Thursday, May 06, 2004
Ageism
In today's Washington Post, PTI's Michael Wilbon makes a persuasive case for an age restriction preventing high schoolers and collegiate underclassmen from entering the NBA Draft.His column smacks of honesty:
It is indeed paternal, and intensely personal, perhaps because I come from one of the places -- the South Side of Chicago, where basketball has made a lot of careers and left exponentially more 45-year-olds sitting in the same playgrounds where we left them nearly 30 years ago, drinking a 40-ounce while wondering where the next meal is coming from.
Though it also reinforces stereotypes. My Afro and African-American Studies professors might wince at several of Wilbon's generalizations about inner-city neighborhoods: the 40-ounces...the mammas and cousins who have their hands out...and the gun violence and drug trafficking and teenage pregnancy and illiteracy.
That being said, a worthwhile read. I'm left wondering why Wilbon writes for the Post rather than ESPN's website.
