We talked recently about the impact of Asian's in sports within the United States. One topic that came up was about Yao Ming and how he was portrayed when he came to the United States. Many viewed him as slow and non-aggressive and that he would not perform very well in the league going up against bigger, aggressive players.
We then talked about how Shaq made comments about Yao and how Yao basically had no chance against him and then made what some called racial remarks. Some people in class thought that those remarks were racist and I think that is completely wrong.
I hate how it is so hard for people to just talk within sports without being criticized. The media makes every athlete that speaks out look to be a bad person, when sometimes they are just expressing how they feel or just trying to have fun. Then these players are hit with fines and suspensions. This is why I think that I have such a problem with the fact that people call Shaq’s comments racial. He is a funny guy. He is always making jokes and there are probably not more than two or three instances that I can remember him publically being upset. Most of the issues were dealing with either Kobe or a coach not getting him the ball.
I believe that there is a fine line between what is racism and what is just a person having fun and joking around. Everyone is going to have an opinion and try to make a story out of the smallest of comments, but why even bother with it. In the video, Shaq is very clearly just having fun. It is not like Shaq or Yao retaliated against each other in their games against each other. Shaq loves the competition and wants to play against the best. Some people considered and still consider Yao to be one of the best from China and even in the NBA and so Shaq just wants that upper hand. He wants to be able to get a dig in and just try to get under the other person’s skin.
What I really wonder, is if Shaq said something about an African American or a Caucasian if he would have got the same criticism? I would doubt it.
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Admittedly, Shaq is one of the few athletes who could "get away with" the comments he made about Yao. While most everyone "gets" that it is his sense of humor, what about those who are personally offended? Because there were Asians who felt that Shaq should have apologized. And isn't that a demographic to whom the NBA wants to market?
ReplyDeleteI think it probably would have been the right choice to apologize for what he said, even if it was just a couple of weeks later. I would agree that there were many Asians that would have been offended by what he said, but if people from Asia really liked and enjoyed the sport, then I would think that they would realize that Shaq does this type of stuff all the time.
ReplyDeleteAsia is an area that the NBA wants to market towards, but this should not have that much affect on their marketability.