Athlete birthday parties -- why the big deal?

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/06/the_moss_man_birthday_party_pa_1.html

The writer in this instance was asking the same question: why do athletes (okay, black athletes) make such a huge freaking deal over their birthday? I'm genuinely curious about this. Anyone in their 20s care to explain this to me?

 

Making a big deal out of a birthday is definitely confined to athletes (okay, black athletes).

 

Yeah, I never see white folks going nuts for their daughters' Sweet 16. Or Hispanics doing over-the-top parties for quinceanera. Or people of all skin tones throwing big 21st birthday parties.

Or my wife having friends fly in from around the country for my 40th birthday party.

 

then the Washington Post is racist, because their guy actually asks the athletes why the big deal. One of them said it was a 'Cane thing.

And why is it racist to ask a question? Isn't that communicating? Isn't that trying to learn about one another. Take your labels and shove them buck.

 

I didn't deny other people make deals over certain occasions. It just seems to me that there's a lot of this among pro athletes -- is it an ego thing? Is it splurging on such an occasion because they can?

 

You know something buck...quit trying to read minds. I asked a fucking question. If you know the answer chime in. If you're going to ridicule people for trying to understand something that might have a cultural basis some kind of which I'm not aware, then go bleep yourself.

 

The only place the word "black" was used by Steinberg was in describing an article of clothing. He didn't ask "Why do you black guys have big birthday parties?"

So don't try to use him as cover.

 

Learn to read Inky: This from the blog:

"Instead of asking about the towel, I asked him about the athlete birthday extravaganza phenomenon.
"It's different when it's someone from the University of Miami," [Edgerrin James] said. "That's Santana Moss, that's our family, so we're always gonna show up and support him. Any time a Hurricane do something, we're gonna be here no matter what city they in....You know, as long as we're all together, we make the best of every situation, we make it better than it's supposed to be."

 

I'm sorry...did I miss the word "black" in there? Is "Hurricane" code for black?

So if Jeremy Shockey had a party, they wouldn't all come?

 

You know what..screw you people. I asked a simple question. I didn't intend for anything to have a racist tone. I asked in the same sense that a black friend asked he once why white people sit stoically at church and don't get up, sing and shout. We often had conversations like that to help us understand each other.

Some of you people want to scream racist at every turn, especially when the motivation for the question isn't racist.

 

hondo, be fair. I have very rarely ever gotten into a racial discussion with you.

I'm just wondering the quote you posted. It was apparently to refute Inky's post that the author never used the word "black" except for clothing. You then said something about comprehension and posted that.

I'm just trying to find out where you're coming from. Because all I see in that is the word "Hurricane."

 

Yeah, I'm not seeing "black" in that quote.