The Bogut Blackout: How the Truth Fails to be Told

By: D.K. Wilson

Andrew Bogut spoke out in a Sydney Morning Herald newspaper feature by David Sygall on his perception of the state of America and it black NBA mirror. I included Bogut’s words and my opinion of them in a Friday collection of sports briefs.

People got - angry. They went off on Bogut. Slammed his words. Attacked him personally. Attacked his game. The comment section here at The Starting Five (TSF) was crazy heated. I defended Bogut’s view of the U.S. and his general view of NBA players. This is one time the Internet served “the better good.”

If we were all at a BBQ things might have been a different story. The heat of the day and the Q and the conversation might have resulted in fractured relationships, seconds and third thoughts about each other’s motives, and willingness to think beyond race or concentrate on race. But since we’re writing and at a monitor and geographic distance, heads ultimately cooled, though we all knew and know this is just the beginning of more intense dialogue.

Yet, there’s something wrong with this picture.

The scene, the dialogue, the contentiousness of the conversation only took place only at one place - The Starting Five. Where was everyone else? What happened to all those websites that report the slightest indiscretion by black athletes - you all know who you are. Beyond a painfully milquetoast June 18 mention, where was and is Henry Abbott, the chronicler of all things NBA and his words on Bogut on his ESPN-styled True Hoop?

Where is Bethlehem Shoals in one of his Free Darko diatribes weighing in on Bogut or Will Leitch at Deadspin? Where is the Slam Online entry from Ben Osborne? Where is Chris Broussard, or Jemele Hill, or Todd Boyd, or Bill Simmons? Where is Dan LeBatard, Stephen A. Smith, or Mitch Albom?

Where are you when Andrew Bogut says this:

“The public’s image of NBA players is true,” he says. “A lot of them get caught up in the hype and do video clips with rappers and all that crap. They want bling bling all over themselves and drive fast cars. But that’s just the way the culture is in America - if you’ve got it flaunt it and if you don’t, you can’t.

“I’m not into jewellery (Australian spelling). I’ve got some earrings but they’re not too expensive. There are guys who drop a hundred grand for a chain. The public’s got it right - a lot of NBA stars are arrogant and like to spend lots of money and have lots of girlfriends and all that.

“The smarter guys don’t do that. They like to live a regular life and want to retire and be set up. About 80 per cent of them go broke by the time they retire or come close to it.

“We have compulsory tutoring each week where they teach you to manage your money and they tell you about all the things that can happen to you, people trying to take advantage of you, but it’s amazing how many guys totally ignore it. I guess if you’re a normal person and suddenly you’re getting $10 million a year, it can go to your head.

“But it’s just the culture over there. I would never want my child to be brought up in an environment like that, where if you have money you’re supposed to flaunt it and make everyone jealous.

“The American attitude is ‘We’re the best’. That’s why the NBA guys who come from other countries, the Europeans, all sort of stick together away from the game.”

Like his words or not, Bogut is providing an ultimate insider’s view of the NBA. He is the only present-day player in recent memory to say anything this revelatory, positive or negative.

We beg on bended knee for something more than stock answers from athletes; condemn them for revealing themselves to the public. Even athletes members of the sports media generally dislikes like Kobe Bryant are secretly thankful for his frantic honesty because it supplies them with words, with copy; with a source of rumor, conjecture, and opinion.

Andrew Bogut just pulled a Kobe Bryant. Yet, in 99 44/100% of America’s sports media outlets, there is silence.

There are sports writers who refuse to speak his name, but what happens if Jason Whitlock says this? C’mon, don’t be shy. What happens if the Real Bojanger, Mr. Chitlins aka Scrapple Lips commits Bogut’s words from his corpulent, grease-laden fingers to keyboard to monitor to his first diatribe at Bill O’Reilly central, better known as FOX - Sports?

A firestorm takes place, that’s what. All those above-mentioned spots are on auto-chime in. Dan Patrick is interviewing Charles Barkley. Chuck D is interviewing Dave Zirin. The Two Live Stews are smoking hot down in the ATL. First and Ten commits not one but two segments, and Skip Bayless is freaking out. Bob Ley is solemnly excerpting Mr. Chitlins and then turning to Scoop Jackson, Zirin, and some ex-NBA player to fill the airwaves with their feelings.

Around the Horn follows with a “Buy or Sell” segment on the issues Scrapple Lips raised. Kornheiser and Wilbon pontificate, then do a Five Good Minutes with Greg Anthony to further delve into the subject matter and its ramifications. And you know SportsCenter is going to follow up with three more guests putting in even more “yeas” or “nays.”

What if Kobe, with his European sensibilities, utters Bogut’s word? Whew! The level of discussion extends beyond the aforementioned into Mike and Mike in the Morning, Mike and the Mad Dog and a Sports Illustrated feature examining whether or not NBA players truly represent America.

But this is Andrew Bogut, a white center who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks who said what he said. And the excuses flood in: he’s a nobody; he plays in a small market; I didn’t even know the Sydney Morning Herald existed; who cares what this stiff says.

Wrong excuses. Bogut was the first pick in the 2005-06 NBA Draft. Not just a first round draft choice but the first pick in all the draft. Last season he averaged 12.3 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game. After the All-Star break he played like one of the best centers in the NBA. The Bucks are looking to add one more player to their roster and they feel that with Michael Redd and Bogut as their cornerstones, they can go deep in the Eastern Conference playoffs in the 2007-08 season. Should the Bucks coming year go as planned, Bogut will be hailed as on of the reasons East teams are closing the competitive gap on their Western Conference counterparts.

Is Bogut an insignificant NBA player? Hardly.

So, where are the words? Where are the 800-word Page Two blasts advocating and blasting Bogut’s perceptions? Where are the single paragraph mentions on the blogs and indie sports websites? Where is the Bogut follow-up in the Friday or Monday Bullets? Nowhere to be found.

Instead, Abbott writes about wild NBA draft day trade rumors, a video of Kevin Durant arriving in Portland (talk about insignificant!) and the fact that ex-Portland Trailblazer enforcer Maurice Lucas was a vegetarian.

There is also a piece about how rookies should handle their new-found riches. Finally, a perfect place for Bogut’s comments! This is where sober, albeit contentious, statements from a young player can be inserted. I read to the end in expectation of seeing Bogut’s words repeated and used in some form or fashion as either a cautionary tale or as an error in perception.

They were nowhere to be found.

What is it, then, that makes the Bucks center’s comments so sacrosanct? Ahhh, it’s because he’s white. I bet that’s part of it. It’s because he’s white and many white writers are scared to death of exposing themselves to charges of racism. I bet that’s closer to the truth. It’s because Bogut is white and writers black and white are afraid to weigh in for fear of having to actually attach “place” to themselves and the sports world they view.

They refuse to take a meaningful stand on a contentious issue for fear that the next time they approach a black NBA player or Bogut, they may be dismissed for their stance. Like the best politicians, so many scribes loathe to alienate their constituencies by being forced, through their own words, to elucidate their stance. It’s because they do not want to be held accountable for their views.

As contentious as the resultant discourse might have become, it would have led to us deeply discussing subjects like Bogut’s perceptions on what he perceives as a pervasive, overbearing and materialistic American attitude and its ersatz microcosm - the players of the NBA - that might actually be of great help in coming to a better understanding of the world in which we live, the sports we cover, and the athletes who play the games.

Too bad. Too, too bad.

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D.K. Wilson is a freelance sports writer. He is better known on the internet as "DWil," and writes for Sports On My Mind.

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