NBA basketball is an exciting sport. The NBA features such star players as, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Keith Vanhorn, and John Stockton. You could ramble on all day about Pro basketball. And two big questions always come up when talking about pro basketball. Why are 2/3 of the NBA players black? And do black and white players have two different techniques for playing the game of basketball?Jeff Greenfield cites in his essay The Black and White Truth about Basketball theories from the book Foul by David Wolf. In todays modern game of NBA basketball, over 2/3 of the players are black. Greenfield also cites that over the last two decades, no more than three white players have been among the ten starting players on the NBA All-Star team (Greenfield 209). David Wolf claims this dominance of blacks in the NBA is due to a natural inheritance. Wolf says basketball is a pastime of the urban poor since the fact most of them dont have finances to access equipment for hockey, baseball, football, or other fairly expensive sports. And basketball is something they can feel pride about (Greenfield 210-211). Most of the urban poor are the black. And black star Penny Hardaway is a prime example of this. Penny Hardaway is one of the NBAs most recognizable stars in todays game. He came from very poor black slums. Because he didnt have the money for football, baseball, or hockey, he turned to the cheap playground sport called basketball. Like many other black players in the NBA, Penny took pride in honing his skills on those playground courts in the slum. Basketball was an activity that kept Penny out of trouble (Fox Sports Net: Beyond the Glory). Based on this story of Penny Hardaway, I agree with Greenfield and Wolf when they say that black dominance in the NBA is due to natural inheritance, and basketball is a sport for the urban poor. Greenfield stands by Wolfs idea; basketball isnt the same as it once was. I too can agree wi...
