Highlights from the email thread in which we decided not to dedicate a post to the LeBron James race comments

Yesterday morning, when the LeBron James race comments were catching fire across the web, we had a rather lengthy email thread about the topic. Ultimately, we decided that the whole controversy wouldn't quite pass the David Letterman "Is this anything?" test, no matter what Paul Shaffer would think. That said, we had a pretty interesting conversation about it, and we wanted to share some of the things that came out of the dialogue:


mugsy2manute: I could deal with the inferences people drew from Dan Gilbert's ridiculous op-ed. But citing race as a factor for the sake of it is totally not cool in my book. I feel the need to express myself

EndlessPat: Personally, I'm disinclined to respond. I just feel a bit like Mighty Casey took a swing at a pitch in the dirt and we should let it go by. Fuck what I just said, you should write it if you want to.

Andrew Abides: My first question: Why did Soledad bring up race in the first place? Because nobody outside of Jesse Jackson has mentioned it at all. And Jesse Jackson bringing up race isn't all that noteworthy, is it? Did Maverick breach the topic in the pre-interview or something?

mugsy2manute: Patrick, I think that's just the point. Bron is a bright guy and he's got pretty much everything. That's what makes these comments so disgusting to me. They are exactly the kind of counter-productive, shitstorm-causing invocation that detracts from these conversations; here's an opportunity for dialogue--and it's being missed.

Adam Ain't: I think it does a disservice to NBA fans who were upset about how things went down to say that there was racial motivation, even subconciously. Sure, there are probably some mainstream media outlets who that could be said for, but LBJ needs to understand that there was something else, something very different, that real NBA fans, some of whom have voices in the media, were upset about: that they were watching the League turn into nothing else but the WWE.

mugsy2manute: (O'Brien) totally institgates this.

Adam Ain't: Not really. It was a pretty straight-forward question: Do you think race plays a role in this? At that point, he had a choice to say yes, which is obvs his honest answer and I appreciate that, or no, I think people are upset for a lot of other reasons, fans have very strong allegiances, etc, which would have hidden some of what he really feels and avoided whatever minor controversy this stirs up.

mugsy2manute: I respectfully disagree about Ms. Soledad. I think bringing up race, while perhaps a logical follow-up, was essentially a cheap stirring of a pot that didn't need it. As to LeBron actually having feelings on this: How could you possibly tell from that answer? He barely said anything. Race is "sometimes" an issue when it comes to public perception. How controversial!?!? I do agree though that there's not enough here to write about. An interesting thread this has been, nonetheless.