Do you have Old White Guy Syndrome?

This recent article from Jack McCallum articulates something that I have been noticing for quite a while now--the completly unreasonable hatred for modern-day athletes, especially those in the NBA.

Surely, there are a number of legitimate assholes in the NBA. It's just that there are so many more good guys that are too often forgotten. Moreover, while players from past generations often get a pass for their indiscretions (I'm looking at you, Larry Bird), people seem to remember only the bad things Allen Iverson has done and refuse to aknowledge him as a player who plays as hard, day in and day out, as anyone in the NBA ever has.

Nowhere was this more evident than last summer during the Olympics. All the discussion centered around how all the NBA players "didn't care about their country," "were not interested in playing because they weren't being paid," ect.... Very rarely did you hear about how all of those guys gave up much of their offseason in order to represent their country, the fact that, while many of the foreign teams have been playing together for a long time, the NBA players had only about a month of preparation prior to the beginning of the games, or that the Olympic rules led to a completely different style of play than what is seen in the NBA.

Anyways, it's a great read by McCallum. Hopefully some people will take it to heart (yes, I'm talking to you, Bill Doleman, you worthless piece of crap).

MP