[Yahoo] McGrady may skip 2008 All-Star game in New Orleans

uh oh jvg calling tmac out !?

 

If I was Tmac I would be looking foward to playing with team mates that could hit a shot as well...

 

I couldn't disagree more; I applaud Tracy for addressing the elephant in the middle of the room. The reports of the thugery and crime that occurs during all star weekend have been around for years. By all accounts, Vegas was a complete disaster in regards to order, decency, and safety. It takes guts to say this sort of thing; especially when much of your income is dependant upon endorsements that are contingent upon this subjective idea of "street cred." It takes nuts to address an issue such the security of New Orleans when you're almost sure to draw the fury of the people of your own race. I'm not black, but if I was, I'd be proud that McGrady has the guts to remind all of us that being a black man in America is not synonomous with criminal and antisocial behavior.

 

That's the funniest f-ing thing I've seen on this board in a looooooong time.

 

dude, you're projecting

 

Something feels wrong about this. Shouldn't this conversation have happened behind closed doors instead of in front of KHOU cameras? Seems very petty on T-Mac, Alston and the Rockets part.

 

uh, maybe i missed it... but what did alston say?

 

KHOU


Mischief turned to mayhem at the 2007 All-Star Game in Las Vegas. Reports indicate 360 arrests were linked to the three-day event.

And what happened in Vegas didn't stay in Vegas. Now some NBA players are worried about next year's event scheduled in New Orleans.

Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady has been an NBA All-Star seven times, but reports of increased crime and violence in the aftermath of Katrina has T-Mac thinking maybe the league should revisit its decision to bring the 2008 event to New Orleans.

"I don't think it's the right city to have this type of event right now," said McGrady. "I know the city is trying to get back on its feet and in need of money, but safety comes first."

Recently the Crescent City hosted its annual Mardi Gras celebration. While the event was smaller than usual, city officials feel like they managed it well.

"If we can handle Mardi Gras, we can handle anything," said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

"The NBA, they bring in a crowd, they bring in a spring break crowd, they bring in a hip hop crowd, and we simply have to deal with it," said New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley.

The NBA would love to have the game in the Big Easy and the city could use the money, but the players have concerns.

"The question lies: Do you invite family and friends? Now you have to keep an eye on you're mom, brother, sister or close friend," said Rockets Guard Rafer Alston.

"If I don't feel that I will be safe, if I'm on that team, I will look into not even going," said McGrady.

"'I just don't want to take a chance.' That's what a lot of the players and people from around the league will say,'" prediction Alston. "What happens when you have 500,000 people, people who earn a lot of money going there? Right now it's unsafe."

NBA Union Chief Billy Hunter will be in New Orleans next week to check on the accommodations for the players and their guests, but Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is not really concerned.

"We've already been to New Orleans. I never felt unsafe there. That's much ado about nothing. That's just me," said Rockets Coach Jeff Van Gundy. "I'd be more worried about, well that's enough."

 

its true, no offense to anyone, i see a black person in street in the middle of the night, im thinkin man im fixin to get robbed or shot at

 

Personally, I have been in New Orleans recently and I wasn't nervous at all. I went out by myself and walked to and from Bourbon street and the casino in the French Quarter with no instances of any crime or violence at 2 and 3am.

The problem won't be the people of New Orleans, the problem will be any riff-raff that the game brings into the city. You think the people of Las Vegas were the ones causing problems there? Heck no, it was the "thug wannabes" that followed the game there.

I admire Tracy's honesty, and I think if he really is concerned with safety then he has every right to question what security will be there. But in reality its not as dangerous a city as its current reputation seems to make it out to be.

 

Absolutely! I should have read your post before I commented.

It doesn't surprise me that the answers were taken out of context.. they normally are

 

I haven't seen Spikes movie, however, New Orleans is bomb shelter. People on the job will not take significant promotion to move to New Orleans (serious coin - additional $30K).

Also, the police force is nonexistent, except in the French Quarter and they cannot recruit any cops to go there. Also, the NBA would need the national guard or watch players get ripped.

I'm surprised the Essence Festival will be held there this year

 

Kudos to the league for taking the All-Star game to New Orleans, who could use it. If security has been a concern for All-Star games, the year it goes to New Orleans isn't the year to complain about it in public. If it has been a concern for years, it is something the league should address in whatever way it can, for their own sake. But, if Tracy can suck it up to go to Vegas, I expect him to suck it up and go to New Orleans, and would reproach him if he does not.

 

Well, the city's ability to handle the ASG is what's at question, not whether NO is safe to visit.

I would say that the current ASG brings about an amplification of crime with it. Going back as far as Atlanta's year hosting it, I've noticed that ASG weekend has morphed into a NBA/hip hop party festival, picking up more and more peripheral posers along the way like a snowball going downhill. Posse members lead to wannabe posse members, groupies, there-just-to-be-seen riff raff, and troublemakers. Fair? Put it in a 'party city' like Vegas and the peripheral people (the greatest influx of troublemakers) jumps off the chart. New Orleans will very likely attract the same types, as opposed to an ASG being held in Seattle or even Dallas.

The next thing is evaluating the city's ability to handle violent crime normally. Vegas:
1.5 times above the National averages for murder and robbery, 1.3 times above the National average for all violent crimes.
New Orleans:
Over 7 times the national average for murder, double the national average for robbery, and 1.6 times the National average for all violent crimes.

Seems a little sobbering to me. Just over a month ago, there was a protest rally at NO City Hall over the post-Katrina crime spike in the last few months (20 homicides in the first 5 weeks of the year). I don't have numbers handy, but I believe (and could be wrong) that the police force has not been restored to pre-Katrina levels.

The flipside is, New Orleans has historically been amazing at keeping the crime isolated from the tourists. Most of the crime is local on local.

In the end, I think most people like and hold onto the feelgood story idea of NO more than looking closely at its realities.

Evan

 

Athletes are not paid to be role models or do-gooders.

If TMac still has the memory of one of his relatives killed by (gun) violence in recent years, how could you fault him for not going to New Orleans out of concern for safety?

 

READ: "I'm not black, but I am a jackass."

Look, we all love Tracy here, but this is just some dumb ____ to say. I'm not exactly sure NO can handle the All-Star game, but acting as if he will be in anymore danger than he is walking the streets of Houston or was in Las Vegas is ridiculous.

 

A stupid issue to comment on. Tmac's answer is going to hurt his fans in that city.

 

TMac has his right of his own opinion but I think it's a little bit out of line. Should he be concerned about the security in NO? Definitely. But it should be a concern in general, that is, to the normal fans and tourists. As for him personally, unless there is another Katrina coming, the chance he gets hurt in NO is no bigger than the chance I die sitting in my office.

If it's NBA asking its players to vote for the next city for All Star and TMac votes against NO for safety concerns, I am 100% with him. Thus I have no problem with this:

But this remark rubs me the wrong way for sure.

 

I just got off the phone with a person very close to me who works Las Vegas Airport fulltime. That person verified all talked about here so far. No guns came in on flights but guns were driven in from LA. This person said those days were the worst days of their working life - by far. The people flying in were absolutely horrible in every way described above already. This person feared for their life and witnessed employees at the airport being assaulted, spit on and yelled at.

Apparently Rosie O'Donnell is championing some local man shot/paralyzed in front of a hotel by a gang member - who everyone including the nba is ignoring. This person also said that a baggage delivery man was attacked by several men and robbed of everything including the luggage he was delivering.

Gangs and weapons were strongly in evidence and the police were overwhelmed.

My person states that if they are ever in a city where the nba all star game is going to be played that they will leave the city for that period of time. They said that Tracy was 100% right and that the same people will fly in next year and anyone in NO will be at risk.

 

Why does the all-star game bring out all these bad people?