Scott & Dante are back to take the road back to Westeros as they breakdown the latest entry in the Game of Thrones saga, who are the new characters, where does this show take place in the Thrones timeline? plus a full breakdown of episode 1
The Clash at The Castle is coming up fast and the people set to benefit from it most are Gunther and Sheamus. Well that is if they don't get these titles split. We talk about the future of The Bloodline holding all the major gold and what it means for the 4th quarter. Sami is the Bret Hart of Montreal, NXT UK is getting a Reboot and Triple H did what Cam said he would do. And it's more than clear that more people than Trips don't mess with CM Punk and it really looks like "The Savior and Voice of the Voiceless" hasn't saved anyone but himself. Listen up on it all on this week's #FBCPod.
On this weeks episode of RAOP our producer Banks steps in for Joe fresh off of being admitted into Freakbul Rehab. We chop it up about Rick Ross becoming the best barber in Florida, hitting chicks off the #honeypack, Glorilla being a #GoodWoman, thoughts on The Game's new album and a lot more. Also we answer voicemails and questions from the listeners. Remember to send in your listener questions, #TheyNeedTheirAssBeat or #RealNiggaOfTheWeek submissions, email us at MAIL@RAOPodcast.com or call 424-260-RAOP to leave a voicemail.
Michael Jordan. Kobe Bryant. Madison Square Garden. February 8, 1998.
Do you like a good NBA conspiracy theory? Then boy oh boy, have I got one for you.
Let’s go back to the fall of 1997. For a league that had just enjoyed one of its most memorable NBA Finals ever and its second best TV rating since the NBA-ABA merger, life was rocky. The team’s signature team was in disarray. Imagine if the 2018 Warriors had the drama and discord of the 2018 Cavs, and you can picture what the 1998 Bulls looked like.
What do I mean by “drama and discord”? Well, 11 days after Scottie Pippen sealed championship #5 for the Bulls with a steal for the ages, Jerry Krause tried to trade him.
That fell through in part because Michael Jordan put his foot down. But if Jordan was running the show, it was news to him. In October, during the preseason, a reporter asked Jordan if he would try to pressure Jerry Reinsdorf into re-signing Phil Jackson, whose contract (along with MJ’s and Pippen’s) expired after the 1998 season.
“You see how Jerry Reinsdorf operates,” Jordan said. “My influence doesn’t have anything to do with his decision-making.”
And if Jackson didn’t return?
“I would quit,” Jordan said.
On that particular day, Rodman remained without a contract. Pippen was debating whether to have toe surgery. The name of Iowa State University head basketball coach Tim Floyd was circulating as the probable replacement for Jackson. Krause and Jackson were publicly feuding. Jordan was angry with Rodman and possibly Pippen, who went through with the surgery, costing him the season’s first 35 games. Pippen was angry with Krause and Reinsdorf. Jackson looked like he was in a lame-duck season, meaning Jordan was too.
This was the most popular team in sports.
At the same time, the league itself looked like a lame-duck season. A lockout loomed at the end of 1997-98, with commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik openly discussing the work stoppage as “something we’re going to have to consider.”
Then on December 1 sprang the wild card: an NBA player choked his coach.
This was the famous Latrell Sprewell - P.J. Carlesimo encounter, an incident so upsetting to league order that the league suspended Sprewell for the remainder of the season — 68 games. An Associated Press story at the end of the calendar year summed up the league’s troubles:
HEADLINE: NBA ‘97 — from unbeaten Bulls to Sprewell
SUBHEAD: A seemingly stable league experiences growing pains
On Dec. 31, 1997, the Bulls were 20-10, but struggling, and were coming off a loss in Minnesota the day before caused in part by Jordan’s panic at a hoax phone call to the stadium claiming that MJ’s mother was in the hospital. Pippen had not yet played. John Stockton was just back from injury. Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and Shaquille O’Neal were injured.
The old guard was crumbling and you couldn’t even say “wait till next year.”
***
The young guard was a dunk champ gunning for 6th Man of the Year, and on Dec. 17, 1997, he gave the world a show. I would say “Kobe Bryant and the Lakers came to Chicago,” but you tend not to say “Player X and his team” when Player X comes off the bench.
This is what the stats of the 18-5 Lakers looked like when they took the United Center floor against the 14-9 Bulls:
● Shaquille O’Neal — 8 games, (8 starts), 35.6 min., 24.5 pts (injured)
● Eddie Jones — 23 games, (23 starts), 36.3 min., 19.0 pts
● Kobe Bryant — 20 games, (0 starts), 26.0 min., 17.4 pts
● Nick Van Exel — 23 games, (23 starts), 32.6 min., 15.5 pts
● Elden Campbell — 22 games (16 starts), 28.3 min., 14.8 pts
● Rick Fox — 23 games, (23 starts), 30.7 min., 11.2 pts
● Robert Horry — 21 games, (21 starts), 32.2 min., 7.9 pts
● Derek Fisher — 23 games, (0 starts), 16.0 min., 4.9 pts
Bryant was not a starter, but he was a star. He was the league’s reigning dunk champ and a smash hit in commercials. He offered a G-rated counter to the league’s best young scoring guard, fellow second-year player Allen Iverson of the 76ers, who the day of that Bulls-Lakers game was 8th in the NBA in scoring yet made news for issuing an apology to his head coach for missing a few days prior, and serving a one-game team suspension.
Bryant was a kid-friendly dunker. He was the latest in a string of players dubbed the “Next Michael Jordan,” but unlike the others his anointment made sense from a basketball standpoint. They had similar bodies and similar games. The hype wasn’t just in Los Angeles, which was to be expected. On the day that the Lakers came to Chicago, the Tribune sports section ran a front-page spread called “Kobe Bryant: The Air apparent?”
In his column, Sam Smith wrote that Kobe “may be the closest talent to Jordan to come into the NBA in the last decade.” Lakers GM Jerry West called Kobe “simply the best prospect we ever worked out,” while Pacers GM Donnie Walsh said that Kobe “does something every game I see him that’s Michael Jordan stuff.”
The sports section ran statistical comparisons between Kobe and Jordan as rookies and in that season, and on the inside of the paper named Kobe the “Player To Watch,” writing:
“Dare we say that the teen sensation is beginning to look like a precocious Michael Jordan?”
Remember: they were talking about a 2nd-year, 19-year-old backup.
With Shaq out and starting guards Jones and Van Exel combining against the Bulls for 14 points on six of 25 shooting, Kobe took control: 12-20 off the bench, shooting 3-5 from three and 6-9 from the line for a team- and career-high 33 points. Jordan had 36. The Bulls won by 21.
In the fourth quarter, with the Bulls comfortably ahead, Jordan asked Jackson to be put back into the game. He wanted to guard Kobe. It wouldn’t be the last time.
On Dec. 23, one week after the Jordan-Bryant matchup, the first results in the All-Star voting came out. And this is where we get to our conspiracy.
Here were the West guards:
Gary Payton, Seattle: 89,262
Eddie Jones, L.A. Lakers: 78,138
Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers: 68,163
Stephon Marbury, Minnesota: 64,445
Jason Kidd, Phoenix: 54,338
Nick Van Exel, L.A. Lakers: 50,160
John Stockton, Utah: 36,585
Clyde Drexler, Houston: 31,952
Here were the guards on Dec. 31:
Payton: 106,536
Jones: 93,674
Bryant: 82,591
Marbury: 73,962
Kidd: 66,030
On Jan. 8, 1998, Kobe was down to 4th:
Payton: 131,487
Jones: 98,381
Marbury: 90,757
Bryant: 87,484
Kidd: 84,553
On Jan. 18, as reported by the L.A. Times, Bryant was down to 5th, with Marbury now starting opposite Payton and Jones 3rd. (Vote totals weren’t published, unfortunately, nor was the 4th place guard.)
And then, on Jan. 22, seemingly out of nowhere, with no significant game to point to that would indicate a leap, he was 2nd.
Four days later, the voting was over.
Payton: 555,715
Bryant: 395,686
Stockton: 344,259
Marbury: 331,749
Kidd: 305,834
Jones: 300,658
Drexler: 238,150
Van Exel: 232,274
Just like that, Kobe Bryant was an All-Star starter at age 19, the youngest starter in the game’s history. He was third on his team in scoring with 17.3 points per game, and had come off the bench in all 38 games he’d played. Among his fellow players who had yet to start a game, he was the NBA’s leading scorer.
“It was a goal of mine,” Kobe said after the voting was finished. “Now that it has become reality, it’s more gratifying than anything.”
For what it’s worth, I did not set out to write a conspiracy story. I just wanted to write a story about the impact that the ‘98 All-Star Game had on the league in the two decades to follow due to the Jordan vs. Kobe storyline. And we’ll get to that.
But when I started looking at the vote totals and how they progressed, and added that to what we know about how the NBA under David Stern manipulated events to create outcomes that were favorable to the league, I started to wonder.
So I’ll ask point-blank: did the NBA fix the voting to push Kobe Bryant in to the starting lineup and hence the All-Star Game, since he obviously would not have been selected by the coaches? Let’s look at both sides.
REASONS IT MIGHT NOT BE TRUE
1. Even at 19, Kobe was hugely popular, so him snagging a starting spot in a popularity contest is not impossible. And since we don’t know how the vote totals are counted, perhaps there is an logical explanation for the drop from 3rd to 5th and then the rise from 5th to 2nd.
2. He was averaging 17 points per game at the time, and had dropped 33 on the Bulls on Dec. 17, so he was clearly talented and was a future star. If the lockout hadn’t wiped out the ‘99 All-Star Game, Kobe almost certainly would have made it even as a coach selection.
3. Gary Payton was the runaway leading vote-getter among West guards, but the competition was open after that. Other than Kobe, the guys who at various points either held the #2 spot or fought for it were Eddie Jones, Stephon Marbury, John Stockton, and Jason Kidd. Good players but nobody who was truly crushing it in either play or popularity.
4. Part of my reasoning for why it might be true is that the voting numbers look weird, but again, I've never looked closely at the week-by-week totals, so perhaps this is just how it goes sometimes. Additionally, I can only think of three instances in which the league might have been inclined to fix the voting, and in each case it went the way that might not be best for the league:
● 1992, Magic Johnson (He was voted a starter despite being retired following his HIV announcement. I could see this argued either way: that either the league thought it would be good for him to play so that everyone could get used to seeing him on the court in preparation for the Olympics, or that the league would NOT want him to play because he was A. retired, and B. had HIV.
● 2003, Michael Jordan (He was not voted a starter, despite everyone pretty much knowing that it would be his final All-Star Game. The coaches rightfully selected him to come off the bench, and then the public basically bullied the East starters into relinquishing a starting spot, which Vince Carter did.)
● 2004, LeBron James (You could argue that the league would want its “new” future to start in his rookie year, especially with Kobe going through his rape case. But LeBron finished 4th among East guards and was not selected by the coaches.)
REASONS IT MIGHT BE TRUE
1. We know that the NBA is proactive in its efforts to control its outcomes, and considering that the prevailing wisdom at the time was that 1998 would be MJ's final All-Star Game, adding one more piece of the league's future to the game in a marquee position seems like something the league would manipulate.
And to get Kobe in, they would have had to manipulate it. Among the top eight vote-getters for Western guards, Kobe was 5th in scoring upon the announcement of the starters. Since scoring was just about all he did at the time, it’s unlikely that the coaches would have selected him.
● Gary Payton — 19.4 pts, 5.0 reb, 8.8 ast (42 games, 42 starts)
● Clyde Drexler — 19.4 pts, 4.9 reb, 5.8 ast (33 games, 33 starts)
● Stephon Marbury — 18.5 pts, 2.8 reb, 8.3 ast (40 games, 39 starts)
● Eddie Jones — 18.2 pts, 3.6 reb, 3.0 ast (41 games, 41 starts)
● Kobe Bryant — 17.3 pts, 3.2 reb, 2.3 ast (38 games, 0 starts)
● Nick Van Exel — 15.5 pts, 3.4 reb, 7.6 ast (40 games, 40 starts)
● John Stockton — 12.6 pts, 2.6 reb, 8.1 ast (22 games, 22 starts)
● Jason Kidd — 10.2 pts, 6.4 reb, 9.1 ast (39 games, 39 starts)
2. Let's say for a second that Kobe was elected fair and square. The league showed its interest in showcasing the "old vs. new" battle between Jordan and Kobe by announcing Kobe last among West starters. There was no real reason to do this other than setting up the parallel between Kobe and Jordan, who was announced last for the East (and last overall).
Kobe was clearly the low man on the West starter totem — it would have made much more sense to save that last announcement spot for Karl Malone (reigning MVP) or Shaq (arguably the game's biggest star after Mike).
Now, you might say, "Yeah, but because Jordan was announced last, they had to announce a West guard last." First of all, no they don't. It's an All-Star Game. No one would blink if they announced Malone last for the West, considering he was the league MVP and the best player on the reigning West champs.
But if you need to announce a guard last, you've got Gary Payton, who was the leading vote-getter among West guards by more than 160,000 votes, was in his 5th All-Star Game, was a former DPOY and Finals contestant, etc. Announcing KG last for the West under the idea of “He’s the future” would have made sense too.
3. Going along with the league's interest in promoting "MJ vs. Kobe," the broadcast focused heavily on that connection. They interviewed Kobe four times:
● Halftime
● 2nd half
Kobe was constantly asked about Mike, and was asked directly if this game was the "passing of the torch. And Mike was asked about Kobe in both a 1st half interview and at halftime.
The players knew about the Jordan-Kobe hype. Here's Reggie Miller that day:
"I kind of looked over at Jordan and he had this look in his eye. He was like, 'You're right, they are trying to plug this as Kobe going after Michael.' We all took that personal."
Or David Robinson:
"I think there was a little too much of that stuff (i.e. talk about Kobe vs. Mike). It's hard. Some of us mid-generation guys, we're all about trying to win the game and aren't into that one-on-one kind of deal."
4. The league already had KG, Penny, and Grant Hill in the starting lineup, and I'll bet they had a good sense that the coaches would pick the rookie Tim Duncan for the West bench, which did indeed happen.
But they may have also known that...
...the league was headed toward a 1999 lockout, and that said lockout might even knock out the 1999 All-Star Game, which it did.
...the Bulls were really heading toward a breakup after 1998.
So David Stern might have wanted to highlight one more young player on a national stage to give fans something to be excited about when the lockout ended and the Bulls were no longer a factor.
5. Lastly, and most significantly, Kobe had a sudden surge of votes down the stretch, moving from 5th among West guards on Jan. 18 to 2nd on Jan. 22. (Curiously, or not, Shaq also had a sudden surge. He trailed David Robinson for the entirety of January, and then when the final vote totals were announced, he was the winner.)
Like I said, since we don’t know how the votes are counted, or when, this could be coincidental. But it stood out to me and I wanted to share it.
***
Okay, here’s why this doesn’t matter: Kobe lived up to the hype! He was awesome in this game. He scored his first points on an early jumper, dazzled the crowd with an alley-oop from Kevin Garnett and an alley-oop to Kevin Garnett, had announcer Isiah Thomas talking breathlessly about Kobe delivering “the oohs and the ahs,” and never for one moment looked like a 19-year-old. He led the West with 18 points without playing the 4th quarter. Only Jordan scored more points that day. He had 23 and won the game’s MVP award.
In other words, if the NBA did in fact fix the voting to promote a young star as the next Jordan, they picked the right young star. By 1999, Kobe was a legit All-Star, had the game been held. By 2000, he was the 2nd best player on an NBA championship team and 1st team all-defense. By 2001 he was a top-10 MVP candidate. By 2002 he was top-5.
And the league was right about the impact that the ‘98 game would have on our memory of both Jordan and an entire era. The Bulls did indeed win another championship and proceed to break apart piece-by-piece. The league owners did indeed lock out the players, shortening the 1999 season to 50 games. The lockout did indeed knock out the ‘99 All-Star Game.
By 2000, several of the biggest stars of the Dream Team era who were All-Stars in 1997 were either out of the league (Drexler) or no longer among the league’s best (Olajuwon, Pippen, Ewing, Barkley). But the impact of that loss was stymied by the promotion of new stars, most notably Kobe, whose 1998 All-Star Game start served as a bridge from the final MJ-as-a-Bull All-Star Game to the first post-MJ All Star Game.
If Kobe hadn’t made the team in ‘98, he would be yet another new face in the game, along with Allen Iverson and Vince Carter. Instead, he, Hill, Garnett, and Duncan helped fans in 2000 feel the continuity from 1998 to this new era of the NBA.
By 2000, from a marketing standpoint, the league was on board with Kobe Bryant, NBA Superstar. By 2002, his production fully matched his hype. Even when he was not the league’s best player, he was always one of its marquee faces, and remained one until his final NBA game.
But on that day in 1998, in the building MJ called “the Mecca,” Kobe would have to wait.
“I was trying to fend him off as much as I could,” an ill Jordan said after winning the game’s MVP following a bout with, once again, the flu. “He came at me pretty early, which I would too if I was him. If I see someone that’s sick, or whatever, you have got to attack him. He attacked.”
I can just see Jordan smiling as he delivered this next line.
“You know? I like his attitude.”
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Jack M Silverstein is a sports historian covering the Bears for Windy City Gridiron. He is the author of “Our President” about Barack Obama supporters and “How The GOAT was Built: 6 Life Lessons From the 1996 Chicago Bulls.” Say hey at @readjack.
Pierce and Scott break down the AFC and NFC West divisions, complete with win total predictions on a tight NFC West race, and arguably the greatest division of quarterbacks in NFL history.
On this week's episode of RAOP we do a reaction to a vintage episode of Change Of Heart starring the homIe Darius. Also we chop it up about The Breakfast Club calling it quits, some of our favorite Motown artists, Amp vs Pete Rose & Pardi vs The Rock being added to Wrestlemania 39, Lil Wayne announcing Carter VI and a lot more.
The WWE is looking and feeling different in many ways. The latest reason is the return of "The OG 3" of Hit Row to SmackDown! Today we take an honest look at the positive turns on RAW, SmackDown and even AEW. There's a new great wrestling mind in the mix now and the new generation of wrestlers couldn't be more pleased. It's all about everything new and for the moment, better on this week's #FBCPod
Scott, Bang & Pav recap their weekends, the start of the NFL season, Irv Gotti wildin & much much more
The preseason is here & the Bears beat the Chiefs 19-14 in their 2022 home debut, Scott & Flows are live from the Solider Field press box to breakdown the win, who looked good & what they're looking forward to this week at camp
It's our first show of the 2022 season! Pierce and Scott break down the AFC & NFC East divisions and project every team's win total for the new year!
Triple H is putting his stamp on HIS WWE. Pierce Rob and Chris talk about the adjustments he's making to the product, plus THREE weeks of shows from 2006, including Booker T's sixth heavyweight title win.
It's been one week since SummerSlam and the roster surprises have not stopped! This week we talk about the return of Karrion Kross and if some of the past releases and departees are regretting their decision, now that Triple H is the head creative. Liv Morgan got booed out of the arena in SC. Is it time for a heel turn or is this proof that Liv just ain't ready yet? We talk about it all as well as what are our hopes, thoughts and GuaranDAMNTee's with Steph and Paul in the driver's seat on this week's #FBCPod
On this weeks episode of RAOP what exactly is that shit AB put on, Kelis need to slap the Arbys hat off Pharrell's head, thoughts on BeyondSay's new album, the yacub versions of our biopics, paranormal activity and a lot more. Also we answer voicemails and questions from the listeners. Remember to send in your listener questions, #TheyNeedTheirAssBeat or #RealNiggaOfTheWeek submissions, email us at MAIL@RAOPodcast.com or call 424-260-RAOP to leave a voicemail
Scott & Flows breakdown the first 2 weeks in Bears camp, updates on Roquan Smith's contract negotiations, Tevin Jenkins finally speaking to the media & much much more
I want Justin Fields to succeed. Even more so, I want him to be the best player in the league, full stop. I want him to be the Most Valuable Player every year for the next ten years. I want his career stats to make Tom Brady’s look like he was a quarterback for a Pop Warner team. The reasoning behind this is not simply because he’s the Chicago Bears starting QB. In fact, it’s probably not even the primary reason for me. This feeling and wanting is one that I feel deeply about on several levels. I’m a Buckeyes fan and have been since I was a child. They were the first football team I ever watched, in fact, the first football game I can ever remember seeing featured them. It was my birthday on November 21st, 1998, and the Buckeyes (the team in red as I called them) were playing a team with oddly colored blue and yellow striped helmets. I watched in joy as the team in red (that I just found out about) came out with a win. Family and friends around me were mostly annoyed at the Buckeyes winning as a few of them turned out to be fans of that team in the weird colors. Seeing them dislike this team in red incited something in me. This red team seemed like the underdog, and I love underdogs. I immediately became enamored with this “red” team and continued to watch them on Saturdays. To this day, I’m still a fan of that team in red and I can’t stand that team with the oddly colored helmets.
So, what does that mean for my attitude towards Justin Fields? It’s that I want him to succeed more than the average Bears fan does. I remember watching Troy Smith take the football world by storm in 2005 only to fail to attain similar success in the National Football League. The same goes for Terrelle Pryor, Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett, Cardale Jones. The list is full of players whose careers at tOSU ranged from solid, good, great to legendary like the late and great Dwayne Haskins. I want Justin Fields to rise above the belief that Buckeyes’ QBs can’t succeed in the NFL. On an even deeper level, I want this young black man to succeed. My ethnicity, like everyone else’s, is sacred to me. The waters that my people were forced to cross, the violence we were forced to endure is something that never leaves my mind. My ancestors fought for the right for us to exist and to thrive in spaces we were originally not allowed in. So, when I see black players in fields that are typically dominated by white men, I feel a sense of happiness and otherworldly bias towards them…especially in football. I want to see them do more than be good enough to maintain a starting job. I want to see them compete at the highest levels. I want every black quarterback to compile stats that rival Russell Wilson’s. I want the world to know that black quarterbacks are here to stay, and it is no different for Justin Fields. I’ve watched him since he was at Georgia. Anxious to see how great of a player he would become only to be completely shocked to find him transferring to my favorite school. I watched with glee as he dominated the Big Ten and took the Buckeyes to the College Football Playoff each year he was the starting QB. Even getting them to the National Championship game after a thrilling performance vs. Clemson in the 2020-2021 season.
Wanting him to succeed is an understatement for me. It’s something I hope for every night. After his draft day, I found myself kneeling before God during my nightly prayers and asking Him to bless Justin with the ability to play at the highest level possible. I’m as “obsessed” of a Bears fan as everyone, and I understand the hype and anxiety that Bears fans live with. I might have been blessed with covering this team and following their journey closer than I was before, but this doesn’t take away from what I know at heart; that I love this team to an unhealthy level. That withstanding, what are we to take away from reports at Bears training camp of Justin having an “okay” to “bad” camp? Do we ignore it and assume that its apart of the maturation process? Do we give up hope and call him a bust because that just what we’re used to seeing from the QB position as Bears fans? I say neither.
We treat this with a balanced approach. Yes, in the practices since pads came on, Justin Fields has had good snaps and bad snaps. He’s done well with eluding pressure in the pocket and has improved his footwork tremendously when compared to last year. He’s throwing with even footing and trusting his players to make secure catches. On the other side, he’s tended to hold onto the ball longer than necessary. He’s waited for his primary target to get open when he should be going through his progressions, and he’s had balls repeatedly batted down in camp. The reality is that he is growing as a young QB and there has been some bumps in the road. Having all this information at our disposal should not rush us to panic nor should it rush us to jubilee that the Bears finally have a franchise QB. They might…they also might not. What I do know is this: he has the potential to be a star in this league. His arm strength and accuracy rivals anyone’s in the league and his athleticism is second to only someone like Lamar Jackson. When he’s in the zone, there are very few, if any, defenses that can stop him. The only question remaining is will he rise to the occasion? The answer? Who knows. I’m a small speck of dust, on a blue marble floating in nigh-infinite space. If you’re looking for prophecy, you’re on the wrong site. However, if you’re looking for an honest opinion on the team that we all love, you’ve come to the right place. So, depress the panic button and put a hold on your celebration. Wait and watch for this 23-year old’s career to unfold without unnecessary pressure on yourself. Trust me, it’s better this way.
- Flows
On this weeks episode of RAOP we bring on upcoming media talent Breyonna Bryant. She sits in with us as we chop it up about our techniques with interviewing, DVSN dropping a terrible single, where did R&B music go wrong and more. Also we answer voicemails and questions from the listeners. Remember to send in your listener questions, #TheyNeedTheirAssBeat or #RealNiggaOfTheWeek submissions, email us at MAIL@RAOPodcast.com or call 424-260-RAOP to leave a voicemail.
The #FBCPod hit SummerSlam at Nissan Stadium and the whole weekend was an experience you had to be there for. We run down the card, what we expect to see next and we detail the sights, sounds and reactions at our very first Premium Live Event as the First Black Champ Podcast!
This article was originally published January 12, 2018
Dave Chappelle might actually be a magician, because “He rapes, but he saves,” should not be funny.
Yet there it is: the full crowd barrel laugh. And there it is: my own laughter, at home, watching on Netflix.
What are we really laughing at? On its face, that line is a brutal, violent sentiment. And yes, if you haven’t seen “The Age of Spin,” the first of Chappelle’s four — FOUR??!! — standup specials on Netflix in 2017, I recommend that you stop reading this now, watch the special, and then return, because that line has to be seen to be believed. It’s the comedy equivalent of a David Blaine illusion, where you stare at his mouth the entire time yet he keeps on barfing up frogs.
That line is one of several times where Chappelle took heat in 2017 for his standup material. It came from both political parties, both genders, all orientations, and all races. Most famously, there was blowback for his jokes about the LGBT community, specifically transgender people, in the first two specials of 2017 — “The Age of Spin” and “Deep In the Heart of Texas” — and then in “Equanimity,” which was released New Years Eve (along with “The Bird Revelation”) and addressed the backlash for the trans jokes.
His routines about Bill Cosby, Emmett Till, Louis CK, Harvey Weinstein, and poor, white Trump voters also drew heat from various directions and various groups, including from ones that are politically opposed to each other.
My own take? Some of his LGBT routines in the first two 2017 specials were poorly conceived, because they included instances of the words “fag” and “dyke” in the same way that Chappelle uses the n-word or “bitch.” He wasn’t in character saying that particular f- or d-word. He was literally just saying them to refer to gays and lesbians. Not funny.
And then there were his routines about his dislike for “poor whites.” Unlike other groups he jokes about — and Dave jokes about EVERYONE — the odds that people who consider themselves “poor whites” would attend his show, watch his special, or in any way feel like they are inside the tent are unlikely. That was the unusual case where I agreed with the logic of his point but opposed the execution of that portion of the joke.
But artists take chances, and sometimes they make mistakes. I’ve seen it before with many groups at the receiving end, my own included, and I tend to chalk it up to a misfire within good art and move on.
Which is not to say that I subscribe to the notion that “You just don’t have a sense of humor,” or “Man, why is everyone so sensitive?” — I don’t. If a work of art contains content that you find offensive — or, more specifically, threatening — then you’re going to have the reaction that you naturally have, and that’s cool.
The reason I am willing to forgive Chappelle for the gay jokes that I don’t like is the same reason I don’t get too upset with, say, Clipse for a lyric about Jews on “Wamp Wamp,” in which they say that while cooking cocaine, “it cools to a tight wad, the Pyrex is Jewish.”
I love Clipse! So I shook that one off, and did so even when seeing them live at the Metro in 2007, and being just a tad freaked when I heard a room full of people rap that line in exuberance. It was a much different experience than hearing it on the CD, but that’s the nature of live art, and I moved past it.
Much worse than that is Quentin Tarantino dropping the N in “Pulp Fiction” four times in 30 seconds to Samuel L. Jackson, which to this day makes me grimace for two reasons, one being that it’s way more offensive than it is clever, and the other that I just don’t believe that Jules Winnfield would be so nonchalant about that language, even taking the circumstances of the scene into account.
What I could not abide from Tarantino, ultimately, was much of the content of “Django Unchained.” I walked out of the theaters the first time I saw that and did not watch to completion until a few months later. And yet, most of my black friends LOVE Django and thought Tarantino was on point with the script — listen to Dick Gregory for a beautiful summation — whereas I’ve gone from hatred of the film to mere distaste.
Unlike Tarantino, Chappelle writes his mea culpa into his material. He’s done it a few times. In a set at the Laugh Factory in 2010, while talking about Michael Richards’ racist meltdown also at the Laugh Factory, Chappelle said his reaction to Richards taught him that he was “20% black, 80% comedian.”
In “The Bird Revelation,” he challenges his fellow comics in the room to not be afraid to speak “recklessly.” In “Equanimity,” when he discusses the backlash to his transgender jokes, particularly from a trans fan who wrote him a letter to say that his jokes left her “devastated,” he explains that, “As a policy, you gotta understand, I never feel bad about anything I say up here.”
But perhaps his best explanation about the risk in art comes in “The Age of Spin,” when he describes his approach to comedy as analogous to motorcycle stunts.
“I’m like Evel Knievel,” he says. “I get paid for the attempt.”
He calls this idea something to the effect of “thrill of being wrong.” The idea, I think, contains two parts. The first is that real art, in any form, is inherently risky, and people have to be willing to give artists the benefit of the doubt based on their history, their intent, their content, their execution, and the possible payoff of their work. The payoff in that deal is that the artist will take us to a special place we cannot go on our own.
The second part of the “thrill of being wrong” is that artistic expression adheres to an art form, and the art form of standup comedy stipulates that you try to make people laugh, and the only true judgment on your attempt is whether or not they did, and that as comedy fans, we can’t hold statements made in standup routines to the same standard of truth and taste as we would a statement made in normal conversation.
Take Dave’s Mac Mittens bit, for instance, also from “Equanimity.” For me, this had the opposite effect of the “poor whites” bit. In this case, Dave said he disagreed with some of the reasons the media bashes Trump, and he used as an example Jared Kushner’s inclusion as a senior advisor.
As a Washington outsider, Dave says, Trump would want family members among his advisers because they would make him feel comfortable. The point is way off — people aren’t mad about Kushner’s inclusion because he’s an “outsider,” but because he was given loads of responsibilities for which he was not qualified, along with security clearances inappropriate for his needs.
But as a segue to an extended bit about Chappelle’s friend “Mac Mittens” who joins him at meetings, it was hilarious. The joke works, even if the real world logic that sets it up fails.
And that, in a way, brings us back to “He rapes, but he saves.”
When Dave delivers that line as the final knockout punch of “The Age of Spin,” it comes on the heels of an extended, rather serious segment on Bill Cosby’s legacy. “He rapes, but he saves” is a line that he sets up earlier in the show in a much sillier segment. That juxtaposition is part of the audacity that makes us laugh.
Because here’s the thing: as audience members, when we hear that line, we are not laughing at the idea of Bill Cosby raping, nor are we absolving Cosby of the alleged rapes because of the “he saves” portion of the line, which refers to Cosby’s decades of charity, education, and community uplift.
Our laugh is the result of Dave’s Evel Knievel moment. It’s the “attempt,” as it were. It’s the audacity to take such a sad, serious subject like Cosby’s alleged rapes and everything surrounding his probable guilt and attempt to turn it into an opportunity to feel just a bit better. And it works because the object of the joke is not the victims and not even Cosby, but rather our own conflicted human emotions about a real life hero who likely committed heinous crimes.
The pain Cosby’s probable victims feel can never be erased. The pain that people feel for many reasons when they learn about Cosby’s acts — that pain is real too. And Dave, through the boldness and courage of his comedy, is offering relief. He is giving people a safe space to laugh, and in doing so inviting them to bask in the magnitude of the attempt. The barrel laugh he gets on the line is the audience’s realization mixed with gratitude: we didn’t know we were going to see the attempt. And we didn’t know he would land it.
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Jack M Silverstein is a sports historian covering the Bears for Windy City Gridiron. He is the author of “Our President” about Barack Obama supporters and “How The GOAT was Built: 6 Life Lessons From the 1996 Chicago Bulls.” Say hey at @readjack.
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