NBA champion coach Phil Jackson says he doesn't watch basketball anymore because it got too political
By: Yahoo News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Eleven-time champion coach Phil Jackson said in a recent interview that he no longer watches NBA basketball, saying that the league was trying to appeal to a "certain audience" with social justice efforts.
On a recent appearance on the "Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin" podcast earlier this month, Jackson told host Rick Rubin that he had not watched NBA basketball since the 2020 pandemic and the league played in a COVID bubble in Orlando, Fla. He said that having phrases like "Justice" and "Equal Opportunity" on the back of players' jerseys instead of their last names was a sign of "catering."
When asked if Jackson continued to watch basketball, he said he did not. Pointing to social justice phrases on a player's jersey, he said his grandchildren thought it was "pretty funny to play up those names."
"They had things on their back like 'Justice' and a funny thing, like 'Justice went to the basket and Equal Opportunity knocked him down,'" he said.
"They even had slogans on the floor, on the baseline. It was catering. It was trying to cater to an audience, or trying to bring a certain audience into play," he added. "And they didn't know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political."
ESPN analyst Jalen Rose blasted Jackson's comments in a video posted to Twitter on Sunday, saying that "You can't make this up."
"The same Phil Jackson that won championships with some of the greatest Black athletes in the history of the game. Michael Jordan. Scottie Pippen. Shaquille O'Neal. Kobe Bryant. Made millions on their backs and off their sweat equity," Rose said.
"You're sitting there watching the game with your grandkids, and ya'll think it's funny when justice passes the ball to equal opportunity?" Rose added. "When somebody shows you who they are, believe them. So stop watching, forever."
The NBA and WNBA made efforts to promote social justice initiatives during their 2020 season, including the NBA painting "Black Lives Matter" on the courts and the WNBA wearing "Say Her Name" jerseys in honor of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot by police in Louisville, Ky. in March 2020. Former President Obama praised the NBA's efforts at the time for "using their platforms to take a stand for racial justice."
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This is an interesting topic, at least to me , and it will probably surprise some of you to hear that I basically agree with Phil Jackson about this. Not because I think the NBA should have ignored Black Lives Matter, etc, but because it became too integral to the way the NBA portrayed its sport.
I love basketball. I coached 13-14 yr old girl's basketball for over 10 years. I know and understand basketball. In my opinion the NBA comes close to unwatchable at times these days. Part of it is the over politicizing of societal issues by the star players, and part of it is the turning of the NBA into more of a reality tv show than a sporting event. The NBA today is all about prima donna players and their little feuds with one another and with their coaches, their huge huge salaries (big stars make 40 million per year and up) , the rap music connections, and the general racialization of the sport, not that there are no non black players, but rather that non black players come off as outsiders from the overall vibe.
Phil Jackson was once a god in the NBA coaching ranks. He has championship rings to fill the fingers on both hands. Now he will be a pariah. Of course he's old and doesnt care anymore.
I'm more of a John Havlicek , Jerry Sloan , type of guy, and those days are gone forever from the NBA.
I don't watch sporting events or attend many these days. Exception: The major games/events I may tune in. Thus, on those occasions when I do tune in, I am pleased with the honorable mention of the teams and governing boards taking stock of the suffering going on in society. It is a sense of community. We talk it and so we ought to be doing it!
That said, I can see where a 'good' thing can be made overbearing, overwhelming, even dull and pretentious. For example, privately, I enjoyed the singing of the Black National Anthem (a cool and 'harmless' song in itself meaning only good) at the opening of the Super Bowl. I was mildly taken aback when one of the announcers mentioned it had/will be song at every game in conjunction with the National Anthem.
It is an additional "tradition" to what is. It is a change of norms. It will take some getting used to.
The Phil Jackson's of the country are 'obliged' to take exception to change, because to be truthful, it is a change to a program that of itself was operating efficiently as it was before!
Change is good, nevertheless. And, a new generation of sports aficionados in the million will come to love the interjection of real world politics. . . accordingly and appropriately.
That being said, in the short term such activities does change more than the format of sports for competition sake. It will make/expose the politics of people's nature and personal views to the public through commentary (such as above) simply because-politics has come to the NBA and all other sporting venues.
It will split people away from their past-time. Why? Because that is what politics - likes and dislikes does to people.
Phil Jackson has opened up about something which makes him potentially want to 'gag' because a beloved past-time and a sort of escapism has dipped itself in a never-ending conquest of wills. The games end in two or several hours. Politics can take seconds, minutes, hours, days, or years to refresh the consciousnesses of spectators.
I personally know a number of guys that have lost interest in the NBA when they used to be pretty interested fans. It is almost entirely because the public persona of the NBA has become over racialized. Maybe that is inevitable when 90 or 95% of the best players are of one race, and a minority race at that, but it does act as a turn off to some of the 70% or so of the rest of the population who dont necessarily approve of turning a professional sports league into a social justice forum.
To me though it goes beyond the social justice thing. They have marketed the NBA as being more about the superstars than the teams , which has led to so many off court "stories" and well, gossiping and aggrandizing which comes off as ego gratification. Kyrie Irving would be a good example of this, but pretty much every team has one or more of this sort of drama queen. Baseball and football and hockey dont have this, and if they do from time to time it is dealt with. One cant help but conclude that the NBA is happy with all this made up drama because it is a black league essentially , and it thinks this is what the fans want to see.
One of the best things about Michael Jordan is that he was all business and his showboating was confined to showing up players who dissed him. He never carried on on the court the way Lebron James sometimes does, and he never spoke out of school about his teammates or other players, at least not until after he retired.
Just play the game and leave the politics to after the game or the off season.
This issue is an act of fait de compli. As goes the players so goes the league itself. These players are on 'front street' because of their race. That is, in society, they see young boys and old men like themselves (probably even fans of the sport teams) being hurt, dissed, and savagely murdered. (Instances of individuals 'riddled' with bullets: OVERKILL.) And, there are girls and women actively marching (along with boys and men) pleading and demanding change. . . and for all intents and purposes sports and entertainment are where blacks and people of color excel well beyond expectation and proportionality.
That is, sports and entertainment are where black males/women/ have influence over society and even some of their critics- at least, up to the back-lashes that some conservatives hope to generate.
Sigh! So yes, there is 'mission' problem. The sport's venue is not "all-purposed" - it has for a long time a stable, solid, program. But, now that these sports and entertainment figures are self-reliant men and women in their own right - they have the opportunity and some activists want them to realize they have a 'duty' should they accept it to speak up/out and reach back to fix what is broken in their brothers and sisters 'condition' all around them.
The NBA as an institution feels the call do action more than some other leagues drawn/drawing themselves into participating. Thus, how can the NBA stay out of the 'messaging'?
That 'dribble' may have plunked and fouled out. Michael Jordan did take some heat for his lack of speaking out, if memory serves me. That said, he held out for professionalism sake and is properly lauded (as is Phil Jackson) for being a star for all the people.
Now, LeBron James, is a different cut of a man.
People in these men's circumstances and means approach like every other 'animal' approach the issues of life, liberty, and social justice as we would expect them to—differently. According to their personalities.
What happened is the political toxicity spills/ed over and seeped into the workings of industries, corporations, and their boardrooms. That is, once corporations opened up to partner with the communities they served - teams- and eventually individual players were not far off and could see the 'green light' which allows them to proceed with caution.
Where this gets 'raggedy' is the push back from the usual suspects who won't budge from their politics/stances/positions opposed to liberals (code for blacks/people of color) to confront them at every turn whether their drive toward justice is right or wrong.
It is what it is.
Conservatives and some conservatives see opportunity to badger, snub, harass, and otherwise diminish the 'star' minorities as ungrateful (thugs/animals) who bite the hands that feed them.
Which leads to the question: When do Blacks and other people of color become self-reliant men and women if they can not speak up for causes they believe?
Follow up question: Why do sports/entertainment boards agree with the sentiment that its time for arenas to participate in change coming to America.
After all. The push to change attitudes and hearts is not occurring in a vacuum. The players may control the fields of play. But, other forces control the venue, per se!
It kinda does surprise, yes.
I don't disagree, but I wonder if they don't see that as their customer base. I have zero data on that, BTW, just a guess.
Part of it is the game itself, for me. I coached basketball for 30 years, but I don't watch the NBA.
I dunno about Phil, but I know that after I scouted so many games, I got burned out on watching them. That's true for football and basketball for me.
Mr. Jackson can thank Trump and Trumpism for everything becoming political. Especially Trump's 'revenge politics' and 'name calling' among dozens of other actions.
Exactly, that never happened before 2016.
Did not say it didn't. But...........not until 'the Trump' did revenge politics and name calling become a multi-million dollar industry.
I will agree with you. Trumpism's stated determination to never cease fighting (the Other) means healing for a 'thousand political cuts' remain open and throbbing indefinitely.
The "other" never seems to stop attacking him, so I can see why he fights back.
There are a million good reasons to attack Trump. The much bigger problem is all those who never attack him.
Why should I attack him? He's no longer president and is unlikely to be reelected.
He is the leader of the Republican party, and a complete asshole.
When I was a kid, one of the things we were taught by the 'elders' in our Irish American neighborhood was that life would be much better if we went through it never being an asshole. No one ever taught Trump that.
The Other attack the corruption that is a soulless man. For instance, I am UPSET with evangelical church leaders ALL DAY/EVERYDAY - continually. Because when I see them on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) I can not forgive them for criticizing and marginalizing black, brown, and LGBTQ people who are not "in" the faith - out of not wishing to be or being kept/left out, and yet these spiritual leaders hold this viperous man who indulges himself in certain/select UNCHRISTLIKENESS on a daily basis.
It speaks volumes when say TBN's HUCKABEE with former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee chooses to air (April 23, 2023 show) a black woman's complaint and phone footage about a Walmart store in Virginia being 'boosted' (ripped off in plain daylight) and yet this same Huckabee, SELF-RIGHTEOUSLY ignores the lies coming out of Trump's mouth to date as he takes to the air waves and is mounting a second campaign for the presidency. Trump has excesses of negative 'BAGGAGE.'
I mean if HUCKABEE is going to talk about high standards then shall we talk about HIGH STANDARDS from top to bottom, up and down, left and right?
One last thing. It is improbable that Donald Trump is innocent of the 'flotilla' of charges brought against him. For he would have to be the most unluckiest public figure in the history of this country to be picked on just because of who he is.
Trump, it seems, enjoys the "sadistic" interplay of lawyers/courts and thus he positions and arranges himself to make sure he keeps something on their dockets - it is a weird 'fetish' if I may say so.
Do you care for the truth or error? Do you support conservative values and principles? Is Donald Trump a man with good character, in your opinion?
So, the first thing someone does is make the thread political.
I was done with the NBA when the Washington, formerly Baltimore, team changed their name from the Bullets, I was already loosing interest in the NBA . But I played rec league basket ball until I was 40
I was playing in the church league until I was 48. Fell during a game and sprained my knee and had to be carried off the court. That was pretty much the end of it. Didnt play the next year.
I was worn out, couldn't jump anymore and couldn't keep up with just out of high school boys and then had hernia surgery just before the season started. I loved playing and it kept me in shape.
There was a guy who was a team sponsor who played a little each game until he was 70.
I have boycotted the NBA, NFL, and professional sports as a whole ever since Kaepernick started his attention seeking bended knee thing and it snowballed from there.