(ThyBlackMan.com) Decorated journalist Bryant Gumbel offered a scathing and controversial commentary on David Stern’s handling of the National Basketball Association’s lockout negotiations.
Last week on HBO’s “Real Sports,” Bryant Gumbel said Stern; the commissioner of the NBA is an, “ego-centric commissioner [who] always seems eager to be viewed as a modern plantation overseer – treating NBA men as if they were his boys.” He added, “Its part of Stern’s M.O., like his past self-serving edicts on dress codes or the questioning of officials.”
Wake up Gumbel! Or I guess you much rather the commissioner be derelict in his duties because the League is comprises primarily of men of color.
Let’s play the make believe game. We’re going to pretend that I – a black man – serve as the NBA’s commissioner. Under my leadership, direction, management, supervision, control or whatever adjective you believe to be appropriate, I have 30 franchises (owners and coaches), 450 players, approximately 70 referees and other leagues to include the Developmental, 
WNBA and Euro leagues. Isn’t it my responsibilities to make prudent decisions that will best serve the NBA’s brand?
Now for a brief moment I’m going to return to reality.
As an entrepreneur “being about my business” is an absolute must. I enter each negotiating session with a clear picture of my worth complemented by what I will accept and what I choose to sacrifice. I understand that in those negotiations potential clients are attempting to secure the best deal for their companies and I trust that they understand that I too seek what’s best for me – this is business. One of my current clients refers to me as “The Mercenary” because my disposition boldly states that I’m about my business and my money.” While my negotiations are stern (pun intended) I’m never haughty or insolent as has been suggested of Stern.
Allow me one addition moment for a brief self exposé.
As the principle person responsible for a growing enterprise, I provide and expect volunteers, employees, contractors and even my wife (my partner in business) to clearly understand what is expected of them: my brand is on the line. My failure to provide – with clarity – what is expected puts my company in harm’s way. If I were the NBA’s commissioner it would be my purpose, my charge, to arrive at the table prepared to achieve that which is best for that which I represent. Does this cause me to be a modern plantation overseer? Will every decision rendered by Stern be viewed as racist – viewed as if his sole purpose is simply to “keep the hired hands in place?”
Bryant Gumbel’s contentions about Stern are more hyperbole and off colored than authentic. Isn’t insuring that referees aren’t gambling on games under Stern’s purview; that’s protecting the game’s integrity! And why shouldn’t Stern set the tone for how players represent the League through their actions and their dress; that’s sheltering the league’s image. I love wearing my Yankee fitted cap cocked slightly to the left and my Air Force 1 or old school Jordans. As often as I can I will rock a smooth sweat suit or a pair of jeans. However when it’s about business, I’m donning a fly suit atop a French cuffed shirt decorated with my initials on the left cuff. My ensemble is complete with my colorful tie tied with a Windsor knot. I don’t wear a suit to bed or pajamas to church and I’ve yet to see Mr. Bryant Gumbel on any studio set decked out in a doo-rag blinging a diamond encrusted necklace. Why shouldn’t million dollar businessmen come to work dressed as such – or maybe they are nothing more than just athletes?
These dudes ain’t field slaves under the whip of oppression, and folks need to cease with this simile. If the Kobe Bryant and DeWyane Wade’s of the NBA are slaves earning millions then pray God for the everyday black man who earns – if lucky – $50,000. The players that Bryant Gumbel and others are attempting to protect with the power of their pens [Dr. Boyce Watkins, a brilliant writer and professor writes: “Bryant Gumbel has done a wonderful thing for the players by acknowledging the racial writing on the wall of the NBA lockout.”] are multi-million dollar athletes. They are more than ballers; they are businessmen with immediate and extraordinary branding value. Do they possess the wealth of their NBA owners – “no?” But even a paltry salary of $2 million per year these young black men possess the extraordinary ability to leave an inheritance for their children’s children.
I neither serve as an advocate for Stern nor a distracter of Bryant Gumbel, but hell I just don’t get it. These players, at any level, will secure a hefty percentage of the $2.1 billion revenue stream. If folks like Bryant Gumbel continue to be tied to this ante bellum south analogy then it is fair – in the spirit of Nat Turner or Denmark Vesey – that they also call out some of these rich, power black men who will return, in the off-seasons, to the affluent neighborhoods that border the communities that they are descendents of (Georgetown oppose to Southeast D.C.; Beverly Hills oppose to Inglewood or Buckhead oppose to Southwest Atlanta), to throw lavish parties in clubs owned by rich white men, while choosing against rendering any real investment in the communities of their youth.
I am exceedingly exhausted by this woe-is-me disposition so many folks too frequently espouse. Screening these negotiations solely as old, rich and powerful white men versus young, brass black men is far too narrow a lens to view this billion dollar deal through. In addition, this perilous way of comparing these athletes to slaves or Stern to an overseer belittles the history of our ancestors shackled by chattel slavery or bonded by the invisible glue of servitude slavery. Bryant Gumbel’s consignation also makes light of the 21st century black man who can’t afford to resign from a ‘Just Over Broke’ job that fails to pay enough to adequately provide for his family.
Modern plantation overseer; C’mon man – “you’re better than [this],” or are you?
Staff Writer; Reginald Williams
For more articles on Relationships visit Rule Your Wife and for Marriage Counseling; Marriage Nectar.
