BET is to the NBA as White is to International?

This is my absolute favorite time of year --- the NBA playoffs. For years I’ve been calling  the NBA the real Black Entertainment Television.

But as a true basketball fan, it’s impossible not to notice that there are some really good white basketball players in the NBA. 

But are all the white players really white?

This question takes me back a few years as I visited the Villanova campus and noticed a bunch of guys, darker than me, playing cricket on the campus lawn. I met with my old friend, Dr. Nance, who was Director of Multicultural Affairs, and told her how impressed I was that the campus had a lot more minorities than when I attended.

Dr. Nance explained to me that those dark skinned cricket players from India didn’t count toward minority enrollment. They were considered International students.

Oh!

From that moment on, when I watch an NBA game and see some of my favorite white players like Ginobili, Turkoglu, Nowitzki, Ilgauskas, Krstic, and the Gasol brothers, I remind myself that they’re not really white, they are International.

But, I always get confused when I see guys like Tony Parker, Thabo Seolosha, Nene, and Hamady Ndiaye who are all at least as dark as me and never hear that they are considered International players. They are just black.  

Needless to say, the NBA color issue is confusing. 

So, I just enjoy the games no matter where the players are from or what color they are. 


Go Sixers!