Jemele Hill's Hitler remarks: A slap in the face to the Celtics and their fans

The original version of ESPN Page 2 columnist, Jemele Hill's 'Deserving or not, I Still Hate The Celtics' has caused a mini controversy on the heels of Game 6. Jemele Hill wrote,

“Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim. It’s like hoping Gorbachev would get to the blinking red button before Reagan.”

First off let me say I like the analogy of Gorbachev vs. Reagan. Although I'd have to speculate on exactly what it means since ESPN has since edited the article from it's original state. I have a pretty good idea that it eludes to how Detroit Pistons fans hate the Boston Celtics. (So skipping past that uncontroversial part of the statement...)

It is the Hitler part of the statement that has Jemele Hill in trouble. ShotsHeard has already chronicled how Jemele Hill's racial motivations influenced her opinions of Barry Bonds and steroids in 'Jemele Hill on Barry Bonds; 'Just looking out for her own'?'

How many Americans root for people based on race? Some people call it relating and others call it being prejudiced. It's a fine line and not one I'm really willing to knit pick at too much for the purposes of this article. I am not naive to the idea that people in Massachusetts may generally have more white athletes, while people in Detroit have a higher affinity for black athletes. Jemele Hill gets a pass for that part of it.

So what are people really mad at? Adolph Hitler is perceived as the most evil man in the history of the world and one of his notorious attributes would be his vehement racism. The implication is that the Celtics organization and their fans are the racist enemies.

Perhaps if Ms. Hill should have reread the column, 'The truth isn't always black and white for Celtics' by her colleague and probably my favorite sports journalist, J.A. Adande, then she could have avoided looking the fool on an analogy that is grossly untrue and completely inappropriate even in the world of satire.

In that piece by Mr. Adande, he reminds us how the Celtics were the first team to draft an African-American player, first team to hire an African-American coach and the first team to start an all African-American line-up. Yes Jemele Hill was aware of all that as she even mentioned the column in 'Deserving or not, I still hate the Celtics'. Yet, Ms. Hill still tried to vilify the racial politics of the Celtics and their fans!

Of course she was standing on solid ground right? Afterall, in 1990 a man named Charles Stuart murdered his pregnant wife and blamed it on a made-up black man. That alibi is somehow translates to racist nature of Boston in Jemele Hill's mind.

But does she have to look at that when she could look at the 2008 Celtics. An African-American has played every single minute for the Celtics! During the regular season, the Celtics sold out every game without the benefit of any reputable white presence. It's actually the much whiter Lakers with Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovich, Sasha Vujacic and Luke Walton that would be much more to Hitler's liking. Even the Lakers coach is white whereas the Celtics have the black coach.

In either case there need not be a race quota or race formula. As Adande wrote, Red Auerbach's Celtics did not look at a player as black or white. They just looked at how a player fit into the system and went about their business.

Whoever wins between the Celtics and Lakers; it's not a win or a loss for any race. But for Jemele Hill, the world is still 'us verse them' world because that stuff sells (not to mention she just has baggage!). Though Ms. Hill acknowledges the world has progressed so she tries to pick her spots because the world simply has grown tired of anyone giving us fanatical racially overcharged blather.

But when we do get hit in the face with an off-base racial anlogy what has happened to Jemele Hill or the editors that allowed it to happen? Quite simply nothing. Jemele Hill has been talked to. In other words, peddle a degree of ignorance that sells, but watch how you do it!