Bang it!

In related news…


Bang it! 

Warriors are “interested” in South Korean and NBDL ‘star’ Bang Sung-yoon. It’s about time the Warriors looked into an Asian player. Imagine the possibly promotions and advertisements the Warriors could do with Bang and bay area rap super duo, Frontline, especially with their recent smash, “Bang it!”

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/sports/200505/kt2005050318144211650.htm

While some teams have expressed interest in Asian players such as Wang Zizi (Miami Heat and formerly of the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks), Menghke Bateer (San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors), Yuta Tabuse (Phoenix Suns for a week), the Korean-Sloth-from-the-Goonies-look-a-like on the Portland Blazers (a 2004 second round draft choice), the Warriors—an organization situated in a geographic region that has historically had transnational (at time circular and cyclical) migrations from the pacific region since the 1800s and perhaps one of the largest concentrations of Asian communities in the U.S. (other places include Los Angeles, New York and more recently Austin, Texas)—have failed to bring in an Asian player as a bench warmer. Tell me that Wang Zizi would be a team favorite over Juan Flores.

Marcus Thompson, Warriors specialist and writer for Bay Area dailies, responded to a forum poster who asked why Warriors haven’t yet picked up an Asian player, at least for their fans. Here is his (sorry) response:

“They won't add an asian player for the sake of appeasing their Asian fans. There is a large Mexican population here and they still traded Eduardo Najera. If there is an Asian player who can help the team, they'll sign him.”

I can’t speak for the Chicana/o community, but I will say this: I think Asians love basketball more than you (Marcus Thompson) know. Although Latina/o players are entering the U.S. at a rising rate, many with exceptional skills and great sex appeal (see Varaejo of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Manu Ginnobli of the Spurs and Andre Nocchio of the Chicago Bulls), Asians (in Asia) and Asian Americans follow TONS of basketball. Take my h.s. and college experience for example, there were always tons of Asian/Asian American youth in the gym playing ball, many of them dominating their opponents, others clumsily stumbling into each other throwing up erratic shots and attempting poor passes off your face and into the opponents hands or out of bounds. In my visit to Beijing, China in 2002, they had an official “Nike” sponsored basketball courts that you had to pay to play with 20 half court 4-on-4 games going on at the same time. In addition, when the Rockets (and Yao Ming) came to play the Warriors (I attended one game), every news report from the dailies to the websites note the overwhelming Asian audience crowding upper deck seats. Lastly, basketball games are extremely pricey even for nosebleed seats. A’s baseball offers one-dollar Wednesdays in addition to their lukewarm, bun torn hot dog deals—which do you think is a “great timeout” (Warriors slogan) for a working class or middle class family? My assumption on some Asian American communities here in the bay is that they are well-off, financially, in which they come during an immigration era that prioritizes highly educated, highly skilled white collar laborers for American information and technology work (NOT ALL THOUGH) and have the financial capabilities to afford basketball tickets. Marcus might have a point that it might not be worth it to sign someone who is a liability on the court offensively and defensively, but his comparison to Eduardo Najera seems somewhat out of touch with the dynamics of other communities of color. Comparing Najera and Latina/os with Asian players and the Warriors is comparing apples and oranges. People of color are sweet like fruit, but they are obviously not the same.