Larry Bird v. Adam Morrison

[Jack]

sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=klosterman/060111

Chuck Klosterman has written a thought-provoking piece that is superficially about comparing Larry Bird and Adam Morrison but is more about race in sport (and in culture as well). Given this board's occasional obsession with race, I thought it would be useful to bring it to everyone's attention.

I think it could be longer, more of a magazine piece, and really provide more concrete illustrations about how people have tended to categorize certain athletes as similar due to their race, while showing how different they really are. It is a nice start, but it could use some fleshing out.

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I remember the first time I heard someone mention this comparison. May have been on PTI, in fact. My first reaction was, "Why, 'cause he's a white guy who can shoot from the outside and looks funny?" Why not compare his game to any black players who were lanky wingmen with no fear in their harts and a good shot?

I agree with his assertion that its akin to saying "Vince Young is like Randall Cunningham" rather than like Steve Young or any other scramble-throw-do-it-all QB at the NCAA level. People making that comparison leading up to the Rose Bowl Editeded me off, too.