You Talking to Me? Trying to decipher Geno Auriemma

From: Gonzalez, John

To: Ford, Bob; Sheridan, Phil

Subject: Race and hoops

The NCAA women's hoops championship is tonight. Normally, I wouldn't care (you can commence with the predictable Gonzomisogynist cracks now), but UConn coach Geno Auriemma said something interesting before the Huskies crushed Stanford and advanced to the final:

"I know this is going to get played out the wrong way," said Auriemma, "But I'm going to say it anyway. And I know I'm going to get criticized for this. White kids are always looked upon as being soft. So Stanford's got a tremendous amount of really good players who for whatever reason, because they don't look like Tina Charles or Maya Moore, the perception out there is going to be, well, they must be soft.

"Well, I think that's a bunch of bull. I watched them play and nobody goes harder to the boards. Nobody takes more charges. Nobody runs the floor as hard. Those kids are as tough as any of the kids in the country. But people on the sports world like to make judgments on people by how they look. And it's grossly unfair."

What in God's name is he talking about? Did someone criticize these kids for their skin color? And what do you think about Auriemma turning the Final Four into a be-nice-to-white kids conference?

From: Sheridan, Phil

To: Ford, Bob; Gonzalez, John

Subject: Race and hoops

Hey, someone's got to speak up for the advantaged.

Honestly, I think we often fall into this trap of blasting anyone who tries to address racial issues. It is OK and even necessary to discuss the role race plays in various situations and circumstances. The problem here isn't that Auriemma decided to "go there." The problem is he apparently got himself lost on the way.

When people do stereotype white basketball players (and athletes in general), they tend to give them credit for working hard and hustling and being "gritty." It's the African American players who are stereotyped as being so gifted athletically they don't have to work at it. In other words, Auriemma got the stereotypes backward. That makes the whole exercise seem puzzling, at best.

From: Gonzalez, John

To: Ford, Bob; Sheridan, Phil

Subject: Race and hoops

I have no problem "going there" and discussing race bias provided there's a hook. Geno just sort of threw it out for reasons known only to him.

My last name is Gonzalez, but do I complain or cry race when you guys make lame jokes about me or my tilty head? I do not. Because it has nothing to do with my skin and everything to do with the fact that you two are painfully unfunny and ran out of Talkin material on Day 2.

From: Sheridan, Phil

To: Ford, Bob; Gonzalez, John

Subject: Race and hoops

We're painfully unfunny? Hmm. Well, thanks then for carrying us, John. Nobody goes "harder to the punchline" than you, no matter how you look.

Maybe you hit on Auriemma's motivation, though. By talking up Stanford as "tough" white girls, maybe he thought that would make the Huskies look tougher (if not whiter) when they won. 'Cause everyone knew they would win, just as everyone knows they're going to win tonight.

The biggest problem with women's college basketball is the predictability. There's UConn and Tennessee, and then there's everyone else.

From: Gonzalez, John

To: Ford, Bob; Sheridan, Phil

Subject: Race and hoops

You ain't heavy, you're my foreheads.

From: Ford, Bob

To: Sheridan, Phil; Gonzalez, John

Subject: Race and hoops

White athletes are "heady" and "scrappy." Black athletes are "physically gifted." Everyone knows this. The stereotype that bothers me is the one that says all Page 2 columnists are a tad slow and go for the pie-in-face joke and the easy laugh, as opposed to Page 1 columnists who actually have something to say. Nothing could be further from the truth. In most cases. As for Gonzorebob, if he would stop making those flatulence noises under his armpit, I might be able to hear him.