It’s not racist to note basketball players are taller than baseball players
Conn Carroll
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has again outraged the Left, this time by simply noting that basketball players are generally better athletes than baseball players.
Asked by the Christian Broadcasting Network, “What is it about baseball that you love?” DeSantis responded in part, “I think that there’s kind of a place for everybody on a baseball team if you’re willing to work hard, if you’re willing to practice, and if you’re willing to hone your skills,” DeSantis said. “I kind of thought it was always a very democratic game, a very meritocratic game.”
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“Whereas I kind of viewed basketball as like, these guys are just freaks of nature,” DeSantis continued. “They’re just incredible athletes. In baseball, you know, you have some guys that might not necessarily be the best athletes, but maybe they’ve got, you know, that slider that nobody can hit, or they have the skills that allow them to compete at the highest level.”
USA Today’s Mike Freeman called these statements “a racist dog whistle” because “DeSantis was essentially talking about two leagues, and how the mostly Black one, the NBA, is full of freaky athletes with fast-twitch muscles and apparently not as democratic or meritocratic or whatever-cratic as baseball players.”
I’m actually not as big a baseball fan as I was growing up. I haven’t watched a single game since 2020. But I watched enough over the years to know that you don’t have to be a world-class athlete to be an All-Star baseball player. Just Google some pictures of three-time All-Star Rick Reuschel, or Bartolo Colon, or Pablo Sandoval, who Barry Zito affectionately nicknamed “Kung Fu Panda.”
Have you seen pandas? They’re not exactly nature’s greatest athletes.
Now look at the NBA. LeBron James is 6 foot 9 and 220 pounds. Yao Ming is 7 foot 6 and 300 pounds. The reigning NBA Finals MVP, Nikola Jokic, is 6 foot 11 and 280 pounds.
All of these athletes work hard and are immensely talented. They are also all freaks of nature. If LeBron or Yao or Jokic were all 5 foot 11, none of us would know any of their names.
I’m really more of a football fan these days. And football has tons of freaks of nature, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. I like the strategy and teamwork of football, and I especially like the pageantry and tradition of college football. DeSantis has different tastes. He still likes baseball. That’s fine. And that also doesn’t make him racist.