where the black people at?

When you turn on any sporting event these days do you ever see black faces in the crowd? The NBA has its celebrities in the front row and some of them are black. Spike Lee is at most Knick home games. Will Smith will be at 76er games. Denzell is a Laker fan, Nelly owns a piece of the Cavaliers and he is at games involving good teams. Jay-z does the same for the Nets. Isn't it sad that i could name the faces in the crowd? Now on most football teams, the celebs are in a press box and if they are a former player, they may end up on the sidelines. But what about average Joe and Jane? Ticket prices are not outrageous. Maybe the camera pans only at specific shots. The T&A shot created in the 60's is still live and well today. Isn't that how Pam Anderson got discovered?
When the NBA instituted this rule that mandated that its players dress business casual I immediately thought that is was a slap at cultural diversity. When i heard that basically David Stern wanted to send a message to the fans of the league that this is business, I laughed my head off. Then i realized that he had a point. He felt that these people are basically paying the salaries of these players and they wanted to see a millionaire basketball dress like he took his wealth seriously. Throwback jerseys though cool and trendy, may cost as much as a two-piece suit but not good enough for the people doing most of the consuming of the product. The NFL players usually take the dress thing to the nines. Have you ever seen Ray Lewis without his suit and hat on before a game? When I was in High school, we wore a jacket and tie if we had on the road to games. We looked good and usually played well.
So where are the black people? I tell you where we are. We are at home watching the games. You know why? Who represents us? In baseball, the decline of the black players is rapid and steady. In the 70's and 80's most teams had at least 35-40 percent blacks on them. It seemed that each team had an up and coming player or the next "Willie Mays" type player. Last season in the Major Leagues 6 black starting pitchers in the entire major leagues. The Major League All star game this year had only 4 or 5 representatives from both leagues combined. The Latino population in baseball has grown exponentially. Most Major league rosters have twice as many Latin players than black players. All teams seem to have a headquarters in the Dominican Republic or somewhere in Latin America spreading the baseball doctrine. Little league fields are being turned into soccer fields and football fields. Football and Basketball have made all of their front row or good seating available to corporations and celebrities. I sat on the floor at a Clippers game 5 years ago and felt better than special. I got to eat and drink all i wanted and me friend Dave and I walked over to the Pistons bench during a timeout and discussed plans for the evening with Rick Mahorn and Grant Hill. I went to see the Giants play the Chargers down in San Diego and the good seats were for the families and corporate sponsors. Now I had juice back in the day and I so I was getting a lot of quality seats when i went to Lakers Games at the Forum. I even met Wayne Gretzky when the Kings played the Rangers in Gretzky first game against the Kings as a Ranger. I promise you there were no black faces in the crowd there either. I felt special...
So until all of the sports realize that I have money too, I will stay home with the rest of my brethren and get fat and watch the games on my 52 inch television.