Magic Johnson debate turns into ESPN-on-ESPN racism claims

[Mic-Nificent]

I'm sayin. There's a lot of people in this thread just trying to jump on it with no knowledge of his body of work

I don't think Dan Le Batard is racist, but that whole "Body of work" don't mean shyt to me and shouldn't mean shyt to others.

Being racist isn't some binary thing where you either are or you aren't. Plenty of liberal white folks will be out marching one day for the cause then the next day say or do some racist shyt.

According to Bomani Jones even Le Batard has admitted that he knows he can have "blind spots" when it comes to some things, so (behind the scenes at least) he's been willing to listen to folks concerns, and even he acknowledges that it's understandable why some people would react the way that they have.

What really fukked him up was implying that fame and a smile were the only things Magic had going for him. Him saying Magic got that coaching gig because he was famous and smiles is just fukking stupid, he got that coaching gig because he's the greatest PG in NBA history.

If Dan had just stuck to pointing out Magic's tweets and the comments he made while he was an analyst he'd have been fine, but he went too far in being so utterly dismissive of Magic Johnson as a businessman and leader.

 

[tremonthustler1]

i assume his father's resume was bustling w/ tv experience and sports referrals when espn put him on tv, flanked by two journalists.

lakers hired a former minority owner and arguably its greatest player in its rich franchise history to run a basketball business operation. soon as he moved in w/ the dodgers, they became better & more profitable. now, on to basketball, how is one of its best players and one of the most successful businessmen in its native city unqualified to run a basketball business operation.

this is why mofos dont need to be on the radio & tv every day of the week. they run out of valid shyt to say and start reaching for the stars....and by that, i mean reaching for magic. he is a star among stars.

It's not the same thing. If Magic BOUGHT the Lakers, that's a different story. Magic is hired because from a PR standpoint, it only looks good. To shyt on the hire is to shyt on Magic and few people will ever do that, but Magic got the gig for the same reasons any team hires former players.

 

[Mic-Nificent]

It's not the same thing. If Magic BOUGHT the Lakers, that's a different story. Magic is hired because from a PR standpoint, it only looks good. To shyt on the hire is to shyt on Magic and few people will ever do that, but Magic got the gig for the same reasons any team hires former players.

Yall need to stop with this foolishness...

It's possible for more than one thing to be true at once.

Yes, it a good PR move, because Magic Johnson is one of the more beloved sports figures of all time.

Magic is the head of a multi million dollar empire, he was mentored by Jerry Buss (one of the greatest owners in all of sports), and he's one of the greatest basketball players to have every lived.

That's the problem with the shyt Dan said, he tried to make it seem as if the ONLY thing Magic brought to the table was fame and charm, when in reality Magic is much more "qualified" than a lot of other people that get that job.

Seriously, the dumbest shyt Le Batard said was that Magic got that coaching gig because he was famous and had charm. I don't know why more people haven't pointed out just how fukking stupid of a comment that was. If one of the five greatest players in the history of a sport is willing to coach your team you're going to give them a shot. It's not like they hired Jack Nicholson to coach the Lakers. Pointing out that he failed at coaching is fine, saying he got the job because of fame and charm is fukking stupid.

The reason damn near every black person that works for ESPN sort of went at Le Batard isn't even because they think he's racist (I think only Keyshawn said that), it's because he was so fukking dismissive of Magic's business acumen. Like I said, if he had kept that shyt to Magic ability to evaluate talent and got off jokes about his tweets he'd have been fine.

 

[tremonthustler1]

Yall need to stop with this foolishness...

It's possible for more than one thing to be true at once.

Yes, it a good PR move, because Magic Johnson is one of the more beloved sports figures of all time.

Magic is the head of a multi million dollar empire, he was mentored by Jerry Buss (one of the greatest owners in all of sports), and he's one of the greatest basketball players to have every lived.

That's the problem with the shyt Dan said, he tried to make it seem as if the ONLY thing Magic brought to the table was fame and charm, when in reality Magic is much more "qualified" than a lot of other people that get that job.

Seriously, the dumbest shyt Le Batard said was that Magic got that coaching gig because he was famous and had charm. I don't know why more people haven't pointed out just how fukking stupid of a comment that was. If one of the five greatest players in the history of a sport is willing to coach your team you're going to give them a shot. It's not like they hired Jack Nicholson to coach the Lakers. Pointing out that he failed at coaching is fine, saying he got the job because of fame and charm is fukking stupid.

The reason damn near every black person that works for ESPN sort of went at Le Batard isn't even because they think he's racist (I think only Keyshawn said that), it's because he was so fukking dismissive of Magic's business acumen. Like I said, if he had kept that shyt to Magic ability to evaluate talent and got off jokes about his tweets he'd have been fine.

That's all fine and good, but how that relates to being President of Basketball Operations, I don't see the connection. I wouldn't dismiss his business acumen at all, but for what his job will entail, that won't be much of a factor. He's not owning the team. At best all he has to go off of is his tenure as team VP (and that was just a title bestowed to him because he had a minority stake in the team). The beauty of Magic being Magic is he can do whatever he wants and it couldn't be viewed as stupid until it's proven to be such. He hired Rob Pelinka as GM and that's gonna be intriguing, but Magic coulda hired Jack Nicholson himself to be GM and fans woulda been like "well it IS Magic " That's the advantage Magic has, not the stellar business resume he has amassed.

 

[Mic-Nificent]

That's all fine and good, but how that relates to being President of Basketball Operations, I don't see the connection. I wouldn't dismiss his business acumen at all, but for what his job will entail, that won't be much of a factor. He's not owning the team. At best all he has to go off of is his tenure as team VP (and that was just a title bestowed to him because he had a minority stake in the team). The beauty of Magic being Magic is he can do whatever he wants and it couldn't be viewed as stupid until it's proven to be such. He hired Rob Pelinka as GM and that's gonna be intriguing, but Magic coulda hired Jack Nicholson himself to be GM and fans woulda been like "well it IS Magic " That's the advantage Magic has, not the stellar business resume he has amassed.

I think you're conflating being the head of basketball operations with being the General Manager. Having a background in business as a CEO directly relates to being a head of basketball operations. Basically what Magic is going to do is have a vision for the team moving forward and he'll assemble a group of people to best make that happen. He'll effectively be doing what Dr Buss did when he was in charge, hire the best people then get the hell out of their way unless absolutely necessary. The same skills Magic has honed as a CEO of various businesses will translate into being the President of Basketball operations. The GM, assistant GM, and scouts are going to be the ones evaluating talent (which has been the biggest concern with Magic), and putting the team together.

 

[MIAlien]

Ok cool so what's Dan's motivation in shytting on Magic? Is the mofo just hatin?

He likes to be a contrarian, he doesn't like unqualified people running sports organizations or teams, and a lot of it was just jokes. The talk show thing and the tweets were for jokes.

he went too far in being so utterly dismissive of Magic Johnson as a businessman and leader.

He was saying that Magic's success in business, while impressive, was built off his immense fame and name from his playing career. Example he used: Magic Johnson Theatres. He used his name to build that brand.

And I wouldn't expect any of you guys to know this, but there's real business people that helped Magic Johnson make his fortune while he was the figure head of his business.

For instance, Kawana Brown( A black woman btw), The COO of Magic Enterprises, handles most of the day to day business and the big deals for MJE. Read up...

Kawanna Brown: Black Entrepreneurs, Black CEO, Black Executive, Black Billionaires, Entrepreneur Profile

Kawanna Brown is Chief Operating Officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises, the umbrella organization for all Magic Johnson-related businesses. As such, she is responsible for operational and strategic leadership of the organization, business development, negotiations, licensing, endorsements and asset acquisitions.

Mrs. Brown has been instrumental in growing Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE); one of the best known African-American owned and operated brands in America. Under her leadership, the company’s portfolio has expanded tremendously. As Starbucks only joint venture partner, MJE has opened more than a hundred stores across the country (with a commitment to open a total of 125). The company’s real estate development fund, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, is the country’s largest private real estate fund focused on the revitalization of underserved communities. Additional partnerships with select corporations help to bring quality and convenience to urban America—with thirteen 24 Hour Fitness Magic Sport centers in our portfolio, we continue to rank among the highest number of memberships for the chain. MJE continues to celebrate a partnership with AMC Magic Johnson Theatres and our T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in Los Angeles is the number one grossing stand alone corporate T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant in the Western Division.

Mrs. Brown spearheaded the launch of several major initiatives this past year: SodexoMagic (certified as a national minority supplier) and respective partnerships with Aetna and Best Buy. Magic Johnson Enterprises alliance with Aetna will embrace businesses and ethnically diverse communities to make informed choices about healthcare options. Similarly, Magic Johnson Enterprises has entered into a multi-year relationship with retail giant Best Buy to enhance urban retail growth strategies. SodexoMagic, LLC provides an extensive portfolio of food and facilities management services as well as offers signature dining facilities.

So bestowing Magic with all the characteristics of a great business mind is lazy and probably wrong. I guess you can say he hired her and delegated the work, but that's not how his job is going to work now. That's A LOT like saying Trump is a great business man(also debatable) so he has the skills to lead the country. They're 2 different types of jobs. As Head of Basketball Ops he'll have to actually make a lot of day to day decisions and will have the ultimate call on trades, draft picks, signings, etc. I'd say his terrible tweets are a bigger indication of his skill as a talent evaluator than how many Burger Kings and Starbucks he made money off of...

 

[Big Boss]

He likes to be a contrarian, he doesn't like unqualified people running sports organizations or teams, and a lot of it was just jokes. The talk show thing and the tweets were for jokes.


He was saying that Magic's success in business, while impressive, was built off his immense fame and name from his playing career. Example he used: Magic Johnson Theatres. He used his name to build that brand.

And I wouldn't expect any of you guys to know this, but there's real business people that helped Magic Johnson make his fortune while he was the figure head of his business.

For instance, Kawana Brown( A black woman btw), The COO of Magic Enterprises, handles most of the day to day business and the big deals for MJE. Read up...

Kawanna Brown: Black Entrepreneurs, Black CEO, Black Executive, Black Billionaires, Entrepreneur Profile



So bestowing Magic with all the characteristics of a great business mind is lazy and probably wrong. I guess you can say he hired her and delegated the work, but that's not how his job is going to work now. That's A LOT like saying Trump is a great business man(also debatable) so he has the skills to lead the country. They're 2 different types of jobs. As Head of Basketball Ops he'll have to actually make a lot of day to day decisions and will have the ultimate call on trades, draft picks, signings, etc. I'd say his terrible tweets are a bigger indication of his skill as a talent evaluator than how many Burger Kings and Starbucks he made money off of...

 

[mitter]

People are shyttying on Magic and assuming he is not qualified because:


1. He hasn't offered very insightful analysis in any of his commentator gigs, and he has made lots of positive tweets about players/trades/moves that have turned out to be inaccurate.

2. He is not very articulate and therefore people assume he is not very smart.



What people fail to realize, at least with respect to point 1 above, is that Magic is your standard politician type. He wants to be in everyone's good graces. So in his commentary, he talks without saying anything (just like politicians). And in his tweets, he offers excessive praise.

Based upon what I've heard about Magic's personality on the court and behind the scenes, he can be very demanding and critical, and he is much different from his public persona. I don't doubt his leadership qualities.

 

[Type Username Here]

I'm sayin. There's a lot of people in this thread just trying to jump on it with no knowledge of his body of work

It's the "I need to feel offended for attention" disease in our society. It's becoming a plague.

 

[Paisley Darts]

Le Batard would have a point if he went in on Danny Ferry, Steve Kerr and other countless amount of white people that got jobs in the same manner. But we all know what makes this situation different

 

[Mr. Brown]

Le Batard would have a point if he went in on Danny Ferry, Steve Kerr and other countless amount of white people that got jobs in the same manner. But we all know what makes this situation different

He has. He's gone in on John Lynch, Vlade Divac, Rob Pelinka and even Dan Marino, who is a legend in the city Dan lives in

 

[Gravity]

I really don't like the trend of slapping racism on frivolous situations like lebetard tearing into magic or some shyt about a store taking down negan shirts

It's really reduces the impact and magnitude of what racism really is, which enables a idiot like sage Steele to make the comments she made about the most racism she ever experienced were by black people. If you reduce racism simply to shirt slogans name calling and intentions behind rants, then c00n buck dancing blacks like Charles barkley can make the claim that it's just as many black idiots as white idiots.

Racism is a institution, white supremacy is a system. It can never be reduced from that level otherwise the major victims of this institution and system get cheated on rhe effects it has had on them and how it continues to dominate them therefore simultaneously removing the proper resolutions to fixing the issue.

I can't believe that this dumb shyt over 40 daps here but when you really think about it makes sense because collectively blacks are scared and bytchmade. Racism is a factor in EVERYTHING when it comes to any dealings with non black people. You're making excuses for coins and crackers who deflect from and dismiss race.

Institutional racism is certainly relevant here because blacks are generally frozen out of high executive positions in corporate amerikkka. Blacks are generally held to higher standards and double standards are often applied to give whites are permanent leg up. Now you can argue that Lebafard himself isn't racist because he calls whites who he feels aren't qualified out and all that, but that doesn't negate the fact that whites nowhere near as qualified as Magic have been chosen for the job that he's going to do. Lebatard knows that the playing field isn't even for blacks therefore he should know better.