No Place For ‘Gangsta’ Mentality In Sports
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By DERON SNYDER
After embarrassing his university Saturday by helping to spark an ugly, game-ending brawl against crosstown rival University of Cincinnati, Tu Holloway wasn’t done. The senior guard and All-America candidate for Xavier continued to act like a knucklehead during a postgame news conference.
“That’s what you’re going to see from Xavier and Cincinnati,” Holloway said nonchalantly. “We got disrespected a little bit before the game, guys calling us out. We’re a tougher team. We’re grown men over here. We got a whole bunch of gangstas in the locker room. Not thugs, but tough guys on the court. We went out there and zipped ‘em up at the end of the game.”
No, what they did was disgrace themselves and their families, while highlighting a dangerous and pervasive philosophy, particularly among many African-American young men.
On the streets, that mindset can lead to the graveyard or the prison yard. On the court, it can lead to being knocked down by a sucker punch and kicked in the head once you’re on the floor. That’s what happened to Xavier center Kenny Frease, who appeared to be on a peacemaking mission when he was cold cocked by Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates.
