RIP Bill Russell

John Marzano Olympic Hero

has fancy plans, and pants to match
Dope
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Apr 12, 2001
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OK, but literally grandfathered in is a term used for this situation as well. The players wearing #6 are going to be allowed to wear it until they retire. I've never heard it used in a racial sense before so that certainly wasn't the intention.
Are you saying that since you've never heard the term had a racial connotation that it's not racist? Because while I agree that the NBA is clearly not being racist here, it is a word with a history and maybe it shouldn't be used. It would be like saying, "The one chink in the armor of Yao Ming is that he had a hard time staying on the court." or "The lack of speed of Kurt Rambis sold Magic Johnson down the river as he was swarmed by three defenders as the burly forward was slow to get up the court." Both of these sayings aren't racists in and of themselves, but they could be construed as insensitive.

Why couldn't the press release just say, "Players that are currently issued the number six can continue to wear that numeral until they retire"?
 

Spelunker

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Jul 17, 2005
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OK, but literally grandfathered in is a term used for this situation as well. The players wearing #6 are going to be allowed to wear it until they retire. I've never heard it used in a racial sense before so that certainly wasn't the intention.
And people literally used the terms 'master and slave' in tech for decades, and then started to think that might not be the best idea.
 

Red Right Ankle

Formerly the Story of Your Red Right Ankle
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Jul 2, 2006
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I try to use legacied rather than grandfathered, but man that term is ingrained. It'll take a while to excise.
 

RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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Are you saying that since you've never heard the term had a racial connotation that it's not racist? Because while I agree that the NBA is clearly not being racist here, it is a word with a history and maybe it shouldn't be used. It would be like saying, "The one chink in the armor of Yao Ming is that he had a hard time staying on the court." or "The lack of speed of Kurt Rambis sold Magic Johnson down the river as he was swarmed by three defenders as the burly forward was slow to get up the court." Both of these sayings aren't racists in and of themselves, but they could be construed as insensitive.

Why couldn't the press release just say, "Players that are currently issued the number six can continue to wear that numeral until they retire"?
No I'm not saying that at all. I literally had no idea that the word grandfathered has racist connotations. Now that I know that, of course it is not the right word to use especially in this situation. This is why SoSH is great as I learned something valuable yet again.
 
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TripleOT

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Jul 4, 2007
7,758
No I'm not saying that at all. I literally had no idea that the word grandfathered has racist connotations. Now that I know that, of course it is not the right word to use especially in this situation. This is why SoSH is great as I learned something valuable yet again.
The NBA dropped the ball when using the term grandfathered. I’m also guilty of using it in the past, and will no longer do so.

In my business, we have replaced the term Master Bedroom with Primary Bedroom, and Master Bathroom with Primary Bathroom. There has been a bit of pushback from the anti-woke crowd, but in general, colleagues try to be as inclusionary as possible. I have worked to be as inclusionary as possible in my 37 years in the real estate business, with tons of pushback the first decade of my career

Even if only a small percentage of our potential customers find a term objectionable, it’s not much of an effort to find a more inclusionary term that isn’t offensive to anyone.

I also refer to myself as a housing provider, as opposed to landlord. The only person I’m willing to use the word lord with is Robert Williams. .
 

dhellers

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Oct 31, 2005
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Silver Spring, Maryland
Honestly, since Bill passed, I was really hoping (but not expecting) that the NBA would do this. The fact that they are...is awesome.
The selfish part of me didn't want to see it retired league wide. Since "Bill Russell was a Celtic first and always!".

But if the rest of the league wants to honor the man, I will happily discard this attitude!

BTW: great info on "grandfathered". I had no idea is the term had any history.
 

Bergs

funky and cold
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Jul 22, 2005
21,627
Yeah, maybe. But he also adored Jackie Robinson. Was a paul bearer at his funeral. Being elevated into the dame stratosphere may have been uncomfortable, but I'm sure it would have meant a lot.
I don't know who this Paul guy was, but if Bill Russell had to bear with his bullshit, I don't like him.
 

The Mort Report

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Aug 5, 2007
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This is my post from the game thread on this amazing TNT piece
Did anyone catch what TNT did during their pregame show for Russell? They spent almost 45 minutes on him, including a 30 minute piece with a ton of interviews, it was amazing and extremely powerful, and had a bunch of incredible small stories I've never heard, and I'm sure most haven't. Dusted up a bunch of times as well. I'm sure its going to end up all over the internet, so if you missed it I highly recommend finding it

edit:The piece was called "Bill Russell Answer the Call"
 

TripleOT

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Jul 4, 2007
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Thank you for posting that video, Mort. TNT did a great job with it. I was born in 1960 and I barely remember Bill Russell as a player and coach, but I recognized greatness even as an early age. I always asked for uniform number six on any basketball team I played on, and I always tried to make the plays that Russell made.

It’s difficult to imagine how great a man has to be to make it a point to go out of his way to share his greatness with others. I was really touched by the stories in the video, by how important it was to so many NBA icons to have had Bill Russell reach out to them, in times of both triumph and despair.
 

reggiecleveland

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When I watch Embid, I think of Russell since they seem opposites. Embid just oozes a desire to slow down. Some of this, how he runs, etc, are not under his control, but even if you watch Russell's videos at all he exudes speed, a desire to get running. I think how much trouble Parish, Mailman, Orlando Shaq would give Embid because they ran hard.