“Congratulations to your 2015 NBA champions, the
Golden State Warriors,” says Adam Silver, current league commissioner while
handing over the Larry O’Brien trophy to head coach Steve Kerr. As I watched
him receive the award, I couldn’t help but have the same feeling of disgust I had
12 years prior as a high school freshman when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the
Super Bowl. My ill will had nothing to do with the fact the Bucs or Warriors
winning. In both cases, it had everything to do with an undeserving white man
getting essentially ALL the credit for what a black man had put his heart and
soul into. Let’s rewind the clock for a few minutes here. No, scratch that, let’s
rewind it about 20 years prior. That sounds about right.
In 1996,
Tony Dungy was hired to put some much needed life into a (to put it nicely)
struggling Buccaneers franchise. By no means, an easy task. One so difficult,
most coaches may have declined the job despite how sweet the offer. Nevertheless,
Dungy accepted and within three years, had the team in the NFC title game
against the St. Louis Rams. Despite falling short by six points, that was an
extremely quick turnaround, one almost as fast as Jim Harbaugh’s work in San
Francisco. Move forward two years later and all of the sudden, management is
unhappy…so unhappy, they decide it’s time to part ways with the man who brought
relevance to an otherwise dying franchise. For a team that for years had been
the NFL version of the Minnesota Timberwolves, firing a guy like Dungy seems at
the very least spoiled as all hell and slightly unreasonable in terms of
expectations.
Now insert
a fella by the name of Jon Gruden to fill Dungy’s shoes. Low and behold, in his
first season, he wins a Super Bowl…with a team that Dungy BUILT (reference
Tampa 2). With this in mind, is it farfetched to believe Dungy would have led
that same team (that he spent years building) to a Super Bowl title as well?
Here’s another favorable factor for the overrated Gruden. The team he played in
the Super Bowl was the Oakland Raiders…..the same gat damn team he spent the
last four years coaching. It must have been extremely difficult to be handed a ready-made
champion and have your title game opponent be a team you had an extremely close
relationship with the last 48 months. Something like being handed the keys to a
Cadillac CTS and being told the monthly payments, insurance, and maintenance
are already covered. Just drive.
Fast
forward eight years later to 2011 when Mark Jackson is hired as the Warriors
head coach. He inherited a team that had made the playoffs just once in 17
years (quite a drought, but I guess losing is an expectation after that long). During
his three years at the helm, Jackson got the team to the playoffs twice,
finishing 47-35 and 51-31 respectively. Just like in Tampa Bay, despite going
in the right direction, front office became spoiled and arguably overly
emotional and decided to part ways with Jackson. While the reasons will forever
remain unclear and perhaps changed a million and one times, the fact still
remains he was unjustly cut loose.
Bring
in Steve Kerr who surprisingly turned down a chance to work under legendary former
coach Phil Jackson with the New York Knicks (a smart move in hindsight). With a
gold carpet laid out for them filled with injuries to other teams and a
depleted Cleveland squad, he and the Warriors were awarded the right to hoist
the Larry O’Brien trophy in their hands. Talk about déjà vu. Black man builds
it…white man gets credit. But when I think about history, it really doesn’t
come as a shock. Black folks built America but seven white men, most of whom
owned slaves, are credited as “founding fathers.” What in the hell did these
guys “found” exactly aside from an institutionally oppressive system known as
racism that still continues today? Don’t worry….I’ll wait. In the meantime in
between time, I’ll continue to hope for the day that people of color not only realize
the power we have in this country but learn how to use it. Then, we’ll have a
real ball game on our hands.
