There may be some truth to the statement in some people, but seeing it on the other side (the constant ragging on Don Nelson for years over his parade of tall, lanky, white stiffs here in Dallas), I wonder if it doesn't even out overall. i.e. there may well be those who are only interested in a team because of a player that shares their race, but there are also those white folks who don't follow a team because it does have too many white people on it. I remember when Dirk Nowitski was drafted (well, traded for during the draft), there wasn't this big, "Oh thank goodness the Mavs got a white guy" That pick was widely disparaged locally. It was only after Dirk proved himself after a couple of years in the league that people got on the bandwagon. One of the local race stories has been the treatment of Quincy Carter vs. the treatment of Chad Hutchinson. Hutchinson didn't do any better than Carter when given the chance (prior to last season), but Quincy was disparaged while Hutchinson was held up as the future by many Cowboys fans. Now, that could be attributed to race, or it could be attributed to Carter having a fairly ugly style of play while Hutchinson threw tight spirals that looked pretty (though they oftentimes didn't find their targets) and Hutchinson fir the mold of what Cowboys fans were used to with their QBs. But I also wonder how much of that was simply the 'back-up QB syndrome". When the starting QB is doing poorly, everyone wants the back-up, and if the back-up comes in and makes a few plays here and there (even if he's not even as good as the starter), they point to that as proof the back-up should be the starter. But once Quincy started piling up some wins, there were no calls for Chad Hutchinson. I guess the point is that maybe white people do support white players in the NBA and NFL when the team isn't doing all that well. But when the team is winning (or a guy is an obvious star), they don't care. There may be a point to that to some degree. But once again, I don't think adding a spare white guy to an otherwise all-black team would make white people any more interested in the team.
Also: There are two areas where I've seen white players celebrated in excess of their talent or even their production. 1. There are players on many teams who are really only marginally talented, but they appear to work hard, not complain, and do the best they can. The scrappy underdogs are often white guys and are often liked by many in the fanbase simply because a lot of people like that player who isn't as natrually talented but succeeds (to a degree) anyway. Of course, one of those players on the Mavericks right now is the non-white Eduardo Najera, but it's often white guys who end up in this position (that's not to say there aren't African-Americans who embody the same things, but more often than not, it seems like it's white guys who are filling this role with the fanbase). and, 2. Women. There are many women who aren't natually attracted to sports but get dragged into it by boyfriends, husbands, fathers, etc. Sometimes, these women will celebrate a player more than deserved because he's attractive. So you get guys who are marginal players (Gabe Kapler, for example) who are beloved just because of they appeal to women (though Gabe also had a good attitude, so he partially fit into category 1 here, as well). Even though Jason Kidd is a far better player, Steve Nash has been far more popular during his Mavs days than Kidd was. I think the two above things factor-in big in that (and it helps that the Mavs have had more on-court success recently while they were often crappy during the Kidd days).
First of all i haven't *itched about this thread i just pointed out something that GH said.That was his reason not have have a large number of Black Player to choose from . And just for your info i do give to local youth organizations and spend timewith inner city kids . BECAUSE I WAS ONE TOO.
