By Joe Torosian
Kick it!
I was asked if I found Sophie Cunningham attractive.
I said yes. I always find someone who doesn’t back down from a bold statement attractive.
Throughout history, courage has always been attractive, and lack of courage unattractive.
And, of course, after recent statements from its top coaches, what approach is left for the WNBA when a dude decides he wants to play in the league?
I had my problems with Title IX back in the day, but I never thought it would be rendered obsolete by its biggest advocates and those it was structured to help.
And if you listen to Minnesota Lynx HC Cheryl Reeve, she sounds like she’s cool with a dude running up and down the floor, but just don’t let him coach the team.
This is old business, and I’m far from being a LeBron James supporter, and while I think he might be the best player of his generation, it wasn’t a very deep generation.
I do not think LeBron James is the GOAT, and should never be mentioned with Jordan, Magic, or even Kareem.
So with that track record—firmly established—why was he hassled and continuing to be hassled for chasing a ring? Where was he supposed to do? Go to Memphis? Washington?
He smartly got out of the West, because for the time he has left, it is going to be dominated by San Antonio and OKC. In the East there are no guarantees. It was the right move to a place where there will be a lot of talent around him.
…and maybe even Joel Embid will be inspired to play a few minutes.
As a poor kid growing up on a dead-end street (the product of 11 marriages between mom and dad) with other poor kids and the only dad on the street being a drunk, we did okay. A future convicted rapist living across the street, the town madam living next door (for a short time), the guy down the street murdered in a shooting–we were rescued by church and sports.
I won’t talk about church here, but sports was everything to us.
We emulated our favorite players and stars. If my brother ran through the living room and jumped over the footrest, we’d shout, “Go O.J.! Go!”
My personal favorites were Harold Jackson, James Harris, Connie Hawkins, and, because of his second-half kickoff return against Notre Dame in 1974, Anthony Davis.
When playing in the street and throwing the football, I wanted to be Shack Harris—and by the time he got to the Rams, I hated Pretty Boy Pat Haden. (I’ve matured since.)
When playing basketball, and because my hands allowed me to palm the ball at an early age, I wanted to play like Connie Hawkins.
(I had an earth bound scoop shot incorporated into my game that was a homage to The Hawk.)
And the interesting thing about it? None of them were half-breed Armenians….meaning none of them looked like me. I didn’t need someone to look like me to dream and have hope about the future.
I despise the lie that we need someone who looks like us to have a dream, a hope, or a future that is possible.
Rather, I view it as a divisive Marxist lie. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.
My wrath against the Giants for what they did to me during Spring Training will continue for another 75 columns, but the Dodgers have lost six in a row and may lie stinking in the earth before the Nephilim to the north do.
#87—May the San Francisco Giants rot and lie stinking in the earth.
The Dude abides…
1,334
1 Peter 3:15
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
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@ FBFan
I can at least see what you are saying but not letting trans athletes play I think is still discrimination. Like if I was a trans woman right now trying to play in the WNBA because that’s where I feel like I belong and being told that I can’t play because I’m biologically something I don’t want to be, that would hurt and I really don’t want that to happen to people. It’s definitely an issue right now and I think the reason I’m so frustrated by it is that I know trans people that feel like they are the target of this whole issue and it really makes me angry about how cruel people have been to trans women in particular lately.
@Burbank High Fan
And I take offense to the comment “I can already tell you’re one of the many people….”
You have never met me. And if you looked at any of my previous posts on Joe T’s columns, you would see that I have been frustrated with some of the not so subtle right wing comments he makes.
Your my way or the highway type of rhetoric and immediate assumption about me is a microcosm of our bigger issue in this country. We can’t disagree with each other anymore. I think we should treat trans people with respect. I think we should adhere to their pronouns and have empathy and compassion. I also think that biological males should not play in women’s sports. This type of thought process makes us human beings and analytical thinkers, not people who simply pick a side and plant their feet in it.
@Burbank High Fan,
I agree that they may not be doing it to seek an advantage. I agree that no one would choose to do something that would make them an outcast and social pariah. However, that does NOT mean that they absolutely have an unfair advantage. Imagine working your whole life to be the very best female athlete possible only to have that stripped from you by someone who was born with male genitalia. I bet you wouldn’t be all that thrilled if that happened to your daughter. Then there is also a safety component to all of this. While sports like basketball, flag football, and soccer are no exactly collision sports, they are most definitely contact sports. Sacrificing the safety of young women is not fair……
Equity is wonderful and should more often than not be sought. However, sometimes in the search for equity, greater inequities and injustices are created. This is one of those examples.
@ FBFan
I can already tell you’re one of the many people I mentioned that are basically trying to discriminate against trans people. Like I said earlier, trans women that will compete in the W in the future aren’t playing in it to have an advantage, they just want to play amongst the people they feel like they belong with. If you went and said what you just said to a trans woman that was going to compete in the W or just any trans woman in general, it probably would feel like an insult to them. It really disgusts me what you and many others think of these people.
Historically, humans have done some pretty terrible things systemically. From slavery to the purging of land to horrible wars to literally treating women like property. Basic human rights have been violated for generation and generations and we have a responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen again. BUT, not having biological men compete against women is not one of those violations. It is absolutely silly to justify this line of thinking.
Well trans want to be recognized as their own gender. So why does not some start up guy start a trans league. The L.A. Clownfish. Why Clownfish you ask. They are all born male and then turn into female later on.
Something I also want to add is that trans women in the future that end of playing in the WNBA will have probably taken drugs, done surgery, etc… to show that they want to identify as female. They aren’t doing this so they have an advantage like what you probably think and many others do as well. While they biologically identify as male, the point is that the trans women that are actually serious about playing in the W don’t want to have an unfair advantage and just want to play basketball among the people they feel like they belong amongst. Maybe if you knew people that are trans you would understand.
Look dude, it’s not like trans women are playing in the WNBA that much. It would basically be discrimination if they weren’t aloud to. Like sure they are biologically men but they want to be seen as women (there are people I know who are like this and don’t want to be seen as men at all), and it’s not like men are gonna now start going to play in the WNBA because of some potential new rule change. Like Enes Kantar and Royce White are just pulling some BS PR stunt. I literally don’t care if I get called “woke” or some BS like that I’m just speaking my view on this.
If LeBron and James Harden fail to win rings in the NBA, they can declare themselves transitioned and earn their jewelry in the WNBA. Come to think of it, maybe Charles Barkley can shed some weight and don a wig to form a super WNBA squad for ringless old NBA dudes. What a great time to be alive, when anything goes and nothing matters.
“I had my problems with Title IX back in the day, but I never thought it would be rendered obsolete by its biggest advocates and those it was structured to help.”
Spot on Joe!