And The Most Racist Article Of The Year Award Goes To…
Hooped Up | December 20, 2008
Just when I thought this was the most racist thing I would witness in 2008, along came an article by Mark Hasiuk of the Vancouver Courier to steal the show. Last week, Bill Simmons of ESPN sat down with David Stern and the Vancouver Grizzlies was Stern’s answer as to his greatest NBA regret: ”I wish we hadn’t had the Vancouver experience,” he said. “Great city, and we disappointed them and we disappointed ourselves.”
Since that interview, the Vancouver Grizzlies topic became a relevant story again and it sparked many discussions, posts and articles about the failed NBA Vancouver experiment. Now, I don’t know if Mark Hasiuk was a fan of the NBA or the Vancouver Grizzlies, but what I do know is that the 1940’s called and it wants him and his views back. In Hasiuk’s column titled “NBA: a ghetto gutter run by money grubbers”, all Hasiuk proves is that he’s about as culturally diverse as an Arby’s roast beef sandwich.
The NBA is America at its worst … where money and image trump teamwork and athletic achievement. Players like Allen Iverson–perhaps the greatest basketball talent of his generation–spend more energy producing sneaker commercials than winning basketball games. NBA players wear saggy shorts, roll in posses and cuss on camera.
Good on you Mr. Hasiuk, for letting television decide what you need to learn about culture. I mean, who needs to interact with others when television can provide a packaged stereotype of Black America for you…right? There’s more.
“To be fair, the NBA, like other professional sports leagues, is a business. And it’s not responsible for the endemic problems of black America. But considering basketball’s influence on black popular culture, the NBA has a responsibility to produce a “positive” product, not the ghetto garbage we see today.”
Silly me, I thought that people like you Mr. Hasiuk, that kept the ball rolling on racial stereotypes were a bigger problem for Black America? Then again, Mr. Hasiuk probably has a better cable package than me so he knows far more about culture than I. Plus, I’ve never travelled to the ethnically diverse cities of Victoria or Kamloops to learn as much as he has regarding Black America so I could be wrong.
So speaking of Arby’s, Hasiuk then gets all weepy eyed when talking about former Vancouver Canucks captain Trevor Linden getting his number retired, as if the NBA and their players should aspire to be like the NHL with it’s band of “heroes” and “good guys”.
Sure, maybe the NBA should be more like the NHL where they prefer to keep their thugs on ice so they can cash in on them in action during a game like, Todd Bertuzzi who was charged with assault causing bodily harm for breaking a players neck in a game, or like Marty McSorley who was guilty of assault with a weapon for his on ice attack of Donald Brashear.Or the off ice topper of them all Dany Heatley, who was charged with vehicular homicide after killing his teammate by crashing his Ferrari 360 Modena joy riding. This act of leadership was good enough for his current team the Ottawa Senators to name him as the clubs alternate captain, a great role model indeed!
Sorry– but since I last checked, the NBA has no team with a killer employed on their current NBA roster.
After reading Mark Hasiuk’s article I still don’t know if he’s a basketball fan, but for the Vancouver Courier to stand behind him as a writer and let his words see the light of day is shocking. If free speech had an emotion it would be regret, after reading his piece.
But hey– at least he’s demonstrated enough knowledge of culture and business to work in the NHL’s front office, which probably suits him better anyway.
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Great article Hooped Up!
This Vancouver columnist should be fired, for such a racist article!
What a bonehead!
WOW! Damn how could this guy still be employed. Good luck on Monday Mark Hasiuk. He should be embarassed to be a human being in 2008!
The NHL sucks and the players in that league are second class athletes compared to the NBA!
I know a bit about Hockey and your right! The NHL loves their thugs on the ice so they can cash in on them! They need to fight less and score more!
When they came to the UK it was the biggest joke ever! That journo in Vancouver should be fired for being so ignorant!
Cheers
[...] + And The Most Racist Article of the Year Goes To… [Hooped Up] [...]
The best thing about this whole ordeal, is that the NHL is influenced by Black Culture, what music do you think is in Alex Ovechin, Jonathan Toews , Patrick Kane, Jarome Iginla ipod. I am pretty sure Sidney Crosby, the poster boy of the NHL knows more and is more accepting of Black Culture then this fool. I could write an article about this, but I don’t have 2 days to write it, nor do ignorant people need to be given any lime light. I am savvy with b ball and hockey, I know the ins and outs of both leagues, and I know the politics of both. Plain and Simple, The NHL only wishes they are as profitable and well marketed as the NBA, NHL players love b ball and the all the positives that come with it. NBA players could care less about ice and skating but respect the sport. NBA players only wish they could fight some one on the court and only get a penalty. And lastly only David Stern, and Bill Walton wish that the NBA had the squeeky clean “image” that the NHL “perceives” to have. I grew up in a hockey town, and interacted with many NHL players, there’s no other sport that has UNWRITTEN codes like the NHL, and any hockey player of any level can tell you many a story about how they conduct themselves off the ice.
This was one of the funniest and smartest things I’ve read all year!!!
How was that article racist? It’s no more racist than this article, or any of the other reverse-racist articles. Stop being so sensitive. You want to rid our society of racism? Stop taking it so seriously! Until then, people will continue to use it because they know it bothers people like you.
pshhh come on racist? thats a bunch a huge BS take one look at the nba and remove the god damn shutters from youre eyes…..its full of tattooed from head to toe guys who talk like there at a nwa reunion and give me a break if you dont tihnk that tru…. and that msg u said about hockey? well the nhl doesnt have guys posting pictures of guns and drugs (beasley) and guys walking in the stands and knocking ppl (artest) and guy who carry loaded shotguns and machine guns (delonte west) JUST TO MENTION A FEW i can go on and on but i dont feel like wasting my time with these idiots who feel this way…… simply, you’re all too scared of saying what you feel cuz you guys are part of the problem sayin theres nothing wrong…..well maybe i should tattoo my body like a god damn portrait wanna be gangster just because i want to and ill start packing some gats with me as well……youre all tools
Blaze 89 you have your point of view, I had mine ( had is the key word ) because this article was in 2008, and I barely remember two months ago, for the simple fact that I’m too busy living life. Blaze ask yourself this, have you played basketball at any level? Are you familiar with different cultures? Are you educated on tattoos? Do you know that there are more white baseball pictures with full sleeves, and plenty of hockey players with sleeves as well ( sleeves is a term used for having tattoos covering or mostly covering neck to shoulder to arms ) Do you know there are more incidents of “thugs” that have entered the stands in hockey, and soccer than basketball, and if not then I’ll get you the links to them next year, because as I stated previously, I’m busy living, but felt compelled to just throw a tid bit your way ( as a educated sports fan, not just the whole racism issue ) The NWA comment was classic, very nice, it gives away your inner true inner thoughts ( but then again if you were black and said that does it make it more justifiable….hmmm, I’ll think about that one on my own ) back to what I was saying, if you have a problem with tattoos then that’s okay, if you think the NBA players don’t portray “society’s” views then thats okay, as a man of colour agree that it can use a shake up as well. This article is more prejudice than it is racist in my view ( after reannaylizing it AGAIN ) The problem with the article is that it non verbally generalizes certain traits to NBA players, that is a league dominated by blacks, and like anything in life the squeeky wheel gets the grease, because you never hear of the plenty of non tattooed up players or the many tattooed up players that are very genuine members of society that play for the NBA. The NBA does more charitable work than ANY OTHER LEAGUE IN THE WORLD, they support over 20 charities, no league can say that. So in closing quit comparing tattoos to thugs, unless you want to compare baseball to your rant ( I call it a rant, because you take it personal, and it comes through in your writing, instead of looking at it from a non biased opinion ) non verbally I use baseball for a reason, because it is a league with MANY players with tattoos of plenty of interesting things, and it is a league dominated by white players….hmmm sound familar.
P.S. Non ignorant people, and those that truly are not prejudice or racist never use “you guys”, because who are you guys lol see racism is funny Smoothy with the extra y on top.
P.S.S I live in Vancouver now, and have done my research on the original writer, and sources say that this material is is up his alley, and wait a minute, Vancouver has a 5% black population….hmmm…. just saying I’m not racist my best friends are white and my girlfriend is persian so I am definitely not racist to middle easterners.
When you assume a certain behaviour, characteristic, trait, etc belongs only to a certain group or class of humans ( that’s what we all are ) with no interaction or personal knowledge, but just hear say, and media…… you are a in the early stages of being racist or prejudice, when you believe these before mentioned to be true that is when you are racist. Various human beings in the NBA portray a weak and negative image, of which they receive press and publicity for it. These certain individuals do not represent anything but themselves as a person and the jersey they wear, because they represent only those two things, I wouldn’t even go as far to say their family. In saying this other individuals understand the difference and do not generalize, because then they would not be representing a certain group, characteristic or trait with their words or actions.
everything hasiuk sad is correct and everything you said is wrong.
JR Smith killed a guy