Etan Thomas Speaks His Mind

SLAMonline.com launched a fascinating new feature today — a weekly column written by Washington Wizards center (and poet) Etan Thomas.

In his virgin post, Etan talks about the frequent, unabashed stereotyping and profiling he’s experienced — both on and off the basketball court.

Here’s a quick on-court example to make you go click:

We were playing a home game against Cleveland, and after a timeout a referee with dark, slicked-back hair (who shall remain nameless) approached me. He said that he had heard that I write poetry, have a book, speak at universities, am into politics, etcetera, and he asked me if this was true.

I replied, Yes.

To my surprise, he responded: “You’re not as dumb as you look.”

Type Casting [SLAMonline.com]
More Than An Athlete: Poems By Etan Thomas [Amazon]

[Note: A quick look tells us James Capers, Ken Mauer, and Mark Ayotte officiated the last Cavs at Wiz game. I’m thinking Mauer’s the slick-dick Etan’s referring too…]

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Comments (9)
By J.E. Skeets at 2:29 pm on 11.28.2006 — Tags: Etan Thomas, Writers, Referees, Wizards

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