats over a decade, but by questioning Hill's family and heart. How does he respond to that by saying Jalen has a good point?
And understand, I am a Rose fan, and I dislike Hill, but I think you perhaps call on him to do more than he could be expected to do- the man was defending himself.
Coach K's choices? Fuck I don't know- I agree with Jalen, but I'm not sure that Grant had the ability to defend his background while calling out K (assuming grant feels the same way I do (and the way you do)).
edit: rereading you said his thing was understandable, so maybe you were making a point beyond his statement
