You have to give it up for Ice Cube and what he’s accomplished since rapping and acting his way into the social fabric. His lengthy catalog includes colossal cultural hits in music and movies, from gangsta rap to family flicks. Much respect to the now 54-year-old who began his career as a teen from South Central L.A.
His current ventures include pro sports, namely the Big3 basketball league he co-founded with entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz in 2017. From all outward appearances, the 3-on-3 league is doing pretty well in its sixth season, broadcast to hundreds of thousands of viewers via CBS and streamed to more eyeballs via Paramount+.
But Ice Cube thinks “gatekeepers” like the NBA have the Big3 in a chokehold. While appearing on theGrio Black Podcast Network’s “Dear Culture,” he told theGrio’s Panama Jackson that “they’re trying to crush Ice Cube and my league.”
Attending college doesn’t mean
what it used to mean, when ancestors were denied the opportunity but considered
higher education the ultimate goal for future generations.
Get off the farm, don’t ply the
trade, quit working with your hands. Turn in those dusty clothes for a white-collar
shirt after crossing the stage with your bachelor’s degree. That’s the path to expand
your mind and achieve upward mobility, economically and socially.
Now, the entire world is a click
away for anyone inclined to expand their horizons. If desired, you can become
enlightened while skipping
college and avoiding student loans, instead opting for skilled labor or
other jobs that pay OK but don’t require a bachelor’s.
But the romance of college remains
strong as ever around sports programs, especially the big-banking, money-making
duo of basketball and football.
Alums love to root for their alma maters in primetime battles on national TV. But overall, degrees don’t hit for recent teens like they used to hit for us. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the decline in college attendance since 2018 is the steepest on record, with help from the pandemic.
There’s no drama surrounding who’ll go No. 1 in the NBA draft Thursday when San Antonio will select French teenager Victor Wembanyama. He’ll instantly become a leading figure in the league, joining international fixtures Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic.
For real intrigue, consider the plight of two American-born stars, Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant and New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson.
Each is a potential “face of the league” who right now risks ridicule and derision when they step out in public. We never imagined such a shameful turn of events when Williamson and Morant went 1-2 in the 2019 draft. In the blink of four years, they’ve become All-Star ballers at unexpected crossroads.
You might see their recent indiscretions as youthful mistakes, but being young isn’t necessarily followed by being dumb. There are levels of stupid behavior at every stage of life. But certain individuals tend to max out, be they anonymous Joes or well-known celebrities.
“I take full responsibility for my actions. I’m sorry to my family, teammates, coaches, fans, partners, the city of Memphis and the entire Grizzlies’ organization for letting you down. I’m going to take some time away to get help and work on learning better methods of dealing with stress and my overall well-being.”
That’s a perfect statement Ja Morant released after flashing a gun on social media. Whoever wrote it, the message hits all the right notes: accountability, remorse, reflection and a commitment to improve. For the talented and troubled 23-year-old NBA star, the words sound genuine, heartfelt and sincere. Well done.
There’s only one problem; the statement was released two months ago.
Now, Morant can dust it off for reuse because history has repeated itself. He flashed a gun during another Instagram Live session on Saturday, leading to yet another suspension.
I’ve been a Deion Sanders fan for a long time, well before we sat together in first class in 1997. He had played football that day – against the Pittsburgh Steelers – and was flying to play baseball the next day – for the Cincinnati Reds. I was tagging along as a national baseball writer.
Later, our paths crossed multiple times when I became a syndicated sports columnist in his hometown, Fort Myers, Florida. Having spent nearly a decade there, I developed a good sense of the community that produced “Neon Deion” and “Prime Time.” They’re my peeps, too, just like Sanders; warts and all, they’re family.
Whether you consider him a shameless self-promoter or a fearless truth-teller, we can agree on one thing: He’s a master at commanding attention and polarizing the viewers. He started as a blinged-out Atlanta Falcons rookie from Florida State and hasn’t slowed down as head coach at University of Colorado Boulder.
Now, Sanders is making waves with an unprecedented approach to modern college football, where players essentially can pick a new school at will. Fifty-two Colorado players have entered the transfer portal, most involuntarily, since he arrived from Jackson State. Other Power Five programs have half as many players set to exit. Forty-three Buffaloes entered the portal after Colorado’s spring game on April 22.
“You all know that we’re gonna move on from some of the team members, and we’re gonna reload and get some kids that we really identify with,” Sanders said after the spring game. He has followed through on introductory remarks to the team in December: “I’m bringing my own luggage with me, and it’s Louis,” as in Vuitton.
We know this because Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks told us. It wasn’t exactly a news flash, especially when you compare the two men. Brooks has been in 20 playoff games; James surpassed that total when Brooks was 11 years old, in 2007.
But sometimes, age ain’t nothing but a number, and grown folks gotta put mouthy youngsters in their place.
The Los Angeles Lakers took a commanding 3-1 series lead against Memphis because James refuses to go gently into the night. Father Time is undefeated, but James is going the distance. On Tuesday he became the oldest player in NBA history with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game.
Daily soap operas were TV fixtures when I was growing up, and more than a few of us could sit with elders and dissect “All My Children” or cold-blooded Victor Newman on “The Young and the Restless.” Alas, production has ended on most of those dramas.
Our attention nowadays has shifted to “As the NFL Turns,” a reality show.
He isn’t the first heinous owner to become a detested villain among his team’s fans, but Daniel Snyder recast the mold in the district formerly known as Chocolate City. He purchased the highly regarded Washington franchise for $800 million in 1999 and has trashed it ever since — winning few games, losing many fans and sparking multiple scandals. Under intense pressure to sell, with at least four legal or civil investigations probing his hind parts, Snyder reportedly reached an agreement last week.
News flash: Regardless of how you perform as an NFL owner, a fat bag awaits at checkout. For Snyder, it contains $6 billion, crushing the record $4.65 billion that a Walmart heir paid last year for the Denver Broncos. Good for him as he exits the stage and D.C. celebrates an instant holiday.
The state of women’s basketball is similar to the dual
cities Charles Dickens wrote about: It’s the best and worst of times.
You couldn’t see the flip side Monday night if you
looked at Aliyah Boston. The All-America center from South Carolina was selected
first overall in the WNBA draft. You also couldn’t see cloudy skies later when four
of her former teammates were drafted, including first-round picks Laeticia
Amihere and Zia Cooke. Coach Dawn Staley and the bubbling mentees were all
smiles all evening long, rightfully so.
The joy is justified because they went 97-8 over the
last three seasons, reaching three straight Final Fours and winning a national
championship. South Carolina has become a familiar brand atop the rankings, drawing
heightened interest and new fans to the sport. The Gamecocks were riffraff
before Staley started cooking, but now they’re right comfy among bluebloods like
UConn and Tennessee.
Entering the Final Four a week ago, South Carolina was
undefeated and defending its national championship. Focus on the sport only intensified
from there, with ESPN reporting record-high ratings for LSU vs. Virginia Tech and Iowa vs. SC. Those games averaged 4.5
million viewers, up 66% from last season’s Final Four. The latter game, promoted
as Boston vs. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, had up to 5.5 million viewers, an increase
of 72% from 2022.
But the title match vaporized those numbers. ESPN deemed
it the most-watched women’s game on record, averaging 9.9. million viewers (103% increase)
and peaking at 12.6 million viewers. Sports Media Watch reported that more people watched LSU vs. Iowa than all the 2022 NBA playoff games besides the
Finals. The tournament also set an attendance record for the second straight season.
Nothing about that sounds like bad times. But neither does the quiet before a storm.
Two Americas squared off over the weekend in the NCAA women’s Final Four. Each won a game.
Louisiana State beat Iowa for the championship Sunday, avenging South Carolina’s loss against Iowa on Friday. Both contests felt like expressions of this country’s culture war, a fight that has escalated since 2016 but has been waged from the start.
Racists and bigots love to talk about a “colorblind” society, misrepresenting MLK’s dream while pushing agendas that harm Black people. “We don’t see color,” they sniff as if adherence to that fantasy proves moral superiority.
But no one must lose their vision in order to achieve King’s dream.
Anyone who says they didn’t notice a glaring difference between LSU/South Carolina and Iowa is either lying or needs an eye exam. It was clear as a chief distinction between Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa.
The women of March Madness are hooping like it’s nobody’s business, Some of us have noticed.
They’re raising the roof and smashing records in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. ESPN set highs for viewership in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, bringing us to a Final Four with an unfortunate twist: The matchup everyone longed for is in the semifinals, Friday night.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston square off in what feels like the title game. Clark won this season’s award for Associated Press National Player of the Year; Boston won it last season. For those who don’t watch a lot of college basketball, Clark and Boston are worth paying attention.
Naturally, we’ve watched as Boston and coach Dawn Staley seek their second straight national title. Doing so would also give South Carolina the first perfect season in school history. The stakes are always high for Staley, the three-time National Coach of the Year whose program exudes HBCU vibes.
Like John Thompson and Georgetown were for a lotta Black folks in the ‘80s, Staley and South Carolina are the de facto squad if you don’t have a rooting interest. The Gamecocks get all our love for being an extension of their super-cool coach.
Clark gets her share of love with a “You see that?!” style of play, brilliance built for modern hoop heads and viral videos. She’s a showstopper with the attributes of fabled blacktop legends: unlimited range, audacious passing and dramatic flair. Her rank as the sport’s most exciting player was certified in the Elite Eight when she hit Louisville with a historic 40-point triple-double (41 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists). She’s the game’s new darling, garnering tweets from LeBron James, Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson, among others.
The contrast between Boston and Clark couldn’t be greater, adding another layer of intrigue, the punishing power forward versus flashy point guard. Both are dominant but do their damage in opposite ways.
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