The Game is NOT A Game. Robert Scoop Jackson.
The Power, Protest and Politics of American Sports.
Robert “Scoop” Jackson claims that his book, The Game is NOT a Game, is not really about race but power. He means the power of people that control or at least have a stake in the sports world. Topics range from the need for more respect due to female athletes, the black athletes shrinking presence in baseball, as well as the ever growing clutches of analytical influences in sports. Most of all, though, the thirteen chapters get the reader to think about the external and internal forces working against players within these sports especially with regard to and from the perspective of a person of color.
Of course it is a challenge to read through the pages and topics and not believe that race is still a central theme in this book. Not that it would take away from the many salient points and intriguing topics that are addressed within the covers. Nor to the point where the reader should feel uncomfortable delving through each topic. Nevertheless, one of the chapters with the title of “Buoyancy” describes the experiences of minority youth learning and having an opportunity to swim at a country club in suburban Philadelphia. The opportunity did not last long for the newly invited swimmers, as the invitation was quickly rescinded, once it was discovered by Swim Club administrators how many black youths were ascending the premises. Jackson makes reference that the only thing the youth did wrong was “swimming while black.”
Jackson, a long-time contributor at ESPN, talks about how “sports, especially basketball, is more than just games for us”. He asserts that sports are “freedom” and liberating to members of the black community. This was written largely in protest to the advent of analytics creeping up in professional sports but in basketball in particular. The author argues that the use of analytics tends to sterilize the game robbing the opportunity of “creativity” and potentially wrests the power away from those that claim it. The chapter goes on to suggest that basketball may be one of the few things in America where the African American community feels is “ours” ---although admittedly by the author – through “misguided conviction”. Whether one agrees with this notion, it does speak to the thought process of the black culture and its heritage.
Another section provides an interesting dialogue, which may or may not be fictional, between college students at the University of Kentucky. One student is a member of the basketball team and was a highly touted recruit as a prep. The discourse between students is how unfair the NCAA is towards the athletes attending school on scholarship especially compared to counterparts at school also on scholarship but not as athletes. Non-athletes with scholarships are free to earn and receive money through work or other modes of income. Scholarship athletes, prior to July 2021, were not permitted to work for or accept money under most circumstances according to NCAA guidelines. Now with the advent of NIL (Name Image Likeness) legally in place for student athletes they are now allowed to earn money through a variety of income earning vehicles such as endorsements or social media follows. Still, the notion of the discussion between students in that chapter suggesting this is a form of slavery is hard to swallow regardless of how one may define their role of indentured servitude.
There is an interesting chapter about the topic of baseball. Although Jackson’s statistics are not overtly clear as to how many black athletes on average are playing in the Majors, the numbers seem to indicate it is less than 10% of all players. The book decries how not enough kids from the black community are getting drafted or being scouted by MLB franchises. It also asserts how the black community is typically at a competitive disadvantage in terms of facilities as compared to other communities and cultures in an around the country. Jackson wonders if the trend continues will there be many, if any, African Americans playing ball in the not-so-distant future. Some of the blame, according to Jackson, is MLB and their mindset of often coveting and cultivating players outside of the black communities for a variety of reasons. The book argues that this is an example of how power (mostly white males assuming the role of owners and leadership) is asserted in this particular profession much to the disadvantage of black athletes. Now to the authors credit, the paucity of black players may also be traced back to where the playing begins. According to this chapter, there are numerous excuses highlighting why black parents and young athletes choose not to pursue a career in baseball or perhaps to select an alternate sport instead. Reasons citing expense, time, lack of training and few positive community influences, among many other qualms, seem to work against black youth making more of an effort to engage in diamond games.
“Scoop” Jackson makes the reader think about topics that may not garner publicity in the mainstream media. He does his best to support the misgivings and inadequacies in sport with data and historic facts where possible. The reader may not agree with all of his takes but that is not required to expand one’s personal mindset or to enjoy the manuscript. While some chapters are less titillating than others such as the argument of where LeBron James ranks in the pantheon of basketball players or another pointed interview with Jemele Hill, this hardback of 200 pages contains enough enthralling content to make one take a deeper look at control and influences within domestic sports culture.
· You may like this book if you enjoy reading about race, power and politics of sports.· You may like the book if you are a professional basketball fan.
· You may like to read this book if you seek books addressing current issues within sports.
Read more about the author on Twitter: https://twitter.com/OGIIISCOOP
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