Too Much Time on Their Hands
Michael Vick stands in judgment, and it goes without saying that a generation of young black male athletes also stand in judgment. More than Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Pacman “sometimes you need to just call a dangerous psychopath a ‘dangerous’ psychopath” Jones, Michael Vick has now become the stand-in for all that ails professional sports. And it’s not fair, but Michael Vick and his generational cohorts should know better.
The current crop of black male athletes are more visible and better compensated than every generation of black athletes that came before them. And for some of these young athletes, they believe they are beyond reproach because of it, particularly if said criticism comes from the generation of black athletes who toiled on fields, courts and tracks without the glamour and prestige that these young athletes now take for granted. I’m always reminded of Vince Coleman, a former major league baseball player who, months after signing a free-agent contract with the New York Mets in 1991, claimed that he didn’t know who Curt Flood was. It was Flood who, 20 years earlier, challenged the reserve clause in baseball, which essentially made baseball players little more than salaried chattel. Flood was the reason why Coleman and countless others can become free agents and sale their talents to the highest bidder.
As we witness the wealthiest generation of professional athletes ever, increasingly the professionalization process is beginning in childhood, as kids as young as seven and eight years of age are already being prepared for lives in professional sports. It is in this context that many of these athletes, particularly if they are black males, are denied the fullest range of social and cultural experience. The by-product is a generation of young rich athletes who, when they are not toiling for the NBA or NFL, are sitting at home playing video games 10 hours a day, before they hit the club. Lots of money and too much time on their hands and it explains, in part, why figures like Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan might gamble away millions of dollars, why former NBA star Jayson Williams (the black one) might be sitting in his bedroom playing with guns, or why an athlete might become interested in betting on dog fights. The irony is that given their largely unprecedented wealth, this is a generation of athletes who could truly afford to experience the world in ways that their predecessors could only imagine.
For actor Bernie Casey, a former NFL player who played for the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams in the 1960s who nurtured his interests in painting and photography while he was in college (he has two degrees in fine arts) and in the NFL. Then there’s the example of Alan Page, an All-Pro NFL lineman, who pursued his law degree at the University of Minnesota, while he was still playing (he also ran a marathon during that time). Page is currently a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court. And finally there’s former NBA player Dick “Fall Back Baby” Barnett, who was the starting shooting guard in the New York Knicks' 1970 championship. Barnett entered the NBA in the early 1960s without a degree, but during his playing days, not only earned his bachelor’s degree, but also completed a Masters Degree in Public Policy from NYU. With an interest in urban education, after he retired from the NBA, Barnett went on to earn a Ph.D. from Fordham University.
Granted, for the athletes like Casey, Page and Barnett, it was not unusual for them to take on full-time jobs in order to make ends meet in an era when professional sports simply wasn’t as lucrative as it is now. It’s one of the reasons why Casey and Jim Brown, for example, took up acting. So I understand that they were forced by the realities of their moment to broaden their interests. But I wonder what Michael Vick might be doing right now, had he sat down and read a copy of Dick Barnett’s latest book The Funky Jockey Strap - The Social Dilemma: Observations on Education, Black Males and Black Professional Athletes in America during his down time.
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Comments
1.
craig says:
For some reason I think that our capitalist society not only secretly condones this behavior but is entertained by it as well. You're right, most of us are not socialized in the same manner as the mainstream.
So, to us, its like a giant maze of do's and don'ts. I think society finds it amusing to see what we do, to see how we react. I think its just magnified in this case because of how much money is involved.
I guess I know now, why Mike Jordan never said anything when he was playing. He didn't take a stand for no issues, of race color, creed or sexual preference. I guess as the tens of millions of dollars started rolling in, he could feel the microscope and see the people waiting for him to mess up.
08/03/2007 at 4:18 PM
2.
MAN says:
Rob:
points all well taken. Thanks for engaging.
BTW, "Newport News, Virginia--a town that could be Baltimore's play cousin". That's priceless.
MAN
08/02/2007 at 12:51 AM
3.
rob says:
I see your point and it seems logical enough: the new generation of athletes has failed to use their financial and cultural capital to the continue the progressive tradition of the older generation. At a common sense level, that feels right we look at sports, music, and other forms of entertainment and see less substance than yesterday.
two things however;
1) I think you run the danger of holding black athletes to a higher standard than their peers. Young black guys (and most guys of Gen X/Gen Y) generally waste a lot of time playing video games. I would love to see my boy's read more baldwin and discuss how they feel about assata, but, real talk, the new madden just came out.
Tied to that, a dude who grew up in Newport News, Virginia--a town that could be Baltimore's play cousin--might know some brothas who fight dogs. It's not a too much money, not enough Culture (capital C) problem;
its a young black dude from the hood who happens to hang with other young black dudes from the hood problem; although i'm not sure if you want to be in the camp that calls that a problem.
2)before throwing the AI's, Kobe's, and Mike Vick's under the bus, I think the steam rolling effect of late capitalism should be interrogated a bit more closely. there's too much money tied in sports at the grassroots, college, and professional level for a socially progressive, star athlete to really challenge the system. Before multi-million dollar endorsement deals and billion dollar television deals you might see a wider collection of personalities in the sports world. A 1970 New York Knicks team was possible. In an era where we're constantly trying to mechanically reproduce another Jordan, there's a narrower scope of what a professional athlete, especially a black professional athlete, can be. The current model is a guy who said "Republicans buy shoes too."
Basically, I'm not sure that being tied to more wealth offers a greater opportunity for freedom. Rather, you're more deeply tied to system that's going to tell you cut your corn rows, wear a suit to work, and be as uniform as possible so we can sell your shoes to the widest market possible.
08/02/2007 at 12:30 AM