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It’s good to see and hear Jim Brown is still on the case, pushing for athletes to step it up. He’s long reminded us that athletes are just hired gladiators and at the end of the day they have their community-hence its best they make moves to uplift it. Brown comes from an era when athletes knew they had to do alot more then just play ball. From the Muhammad Ali’s to the Hank Aarons , athletes knew they represented a larger body of people and hence made sure to not make the community look bad by coming up short.
Sadly many of today’s athletes are signed to mega rich agents who push our athletes in the opposite direction. They tell their clients if you speak out it’ll mean less endorsement, less money and less opportunity. Some agents won’t even work to get clients certain types of gigs if they speak out.. i.e. Try being an athlete who speaks out in favor of Palestine.
But Jim Brown is correct by noting that these athletes are smart enough to know how to speak out on certain issues and not hurt themselves. The question is are they willing.
-Davey D-
Cultural Icon and Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown blasts Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods for their lack of social activism in an interview that is to appear on HBO’s “Real Sports” Tuesday night.
Of Woods, Brown said, “This cat is a mamajama; he is a killer. He’ll run over you, he’ll kick your ass. But as an individual for social change or any of that kind of — , terrible. Terrible.”
Brown criticized Woods in January 2008 for not speaking out against the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman after she used the word “lynch” in a joking reference to him.
Of Woods and Jordan, Brown said, “I know they both know better, OK? And I know they both can do better without hurting themselves.”
source: http://www.playahata.com/?p=6369