There’s still work to do

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 3/27/2008

 There is an old saying: “We have come a long way, baby, but we still have a long way to go.” Street & Smith’s, the nation’s premier sports business journal, recently listed the top 50 sports executives who set the agenda for North American sports. As we watch the very popular NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments with all the accompanying excitement, the NCAA continues to rake in billions of dollars under the guise of amateurism.

 Translation: free labor, no unions, just student athletes giving everything they have physically and mentally for the love of the game. That is the origin of why we as Blacks are so far behind in regard to controlling the multi-billion-dollar industry of sports and all its revenue streams that I make reverence to.

 Blacks may dominate in terms of numbers playing the game in NFL football, NCAA and NBA basketball, and paltry numbers in Major League Baseball (less than 10 percent) and the National Hockey League (less than three percent). But we are barely scratching the service in the power decision-making positions like CEO, chairman, president, commissioner and executive director.

Of the top-50 most influential people in sports, just two African Americans have made it into the power boardrooms. They are powerful union leaders Gene Upshaw, longtime executive director of the NFL Players Association (listed at number 21), and Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (listed at number 44).

 I used the NCAA as an example. Well, Myles Brand is the president of the NCAA, and he is listed at number 22. The NCAA has many coaches, hundreds in fact, making anywhere from $4 million a year to $1 million in both basketball and football. Number one on the list, you ask?

 It’s Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast Corporation. Three sports commissioners are listed: Roger Goodell of the NFL (number two), David Stern of the NBA (number five), and Bud Selig, Major League Baseball’s commissioner with all the steroid problems, comes in at number six.

 What does this tell us? I think as we watch the political race for the White House play out through the primaries with Senator Barack Obama leading the Democratic candidates in total delegates and popular vote, being a Black man ahead of Hillary Clinton, the first serious female presidential candidate, it appears that majority America is grudgingly giving in to the notion of “Why not?”

 Sports in many ways speaks to how far we have come and how far we are going. But when you’re playing catch-up in this game, it’s not how fast you run or how high you jump. It’s understanding that no matter how good it looks, we truly have a long way to go.

 Fitz Meets Obama

 I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet Illinois Senator Barack Obama on back to back weekends. Three weeks ago while in Indianapolis , Indiana covering the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament. And last Friday- Easter weekend while in West Virginia with Marcus my youngest son for his NFL Pro Day workout. Senator Obama was in Charleston , and Huntington , West Virginia also on the campaign trail.

  I was downtown in Indianapolis and met him at a rally, I had my media pass around my neck after clearing security I shook hands with him. He allowed me to ask him a few questions, I told him I was from Chicago and graduated from Fenger High School on Chicago 's far south side.

 He told me his brother in law Craig Robinson was the Head Men's Basketball coach at Brown University , I later found out that six coaches in the Ivy League are Black. Did you know that later this year 2008 a U.S Senator will be elected President in the United States for the first time since 1960? John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the last U.S Senator elected President.

  And you thought I was just a sports guy! Senator Obama told a life experience story of when he was at Harvard Law School . He was in invited to attend a banquet and was wearing a nice suit and tie and as he was passing one of the tables to get to his seat, somebody turned and said-excuse me, can I get some hot tea? And so even wearing a fancy suit those assumptions and stereotypes still exist.

 $200 Million Dollar Benefit!

  Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor created quite a news story last week accusing Boston Celtic All-Star and former Timberwolf Kevin Garnett of tanking it last year. "It was more like KG tanked it. I think the other guys still wanted to play. But it sure changed the team and didn't' make us as good." Taylor said. It goes to show you when you a pay a player nearly $ 200 million over 11 years and don't win a championship it leaves a little salt in the wound.

  My definition of tanking it is allowing Randy Wittman to continue as head basketball coach and Kevin McHale as General Manager. Last year Dwayne Casey was fired as head coach when KG was here, the team was in the eighth playoff spot in the West with a 20-20 record.

  Wittman takes over and the T-Wolves finished 10-32 now that KG is gone the T-Wolves are 18-52 and Wittman is 28-84 as coach. His lifetime win-loss record in Cleveland and Minnesota is 92-184. Taylor 's tolerance level is obviously blinded by race or ignorance. If you walk into Target Center and parade through the team office media area hallway and locker room. You would never know that KG ever played for the Timberwolves.

 Trading Brandon Roy to Portland in exchange for Randy Foye is one of the worst basketball decisions in NBA history. Roy is so good they call him the (natural) he is already and All-Star in just two years, he averages nearly 19 points a game and Portland is 38-34 without Greg Oden last years number one overall pick.

"I don't really think about it that much, said Roy, It's funny I was watching FOX Sports recently and they actually showed me with a Minnesota hat on doing and interview on Draft day. I kind of laughed about it, it's funny seeing myself with a Minnesota hat on then they cut it off, after I was traded to Portland . It's a unique situation because we're in the same division and we play four times me and Randy Foye will be forever linked because of that."

  And thanks to Taylor 's decisions the rest of the NBA is laughing at Minnesota . The Timberwolves in year one of the franchise 1989 finished 22-60, the worst record in franchise history was 1991-92 the team finished 15-67 long before Taylor , McHale and KG. Now that KG is tanking it in Boston , with the NBA's best record 55-15. McHale will likely receive several votes for NBA Six Man of the Year.

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com , or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com .