{"id":319,"date":"2012-11-14T08:02:59","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T13:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=319"},"modified":"2012-11-14T10:11:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-14T15:11:00","slug":"tuesday-teabag-november-13-2012-tyrone-terrell-and-ron-edwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=319","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday Teabag, November 13, 2012 – Tyrone Terrell and Ron Edwards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wait a minute, an NBA related Tuesday Teabag?\u00a0 We thought you hated the NBA, Machine?\u00a0 Well, all it took was a drink and dial from David Stern<\/a>\u00a0to get our attention.\u00a0 And when our attention\u2019s focused, no one\u2019s safe.<\/p>\n

But first things first.\u00a0 Who are Tyrone Terrell and Ron Edwards?\u00a0 Well, Tyrone Terrell is the Chairman of the Twin Cities (that\u2019s Minneapolis and St. Paul) African American Leadership Council, and Ron Edwards is the former head of the Minnesota Civil Rights Commission, and now host of a local TV show focusing on black issues.<\/p>\n

Recently, both men came out and spoke against the fact that there are a lot of white guys on the Timberwolves.\u00a0 However, both men did a little more than just acknowledge their ability to state the obvious.\u00a0 They claim that having so many whiteys is intentional (read: racist).\u00a0 \u201cHow did we get to a roster that resembles the 1955 Lakers?\u201d Terrell said in a statement in the Minneapolis Star Tribune<\/a>. \u201cI think everything is a strategy. Nothing happens by happenstance.\u201d\u00a0 Chimed Edwards, \u201cI think, personally, that was calculated.\u00a0 Is this an attempt to get fans back in the stands?\u00a0 Minnesota, after all, is a pretty white state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holy shit.\u00a0 Where do we begin?\u00a0 Let\u2019s start with Minnesota is a pretty white state.\u00a0 Ok, no argument there.\u00a0 The Machine\u2019s half-Italian and we\u2019re pretty sure that qualifies as black in Minnesota.\u00a0 But the rest is just crazy.\u00a0 It\u2019s more than crazy:\u00a0 it\u2019s inflammatory and irresponsible.<\/p>\n

So the Timberwolves have 10 (out of 15) white guys.\u00a0 In other words, 33% of the roster is black, far below the league average of 78%.\u00a0 Is it weird to see four white guys on the court on the same team when that team is not Princeton?\u00a0 Sure, it\u2019s weird.\u00a0 But racist?\u00a0 Intentionally designed to mirror the fans?\u00a0 What other facts do you have to back up your claims?\u00a0 Oh, nothing.\u00a0 That\u2019s not only crazy talk, but simply ignorant and, dare we say, racist itself.<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s stop pretending that the front office only recruits the white.\u00a0 This past offseason, the T-wolves tried to sign Jordan Hill and Nicholas Batum, both black.\u00a0 Hill re-signed with the Lakers (can you blame him?) and the Trailblazer\u2019s matched Minnesota\u2019s offer for Batum.\u00a0 Somehow, that fact was lost on both Terrell and Edwards.<\/p>\n

Second, if we\u2019re merely playing the percentage game, blacks make up less than 13% of the U.S. population, but shockingly Terrell and Edwards have no problem that the average NBA team is 78% black, six times more than the national average.\u00a0 Shit, the Timberwolves, at 33% black, are still well above the national average.\u00a0 Of course it\u2019s not just about percentages.\u00a0 It\u2019s about winning.<\/p>\n

Third, it\u2019s not like the T-Wolves asked Big Country to come out of retirement, and signed John Rocker to play the 2 spot.\u00a0 Their white players, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Andrei Kirilenko, Luke Ridnour, Nikola Pecovik (how many of those names sound Mid-western white?) are pretty good.<\/p>\n

Fourth, lost in all this bullshit is the fact that the T-Wolves are a very diverse team.\u00a0 Five of their ten whities are foreigners, double the league average.\u00a0 They have players from Spain, Russia, Montenegro (sounds black), and Puerto Rico.\u00a0 In fact, you can make a good argument that the T-Wolves are the most diverse team in the NBA.<\/p>\n

But for Terrell and Edwards, it\u2019s not enough to be diverse.\u00a0 You have to be their kind of diverse.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re not, then obviously the only answer is you\u2019re a racist.<\/p>\n

Look, we get that being a civil rights activist in a state where there are no black people must be boring.\u00a0 And are there enough black issues in Minnesota to have a TV show?\u00a0 We highly doubt it, although The Machine would love to be a guest.\u00a0 Hook it up!\u00a0 Bottom line, before you start playing the race card, do your homework.\u00a0 Because, when you don\u2019t, and instead make bold, factually unsupported allegations of racism where clearly none exist, you sound absolutely moronic, and nothing more than a desperate and pathetic attempt to use race as a way to get attention for yourself.<\/p>\n

Well, consider that goal achieved.\u00a0 So while you\u2019re well on your way to winning a Source Award, congrats on the only award that matters and is truly color blind.\u00a0 A Tuesday Teabag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wait a minute, an NBA related Tuesday Teabag?\u00a0 We thought you hated the NBA, Machine?\u00a0 Well, all it took was a drink and dial from David Stern\u00a0to get our attention.\u00a0 And when our attention\u2019s focused, no one\u2019s safe. But first … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tuesday-teabag"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-59","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":322,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}