HBO Sports Must "Get Real" with Bryant Gumbel for NBA Slavery Remarks
It's time for HBO Sports to "get real" with Bryant Gumbel.
Last night the veteran HBO Real Sports host capriciously clucked about NBA Commissioner David Stern's current handling of the NBA labor negotiations, likening him to a modern-day plantation owner who treated NBA men as if they were his property.
HBO Sports has yet to respond to the brouhaha that Gumbel's totally unrealistic, insensitive historical comparisons and reckless rant have caused.
What a travesty to compare one man's role in the work stoppage of a professional sports league to the past participation of callous slave owners who rarely allowed their subjugated slaves to stop working at all.
What an egregious insult to equate the multimillion dollar wage disputes of today's NBA players with the dour working conditions of indentured black men who never had the opportunity to dispute the earnings they never received.
What careless commentary to compare the current NBA players' supposed plight with the actual, documented and horrific circumstances many of their ancestors experienced and who could never have comprehended the staggering wealth, celebrity adoration, limitless education opportunities and unfettered influence today's black athlete enjoys.
Shame on Bryant Gumbel for invoking unwarranted slavery references in an NBA labor negotiation where the average player earns $4.7 million per year, receives only the finest in available health care and is molly-coddled beyond any 1800's plantation workers wildest imagination.
Shame on the cocksure Gumbel for undervaluing and underestimating hundreds of intelligent, industrious and socially-conscious NBA basketball players by categorizing them as David Stern's "boys" or "hired hands."
Will Gumbel ultimately apologize for his inexcusable grousing?
If not, perhaps it's time for HBO to "get real" with Bryant Gumbel.
Straight talk. No static.
MIKE - the ultimate talking head on sports!
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