Thursday, May 4

American Idol

The viewing and voting public ousted Paris in last night's edition of AI. She was the only remaining African-American . Paris is very talented but her management of the whole competition was poor.
Now only 4 remain , 3 men and 1 female. The likes of Paris have come a long way in the American society. As long as you have the talent, it does not matter what the color of your skin is. That was not the case before.
The members of the Harlem Globetrotters were examples of basketball players initially subjected to racial bias. It's interesting how they were able to break the color barrier in basketball. These experiences are narrated in the new documentary ' The Team That Changed The World ' .
As a basketball historian , I've found the film very informative. There are many parts of the film that opened the eyes of the viewers as to how good the' team of clowns' was . For example , the Globetrotters beat not their fav whipping only boys , the Washington Generals, but the Minneapolis Lakers of George Mikan. And twice at that. The Lakers were then the champions of the National Basketball League (NBL) , the predecessor of the NBA.
Abe Saperstein, a white Jew, acted as their manager to make bookings possible in different venues but especially in the South.
The participation of Phil Jackson , Larry Brown and even Harry Kissinger in the film made it even more interesting.

Too bad Abe Saperstein was no longer around to manage Paris.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting info about the Globetrotters. I'll get the film.

9:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought the Harlem Globetrotters was a bunch of clowns . If the team beat George Mikan and the Lakers, they have game ! Mikan was the Shaq of yesteryears.

12:27 PM  

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