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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

Queens, NY - September 13, 2026 - USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center: Ben Shelton competing in the 2026 US Open men’s final.
(Photo by Rich Storry / ESPN Images)

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Comments 23

Anonymous says:

19 years ago

“No big deal, who cares. He just made a mistake, that’s all.”

Rae Carruth? Ray Lewis? Pacman Jones? Half of the Cincinnati Bengals? There was plenty of, say, “outrage” about them, and others.

^ But you see, when a football player gets arrested people rarely bash the entire NFL, the entire sport of football and all the other players in the league. If anything, they just bash the player who got in trouble and end of story.

when it comes to basketball, people start bashing (and trust me, I have seen plenty of those reactions) the entire NBA, every single NBA player (even though the vast majority are good citizens and never got in trouble, so how in the world is it their fault if a player gets arrested? how could they control what some players do?) and the entire sport of basketball. As a bball fan, I am sickened of this thing.

People should bash just the player who gets in trouble, not the entire sport and every single player who plays it.
matskralc says:

19 years ago

typical reaction when a football player gets arrested:

“No big deal, who cares. He just made a mistake, that’s all.”

Rae Carruth? Ray Lewis? Pacman Jones? Half of the Cincinnati Bengals? There was plenty of, say, “outrage” about them, and others.

Also, I’m glad you base your sweeping generalizations on the opinions of a single person!
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

anonymous 6:08 pm, while it’s true that basketball is extremely popular among black people, don’t forget that most of the fans who attend games and watch games on tv are white and that most of the NBA columnists and all those people who work for the NBA are white. Plus, plenty of white kids play and love basketball. In fact, the NBA is very popular among young people, both white and black.

So, it’s in the NBA’s best interests to promote the league toward white people, since those represent the majority of the NBA season ticket-holders base etc.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

“Why just the black community. Are they special or something?”

Not just the black community, but also in Asia, Europe, and Africa. It’s just that basketball is more popular with black people than any one else and the NBA makes a strong effort to help their fans out.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

typical reaction when a football player gets arrested:

“No big deal, who cares. He just made a mistake, that’s all.”

when an NBA player gets in trouble (or just gets a speeding ticket or something): “What a bunch of thugs. I refuse to watch basketball because they all are thugs”

and no i’m not kidding. It’s true what I am saying. Just check people’s reactions on message boards when an NFL player gets arrested and when NBA player gets arrested.

Another thing, people bash NBA players because many of them have tattoos. But they don’t bash NFL players for the same thing. Plenty of NFL players have tattoos (I saw it during the super bowl media day) but fans don’t seem to mind when it comes to football.

A few months ago NBA columnist Jack McCallum wrote a great article about the NBA/NFL double standard. He said that he talked to a person and this person basically bashed basketball players. But when the topic shifted to the NFL and Terrell Owens, this person didn’t mind about the many NFL players getting in trouble and said “Owens is an interesting person. I like listening to him” or something like that, despite all the problems T.O. had off-the- field.

If Owens was an NBA player, this same person would probably call him a thug.

I could go on an on talking about the NBA/NFL double standard but I rest my case.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

“The NBA All-Stars spent the day friday, painting and building houses and schools in New Orleans, the NBA does ALOT for the black community,”

Why just the black community. Are they special or something?

^ yeah, I must say that I agree with what anonymous 3:27 PM posted, even if he forgot to say the NBA does a lot also for the white community, not just the black community. I’m a Detroit Pistons fan for instance and the Pistons and its players visit a lot of mainly white suburban high schools and reward the best students in those schools and stuff like that. So, not just the black community.
matskralc says:

19 years ago

No doubts that the NBA is the most stereotyped major league..and that’s not right.

When you typed “NBA” you really meant to type “NASCAR”, right?
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/02/17/parrish.dui.ap/index.html

today an NFL player got arrested. Now, while the vast majority of players are good citizens, there is an increasing number of NFL players getting in trouble with the law. But, NFL fans don’t seem to mind. They don’t care. They keep loving football.

But (here’s the NFL-NBA double standard) when an NBA player gets in trouble, it seems like the sky is falling and it’s the end of the world. And people keep talking about the NBA “thugs” and how the league is out of control (yeah right). That’s what bogs my mind off, especially when we consider that many of those people who bash NBA players are football fans. It doesn’t matter that we rarely hear about NBA players getting arrested (all I heard in the last few months about NBA players getting in trouble was Tinsley of the Indiana Pacers and a couple of former players who aren’t in the league anymore).
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

“The NBA All-Stars spent the day friday, painting and building houses and schools in New Orleans, the NBA does ALOT for the black community,”

Why just the black community. Are they special or something?
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

Brian Scalabrine is just a fat piece of white trash. Who cares what that ginger has to say. He’s a nobody.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

wow! who is brian again?

i hate when nobody players ruined their mouth!

^anonymous 10:36PM, the player is Brian Scalabrine, a Boston Celtics player and I think every basketball fan knows who this player is. So, yeah you sound like one of those people who don’t watch basketball and like to stereotype basketball players even if you don’t know anything about them. That’s the sensation I get after reading your post.

also, Scalabrine is a white player..so even white people can see that race has a lot to do with the perception the league has. And he’s 110% right. I am white, too, and I can see the same thing. I have the same opinion Scalabrine has on this thing.

And now, to all the idiots who bash the NBA, IGNORE IT..DONT TALK ABOUT IT AND PRETEND THE NBA DOESN’T EVEN EXIST IF YOU HATE IT SO MUCH. IT’S THAT SIMPLE. IF YOU LIKE TO WASTE YOUR TIME TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DISLIKE, IT MEANS THAT YOU DON’T HAVE A LIFE. USE YOUR TIME IN A BETTER WAY, AND SPEND YOUR TIME TALKING ABOUT THINGS YOU ENJOY.

Don’t you like the NBA for whatever reason? Fine, ignore it, but avoid to stereotype its players and the game itself if you don’t even watch it.

And again, kudos to the NBA for the great job they are doing in New Orleans.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

anonymous 10:36 must be a hockey fan jealous of the fact that the nba gets bigger ratings than hockey

besides, i don’t know how much the urban demographic makes up the viewers of the NBA. But I heard that most of the viewers are white anyway. I am white myself and so do my friends who watch the NBA. So..
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

wow! who is brian again?

i hate when nobody players ruined their mouth!

by the way if the league was 75 percent white the ratings will be 1.9 on ABC instead of 2.5… I bet if Paul Sen put our how much the urban demographic makes up the viewers of the NBA u guys would rethink your statemnets.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

Anonymous 11:48PM, You say fighting in the NHL is controlled, how many times have I seen bench clearing brawls in hockey. ALOT.I like hockey, but when people attack my race and my culture, I have to bring counterpoints. But, people only remember the Pistons-Pacers Brawl, but forget the other times in sports in which players fought with fans. I remember a Texas Rangers player throwing a chair into the stands, Dodgers players fighting with fans at Wrigley, Toronto Maple Leaf player fighting with a fan a couple of years ago. None of those guys were african american. The NBA All-Stars spent the day friday, painting and building houses and schools in New Orleans, the NBA does ALOT for the black community, which why their players are the most popular in the country. We shouldn’t even have to talk about this! The Western Conference of the NBA is the most entertaining thing in sports, but I guess my favorite league will never do enough to shake this horribly racist perception.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

http://www.nba.com/gallery/NBADayofService/021508_1.html

here are the “nba day of service in new orleans” pics. Too bad this event isn’t getting much coverage
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

http://www.nola.com/nbaallstar/index.ssf/2008/02/dream_team_provides_super_serv.html

Dream team provides super service
Pro basketball stars and legends covered the city in the largest single volunteer effort since Katrina

^ kudos to the NBA. Now I just want to see if someone will talk about it. But I doubt national pundits will say much about the fantastic job the NBA did/is doing in New Orleans ( Yahoo! has a fantastic photo gallery in the NBA photos section..just in case you don’t believe it)

I doubt that, say, Jason Whitlock (sp.?) will talk much about the great job the league is doing in New Orleans. He’ll probably ignore it. But I’m sure he’s sitting somewhere in this moment, drooling at the thought that something bad could happen during the all-star weekend. I’m sure he can’t wait to bash the NBA again. But the same can be said about other people.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/02/jackson_square_shut_down_for_n.html

speaking of stereotypes about NBA players, you only need to read this asinine post that was posted on the New Orleans Times Picayune in one of the many articles about the NBA all-star weekend

“Posted by tuconnais on 02/15/08 at 1:00PM

…Free NOPD police presence? Come on, at whose expencse? If these rich owners (NBA) can afford to lease Jackson Square they can afford the cost of police protection. I can’t see a bunch of basketball thugs and their pimpish followers being granted keys to the city or even a semblance of respect.
They are just a bunch of primadonnas living life styles that are bad example for kids.
The only exception is Shaq…he’s a classy guy.
I think! “

the only thing this guy got right is the Shaq part.

Really, this is ridiculous. The NBA is trying its best to help New Orleans (even though the Government should do it, but that’s another story), David Stern and countless NBA players are there and are helping building homes, reading centers, schools..they are trying to help New Orleans to get back on its feet (that’s why the all-star game is there this year) and people even complain about NBA players. Not to mention that they don’t have much to complain about. Hornets players are class acts, both on-and-off the court, they are good guys and not only that, they play a great brand of basketball (and are the best team in the western conference)..but it doesn’t seem enough: they remain thugs for some people. I don’t really know what those players need to do in order to please those idiots.

Also, basketball fans are called pimpish followers. In another article someone called basketball fans “Primitive”..yeah, i guess I am primitive just because I enjoy basketball. If that makes me primitive, then I am proud to be primitive!
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

Hey fellas, learn something about the game of hockey and then speak. Fighting in hockey is part of the game and the fights are clean and controlled and only limited to occurring on the ice. The NBA fights usually take place away from the games and when they do occur on the court, fans usually become scared because players lose control. Nevertheless, fighting during games was not the problem I was referring to. It is the off-court troubles that are concerning. Obviously some NHL players get into trouble from time to time. But they are clearly better behaved than NBA players as a whole. Ignoring that point is just plain stupid. Listen, this doesn’t mean all the NBA players are losers, but it’s a higher percentage of NBA players getting into trouble than it should be. And Sports on a Schtick, you showed your lack of class and knowledge by using a racial slur. That is just ignorant and offensive.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

anonymous 8:28, it seems like you are saying that the majority of NBA players are troublemakers. Do me a favor and go check every NBA roster and you’ll hardly find troublemakers. It’s just a few bad apples who create troubles every now and then. The vast majority never got in trouble and are good citizens. This is not even debatable. That’s why I hate when every NBA player gets called “thug”..

in every league most of the players are good citizens and respectful, not only in the NHL since you are praising hockey players.

ps: also, did u forget that in the ’80s or something the NHL had a huge brawl between fans and players ? It happened during a Rangers/Bruins game. Players went into the stands and started fighting with fans like crazy. The Palace brawl between Pistons and Pacers was nothing compared to that incident.

So, don’t act like hockey players are perfect and players in other sports are not. Every sport has its bad apples, but the vast majority are good guys.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

The second post is f-ing retarded, there are fights in the NHL nightly. A couple of years ago, a player named Dan Heatley that was drunk-driving and ended up crashing his car killing one of his teammates that was in the passenger seat. A couple of nights ago two Montreal players were arrested outside of a nightclub. Don’t come on here and say that the NHL is bettered behaved just because it’s mostly white. That’s just f-ing ignorant.
Sports on a Schtick says:

19 years ago

“Let’s see a year without players getting into fights, getting arrested, or speeding.”

Wait, you’re talking about the NHL right? Because those white boys brawl all the time. And it was only a few years ago that Mike Danton was plotting a murder-for-hire. And around the same time Dan Heatley lost control of his fast Ferrari and killed his teammate.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

If 75% of the NBA was white, there wouldn’t be all these players getting arrested and causing trouble. Fact: Most of the crimes committed by pro football and basketball players are committed by colored players. I am a Scalabrine fan, but I don’t understand how he can say something so stupid and ignorant. We have a sport with a large percentage of white players, the NHL, and those players are great citizens and class acts for the most part. Let’s see a year without players getting into fights, getting arrested, or speeding. The public would definitely have a different opinion, but of course such a year would never exist. 15 years ago the league didn’t have a negative perception; that’s because the players behaved. So anyone who plays the race card is making a fool of themself.
Anonymous says:

19 years ago

Word..and Scalabrine is white so even white people can see that racism has a lot to do with the NBA’s image problem. I am white myself and I see that race has a lot to do with this.

I am so sick of NBA players being labeled “thugs”. The vast majority of NBA players are good guys who know how to behave themselves, they never got arrested and many of them are also funny and fan friendly. The NBA is also one of the best organizations when it comes to community. It’s amazing the great job the league is doing in New Orleans, isn’t it? Too bad those haters ignore it.

A lot of NBA players donate lots of money to several organizations, help to build hospitals, reading centers, visit hospitals and stuff like that. It’s too bad that only die-hard fans get to see this. As a fan, I am sick to see people bashing players. The actions of a few bad apples suddenly become the actions of the entire league. People suppose that just because, say, Tinsley gets in trouble, every other player in the league does the same thing and is a troublemaker. Isn’t it pathetic? Isn’t it unfair?

ESPN The Magazine came up with some interesting articles about the NBA’s image problem. I like Chris Palmer’s article. Perception doesn’t mean reality.

Also, to the ones bashing the quality of play, the level of play is improving a lot and this league is worth watching so it’s time to stop making excuses about it..this is one of the best seasons in NBA history..the playoffs race, especially in the western conference, is very close..anything could happen..some teams are renewing old rivalries (see Boston and Detroit)..there are great games on a daily bases..haters are missing out a lot. And that’s their loss.

No doubts that the NBA is the most stereotyped major league..and that’s not right.

But I already can see that a lot of people will jump on me about the things I posted..but I don’t care. I know I am right about the things I just posted.