The Great White Hope – Jimmer Fredette

Guest writer Dave Robbins contributed to this post and the views expressed hereafter are his. Direct angry comments to him.

“Swaggering” “Confident” “Aggressive” “Legend” these are some of the adjectives one will stumble across when reading Kelli Anderson’s profile of Jimmer Fredette, the NCAA basketball player of the year candidate from BYU. Ironically, not one of these words has anything to do with basketball ability. The many articles that are almost identical to Anderson’s highlight the dichotomy that exists almost every season in college basketball and in most other sports as well, the media’s elevation of white players beyond where they should be in the sports world.

It seems almost every year there is a new “Great White Hope” on the landscape of college

basketball (think JJ Reddick, Adam Morrison, Tyler Hansbrough, and Fredette). Only one of those last 4 was the consensus best in the country at anything, and that was Reddick at shooting. What made these guys media darlings is that they could compete with the black players, who generally possess more talent and NBA potential. To make up for this lack of athleticism on Reddick’s part, height on Hansbrough’s, height and athleticism on Fredette’s, and a razor on Morrison’s, the media decided that they had “heart”, “confidence”, and “intangibles”. Pretty much a nice way of saying, “if you were black you’d be labeled “talentless”, “short”, and “maxed out”. Talentless and heart are actually synonyms in the sports world, imagine how quickly heart would turn into talentless if David Eckstein or Wes Welker were not white.

Consider the NBA draft profiles of Hansbrough and his black counterpart, Dajuan Blair on collegehoops.net. Blair’s strengths include “physical” “strong” “long arms” “excellent rebounder”.  Hansbrough’s include “plays for a top college producing NBA talent” and “nickname is Psycho T”. Why were these two players even considered to be on the same level in college? Because the media made sure everyone knew that Psycho T was the most intense competitor with the most massive, heartiest heart of anybody in the world…ever.  Maybe he scored a lot in college because he was a year older than everyone else in his grade and was more developed. Maybe because the athletes in college were not all taller and more athletic than Hansbrough like they are in the NBA. Whatever the case Tyler Hansbrough’s heart was in no way bigger than Dejuan Blair’s, he was just whiter.

Fredette’s case is nearly the exact same. He seems to have more of a consensus amongst NBA scouts that he can shoot in the League, but he is considered a bad defensive liability, and he also possesses one of the worst assist to turnover ratios of all point guards in the senior draft class. However, a positive is that he at least “carries himself well on the floor”.

White athletes are revered, because they don’t celebrate after touchdowns, or beat their chests after every basket, or strut around the bases after a homerun. Why is restraining

from doing these things considered “carrying oneself well”? It is a natural human reaction to celebrate after doing something great, and it is the overwhelmingly white media that has influenced America to think that this is in poor taste. Roger Goodell and David Stern impose things like dress codes, conduct policy, and fines after celebrations because they don’t want to see the expression of the individual. When Desean Jackson somersaults into the endzone it causes a media uproar, but when Psycho T runs downcourt screaming after he somehow manages to convert a layup (since he probably can’t dunk) his pounds to the chest are seen as an expression of his limitless will to win.

Which leads me to this. The figures that become media darlings (think Tim Tebow, Jimmer Fredette) are put on such a pedestal because the white executives link white athletes (Greg Maddux?) to the general public.  White athletes are viewed as representative of the everyday citizens, that they come from the average white middle-class American family rather than the streets of the ghetto.  Jimmer (By the way, in the 1920’s Jimmer was used in reference to a phallus) puts up great numbers and has lead his team to a Sweet 16 appearance but if you watch BYU play you see how much he dominates possession and looks to score, passing up open teammates for contested, wild layups.  I’m tired of the annual “Great White Hope.” Show me feats of athleticism, last second shots, the joy of winning, and the heartbreak of defeat.  Give me insight into the best and most exciting, not just the whitest.

-Dave Robbins