I thought a great way to start the new year off with this blog was to reflect on a college football team about to play in a bowl game. This team is the Buffalo Bulls. Their story is one that has been shared recently on ESPN but I thought I'd chime in a little on it.
The University of Buffalo (in Buffalo, NY) is "playing" in their second ever bowl game today against the University of Connecticut. The reason why playing is in quotation marks is because they didn't play in their first bowl game some fifty years ago. The Tangerine Bowl officials at the time didn't want an integrated team to play in their bowl and the Bulls had two African-American players on their team. The coaches left the decision up to the players and the players unamiously voted to not play in the game as a show of support for their teammates.
This season's team, lead by Coach Turner Gill, won the MAC championship (which included beating once undefeated Ball State) to secure a bowl opportunity. In a show of respect, this year's squad invited the 1958 squad to come with them to their bowl game since they were not able to go to their game.
I think this is a tremendous story and one that reflects the good work that went on. It was ahead of its time and showed that even in an era of racism, there was progress that was ahead of its time. I hope the Bulls do well today and as they take the field, they remember the past and the team that came before them.
ESPN did a great piece on the 1958 team. Here's a clip of it from their Outside the Lines piece they did a few months back:
Showing posts with label honor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label honor. Show all posts
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The End of an Era
Last night, I heard the news that the team formerly the Seattle Supersonics was officially moving to Oklahoma City. The city reached a settlement with the ownership allowing the team to move next year.
It is a sad day in sports. There's so much I want to say that I don't even know where to begin. Growing up in Tennessee, we didn't have a NBA team but I did watch it all the time on TV. I would play basketball all the time, even had a hoop at my house. I grew up in the heydey of NBA with Bird, Magic and Jordan. And during that time, I saw the Supersonics. I liked their team and their players like Shawn Kemp aka "The Rain Man", Gary Payton, Nate McMillian. I still remember that Finals back in 96 when they played the Bulls.
Then when I moved to Seattle, I started really following the team and guys like Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. I was living there when they got sold to Clay Bennett and his group from Oklahoma. And honestly, I felt they were going to move. There wasn't one point or time where I felt that Bennett wanted to keep the team there in Seattle. His whole intention of buying the team was to move it. I kept hoping through the losing that somehow he might see that tradition still means something, that fan loyalty means something, that honor meant something.
Yes, I know professional sports is a business. But it is also more than that. Unfortunately, that side of it was not shown by Clay Bennett or his associates or by David Stern and the NBA. I lost respect for David Stern because of this. That is something I never thought would happen.
I do hope that there is a team that is put in Seattle, hopefully soon. Maybe it'll be a situation like in the NFL when Art Modell moved his team from Cleveland to Baltimore and the Browns came back a few years later. Maybe Seattle will have its Sonics again. But there won't be Kevin Durant on that team. There won't be a 2008-2009 Seattle Supersonics team. But there will be a huge bruise on the image of the NBA in my book.
It is a sad day in sports. There's so much I want to say that I don't even know where to begin. Growing up in Tennessee, we didn't have a NBA team but I did watch it all the time on TV. I would play basketball all the time, even had a hoop at my house. I grew up in the heydey of NBA with Bird, Magic and Jordan. And during that time, I saw the Supersonics. I liked their team and their players like Shawn Kemp aka "The Rain Man", Gary Payton, Nate McMillian. I still remember that Finals back in 96 when they played the Bulls.
Then when I moved to Seattle, I started really following the team and guys like Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. I was living there when they got sold to Clay Bennett and his group from Oklahoma. And honestly, I felt they were going to move. There wasn't one point or time where I felt that Bennett wanted to keep the team there in Seattle. His whole intention of buying the team was to move it. I kept hoping through the losing that somehow he might see that tradition still means something, that fan loyalty means something, that honor meant something.
Yes, I know professional sports is a business. But it is also more than that. Unfortunately, that side of it was not shown by Clay Bennett or his associates or by David Stern and the NBA. I lost respect for David Stern because of this. That is something I never thought would happen.
I do hope that there is a team that is put in Seattle, hopefully soon. Maybe it'll be a situation like in the NFL when Art Modell moved his team from Cleveland to Baltimore and the Browns came back a few years later. Maybe Seattle will have its Sonics again. But there won't be Kevin Durant on that team. There won't be a 2008-2009 Seattle Supersonics team. But there will be a huge bruise on the image of the NBA in my book.
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