Bogut Bashes NBA and American Culture

http://www.smh.com.au/news/basketball/the-bling-and-i/2007/06/16/1181414603971.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

I was curious to hear thoughts on Andrew Bogut's rather pointed remarks about NBA and U.S. culture, made while back home in Australia to an Aussie paper. I'd like to feel offended, but I suspect there's a lot of truth in them.

This reminds somewhat of the idiot kicker spouting off about Manning & Dungy while back home in Canada seemingly unaware of how fast the U.S. media would pick it up. Wonder if Bogut was similarly naive. Anyways, for those not interested in reading the whole piece, here are the money quotes:


"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."

"But that's where it stops for me," he says. "I'm not into jewellery. 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."

"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."

 

Well, let's predict, shall we?

ATH? Yes.
PTI? Check?
OTL? Probably.
The Sports Reporters? Amen.
Now, does it break through to the pundit shows?
I'm saying, yes, O'Reilly and Scarborough being the most likely, although KO's been on this kick, too.
Over/under on how many seconds it will take for someone to use the, "You don't like us? Don't earn your money here." argument, even though Bogut's only saying what a couple hundred sports pundits have been saying for 10 years.

 

This writer pulled some very good quotes from Bogut.

To be honest, Bogut isn't saying anything most of us didn't already know. It's just not often that you see it printed in a paper.

I do think the writer uses way too many opinionated adjectives when he writes.

"Bogut may loathe aspects of American culture."

But then again, this was not printed in an American newspaper. There may be different standards in Australia.

 

I will never forget watching pro athletes sitting in the offices of an NFL team waiting for the Friday paycheck to be cut because they were living so hand-to-mouth.

That would actually be an interesting story. How many players do not use direct deposit on their paychecks, and how many of them ask for cash advances? How many have less money in their savings and bank accounts then they get paid each month?

 

I don't think this is a case of Bogut being naive. He's just calling it as he sees it and doesn't give a damn about the backlash. How much is his jersey?

 

Of course, the "modest all-Australian boy" doesn't have Problem 1 with taking all that dirty American money. Same message as always from Australia -- Hey, at least we're not as bad as the Americans.

By the by, how's that Aboriginal purge going, Mr. Howard?

 

Did Bogut holdout or sign right away like Oden?

 

I imagine your imagined scrutiny would reveal little or no hypocrisy. Imagine that.

From my interaction with him, Bogut is a refreshingly candid young player who seems earnestly concerned about maintaining his professional and personal integrity -- which sets him apart from most of his peers in the league. And yes, he signed right away.

 

Rupert Murdoch.

 

Bogut paints with an extremely broad brush. His perspective is clouded by living and working in the basketball bubble. What he says is largely true, but the culture he describes is NBA culture, which we all know is far, far, far removed from American culture.

For that reason, I'll think the usual idiots will go easy on Bogut. Steve Nash made comments a few years ago that were far more pointed, and he was able to skate.

 

Good point, Football Bat. Bogut doesn't know real American culture because he only knows America from the perspective of a basketball star. He has no idea what the values of a middle class American family are. A person who only knew Europe from the perspective of being a soccer star would likely have a similar skewed perspective on the value system of Europeans.

 

So, since you're part of something you can't criticize it? Pish posh.