by Sam Yang

Created on: May 13, 2008   Last Updated: October 26, 2010

First of all, lets take a look at the NBA. Not to be racist or anything, but the league is dominated by African Americans. The unfortunate thing about this aspect alone is that America is still to stereotypical about race and difference races. This is the truth. Basketball is played by players that want to win, that are being paid to win, and with a fierce competitive nature. They are also human beings. Does a "thug mentality" exist in the NBA? Yes and No.

First of all, we have to realize that these players are just as human as we are. Do we not get into fights? Verbally or physically? Emotions dictate our actions. We would like to have better judgment in our actions but sometimes we tend to give into our emotions and just act. This is exactly what is happening with the brawls or fights that you see in professional sports.

Again, Americans are using the words like "thug" to describe what race? That is the biggest question at hand. Is this because the NBA is dominated by African Americans? If anyone thinks that race has nothing to do with it, please, this is America. Race does matter, even if you don't want it to be. That is the bottom line. That is the truth.

So basketball brawls leads to a bad image on the NBA? What image did the NBA have before? Were there not fights and blood spilled on the courts in past years? Why all this talk about the NBA's image now? Is basketball the perfect sport that needs to be played with perfect sportsmanship? It should, right? But unless we, as human beings, live in a imperfect world, and that we are imperfect ourselves, nothing will ever be perfect.

To be frank, this is more of a racial debate than what the question wants to ask. If there is a thug mentality in the NBA, who are we referring to in the NBA that are "thugs"? Are we talking black? White? Chinese? What are we really asking when we say that there is a "thug mentality on the NBA"?

To the very least, we are talking about human beings being human. That is all there is to it. Should the league have some kind of responsibility to these brawls? Yes they should but their power and control will only take them so far. The league itself is not perfect. Granted, they are doing their best and having very good interest to uphold the rules and regulations but it will only take them so far.

We are not here to control these players. We are here to watch them entertain us in the game of basketball. That is what they are paid to do. They should abide by the rules but again, we are human, and we make illogical decisions sometimes. Only for these NBA players, it shows their mistakes on live television. Are we to call them "thugs" because of their actions? No, we must accept the fact that they are still human, even if they are being paid millions to play the game of basketball.

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