Dave Zirin: Tons of Guns: The NBA Arms Race

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION*
by Dave Zirin

[Profanity warning: Rap lyrics follow]

It's crazy there ain't no time to really chill
Jealous motherfuckers always want to act ill
What the fuck you gonna do in a situation
It's like you need to have steel just to feel
relaxation

Tons o' guns everybody's getting strapped
Tons o' guns got to watch the way you act
Tons o' guns real easy to get
Tons o' guns bringing nothing but death"

Guru spit those lyrics ten years ago backed by a soul-scraping beat from DJ Premier. Today it seems like the GangStarr track could replace that damn Black Eyed Peas "Let's Get Retarded" song as the soundtrack of the National Basketball Association.

The NBA's gun culture has been bleeding off the sports pages and onto the crime desk. Already this year, we have seen Sebastian Telfair suspended at the start of the season for carrying a gun on the Portland team plane. Police found two loaded handguns under Zach Randolph's driver's seat. Lonny Baxter had to take jail time for firing shots near the White House, and of course we had Stephen Jackson firing a gun in the air at 3 AM outside a strip club after being struck in the mouth and clipped by a car. Part of the report also reads that Jackson kicked someone physically disabled, described as "a man with a deformed arm." (Damn, Steve! Don't you ever have a Blockbuster night?)

The News Media has been hot and bothered about this intersection of b-ball and bullets. The most ugly example was the Boston Globe's "expose" of certain players who have a license to carry concealed firearms. The story is accompanied by a chart titled "Professional Athletes Who Own Guns", with a listing of overwhelmingly African-American players accompanied by what look like mug shots.

But the players' need for steel is hardly unusual in the G-United States of America. The U.S. of A. is a sidearm Shangri-La where buying a gun is easier in most states than renting a carpet shampooer. There are 96 guns for every 100 people in this country. School shootings sadden, but no more surprise. Even the Vice President considers a fun weekend to be going to the woods with a friend and shooting him in the face.

Our SportsWorld is sticky with this pornography of violence. Military Recruitment centers are permanent fixtures at some parks. Bomber jets fly over NFL stadiums. The Washington Redskins do joint events with the NRA.

The NBA is simply no exception to this semi-automatic circle jerk.

What's disturbing about the hoops arms race is that the attraction to guns seems rooted in a dark paranoia that sees enemies lurking in every shadow. When Paul Pierce was stabbed 11 times in the neck and chest in 2000 and was within minutes of death, players talked. When Starbury was held up for a $250,000 of ice, players talked. The recent slaying of Miami Hurricanes d-lineman Bryan Pata only adds to the feeling for many athletes that this is a nation of enemies.

Times have changed since the days when a young Muhammad Ali walked the streets of Harlem, without a bodyguard in sight, saying, "I'm an easy target. I'm everywhere; everybody knows me. I walk the streets daily, and nobody's guarding me. I have no guns, no police. So if someone's gonna get me, tell them to come on and get it over with - if they can get past God, because God is controlling the bullet."

Another time, another universe. The difference between then and now was that the Champ felt like he was a part of a broader community. No question, there are players today who try to emulate this accessibility.

But overall, the trend is going the other way. The mantra of star athletes becomes separate, insulate and isolate: bodyguards and gated communities are a sad statement about the solitude of the modern jock. It's a tragic, lonely choice that many athletes refuse to make. Instead they say, "I'm going out, and I'm going out strapped."

The problem is that things done changed since Ali walked the streets. There is more poverty. More desperation. More anger. Until we do something about the rats, dirt, and dashed dreams, there will be tons of guns, and a recipe for tragedy. As the Guru said,

Check your nearest overpopulated ghetto
They greet you with a pistol not trying to say hello
Kids pulling triggers, niggaz killing niggaz
Five-o they sit and wait and tally death-toll figures

Tons o' guns got to watch the way you act
Tons o' guns real easy to get
Tons o' guns bringing nothing but death"

*Read this piece and more in the new isssue of SLAM on newstands now.

Dave Zirin is the author of 'What's My Name Fool?': Sports and Resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books). You can receive his column "Edge of Sports," every week by e-mailing edgeofsports-subscribe@zirin.com. Contact him at dave@edgeofsports.com]

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION

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