Category: Opinion


Source: CNN

Thanksgiving is traditionally known as a holiday where folks celebrate their gratitude for life, love, family, friends and so on. But this Thanksgiving there is a wafering stench in the sports world due to the ungratefulness of LaVar Ball. Or, is there?

LaVar Ball’s son, LiAngelo Ball along with two of his UCLA teammates, was arrested for shoplifting while on an international basketball trip to China. LiAngelo was looking at 3-10 years of hard time in a Chinese prison along with his teammates when President Trump supposedly spoke to the Chinese President to aid these 3 young men.

In a press conference, LiAngelo thanked everyone for their help including the United States government and President Trump. Everything should be smooth between everyone, right? No. LaVar Ball made the statement to Chris Cuomo, a CNN journalist, that Trump didn’t shake his hand and there was no need to thank everyone if he didn’t know what they actually did.

At first blush, one can hear the arrogance and anger behind Mr. Ball’s words and attitude. But then, if you listen closely–really closely–one can begin to understand Mr. Ball’s statement. LaVar Ball really isn’t saying he’s ungrateful for the President’s help if he really did help. Ball isn’t sure that the President did help.

Ball has a brash personality that seems to be taken as entitled, but in this case, I think he was misunderstood. Ball is a Black man, and like many other Black men playing professional sports these days he could very well question the validity and righteousness of authority. In other words, he may not trust Trump especially the way Trump appears to attack people of color who disagree with him. The NFL protests are about being disrespected as a minority by government officials (police).

Trump has also been known to make a few bumbling mistakes himself expressing his strong opinions with references to domestic terrorists as “good people” and a lack of response to Puerto Rico. Maybe these two men should approach this situation as water under the bridge and stay in the boat. The lack of trust and respect each has for the other is obvious, and it appears there will not be a resolution to this situation anytime soon.

The other obvious thing is we have all given this situation to much of our time . . . we should just let them know their 15 minutes of fame is up.

Ray Rice, Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, Art Schlichter, Zeke Elliott, Michael Vick, Floyd Landis, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, are all players who have committed a crime–either on the field of play or off–that caused them to lose favor with the fans and the broader community.

The question becomes how long do we continue to persecute those athletes after they have apologized or finished their sentence. There are 3 UCLA basketball players–LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill–who are now facing that same persecution. While these players like the ones listed above brought the persecution on themselves, it remains to be seen how long they must face this persecution. Currently, the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) has stated these players are suspended indefinitely.

And so it seems most players who bring persecution on themselves by committing illegal acts or cheating by using performance enhance drugs end up with lifetime bans. This is true of Pete Rose, Lance Armstrong, Art Schichter, Ray Rice and Barry Bonds. The lies were too big when they came to light. Yet, fans and the broader community in general seem to be able to move past the mistakes of others like Michael Vick, Maria Sharipova and Zeke Elliott after they have paid their dues and apologize.

So, how long will those young men from UCLA have to wait before they will see grace and mercy again from the general public? Well, it may depend on how they handle their suspensions. Will they be arrogant and state shoplifting is not a big deal? Or, will they realize the errors of their ways and truly change?

According to Stadium’s The Rally’s poll of viewers, 44% believe that these young men deserve to be suspended for the entire year. A year’s suspension is actually a small penalty to pay considering these young men were looking at 10 years of hard time in a Chinese prison. Let’s hope these young men learn from the likes of Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress and x so they can change themselves, their surroundings and their futures.


Source: CBS Sports