There have been some jarring statements made by sports pundits this past month about who can and who cannot be “the face” of leagues like Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.
Can Ohtani and Giannis respectively assume the mantle of “The Face of MLB” and “The Face of the NBA.” Must that face be an American face?
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On his ESPN show “First Takes,” Stephen A. Smith argued that the Angels’ Japanese two-way player and All-Star, Shohei Ohtani “could not be the face of the game” and that could actually be “harming” the sport:
“I understand that baseball is an international sport itself in terms of participation, but when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube or to the ballpark, to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the No. 1 face is a dude that needs an interpreter, so you can understand what the hell he’s saying in this country.”
(Yes – you read that right. It’s the old “Hey buddy, speak the language!” slur. And not that it should matter, but Ohtani speaks English. Like many Latin American athletes he chooses to use an interpreter for live media interactions. I sure would do the same, if I was being interviewed in Japanese.)
A few weeks later, former NFL player and current Fox Sports commentator, Emmanuel Acho, argued – on Fox Sports’ own “hot takes” format sports talk show ‘Speak For Yourself’ – that Giannis Antetokoumpo of the NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks (the Greek-born superstar of Nigerian heritage known as The Greek Freak) cannot be “the face” of the NBA:
“It’s not possible for Giannis to be the face of the NBA. Why is it not possible? You can’t be the face of the NBA, if they can’t pronounce your last name…You cannot be the face of the League if you cannot be related to… The face of the NBA must be relatable. LeBron James. You know LeBron James. You know his mama, you know his mama’s name. You know the wife, you know his kids names…Kobe. The late great Kobe Bryant….Magic Johnson…Larry Bird…Michael Jordan. We know everything there is to know about Mike…but Giannis. Do we know Giannis’ mama’s name?…Giannis gets asked where are you from…there are so many hoops and obstacles that we have to jump through to make Giannis the face, and to be honest, I think we’re too lazy to jump through them…unlike LeBron, we know the kid from Akron, relatable, or Jordan, we followed him through college. But Giannis?…Nigerian parents, first generation Greek…we, the proverbial sports viewer of the NBA can’t relate to Giannis.”
(You may have noticed that the word “relatable” is doing an awful lot of work here.)
Of course, in today’s media environment, commentators like these often come up with “hot takes” in order to be controversial. It attracts attention and views and clicks. Being controversial can – unfortunately – be a clout and content-creation perpetual motion machine. Case in point. Here, Stephen A. Smith went “viral” with this episode of “First Take,” went viral again with his apology, and then the next episode of First Take featured a panel of commentators commenting on the comment. (Not to mention, it spawned a number of print articles, including this one!). For all these reasons, Smith and Acho’s attention-grabbing comments may not be a reliable barometer of what people really think.
Nevertheless, their comments are still worth discussing and addressing.
That these types of takes are making the rounds on the sports hot takes show circuit at all reveals that the roots of xenophobia and othering remain strongly anchored in today’s America.
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First, the media still exerts massive influence over what people talk about and what they think. The sports media in particular often acts as a gatekeeper. Think about the MLB press corps being the voters who determine who gets into to the MLB Hall of Fame or of the influence that radio and TV play-by-play announcers and team beat reporters have in how we experience the sport.
Second, the best “hot takes” are those for which there are people on both sides of the issue and both feel strongly about it. It wouldn’t be much of a hot take if there weren’t some group of people that could get behind it. That these types of takes are making the rounds on the sports hot takes show circuit at all reveals that the roots of xenophobia and othering remain strongly anchored in today’s America. Indeed, given the widespread anti-Asian bigotry we’ve all witnessed during the pandemic and the anti-immigrant sentiment we’ve all witnessed during the Trump Presidency, there are probably a lot more people that agree with Smith and Acho than we’d care to admit.
Finally, like it or not, when strong opinions are voiced about a topic, even when they are horribly wrongheaded, that always presents an opportunity to have a deep conversation about it. Parents will recognize this is the so-called “teachable moment.”
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For any player to be considered “the face” of their sport is to be the living embodiment of greatness in that sport, both on and off the field.
At some point, Jerry West was “the face” of the NBA; indeed a silhouette of his image is now the logo of the NBA. But the face changes over time and it changes with the times. I’d venture that most of today’s NBA fans probably don’t know much about Jerry West. (Indeed, there has been some recent talk about changing the logo of the NBA to the signature silhouette of a Black player, such as Michael Jordan or the late great Kobe Bryant.) Over the past forty years, players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Stef Curry have taken up the mantle. There was never any debate over whether any of those men – all transcendent players – were “relatable” enough to be the face of the NBA. There was no “race issue”: NBA rosters have been about 75% Black for decades and Black players are and have been among its best and most popular players. And all of them were American.
Today’s NBA is more global than ever. NBA rosters feature over one hundred international players from over forth countries. International players are not just on rosters; they are in the upper echelon of the NBA. Non-American players are – for the first time ever – consistently among the most gifted and most dominant players in the sport. Consider the following:
- The reigning Most Valuable Player of the NBA is Serbia’s Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets).
- The NBA’s most dominant and charismatic young superstar is Slovenia’s Luka Dončić (Dallas Mavericks)
- The current (and multiple time winning) NBA Defensive Player of the Year is France’s Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz).
- And the leader and Finals MVP for the 2021 NBA Champion Bucks is Antetokoumpo, who also won back-to-back League MVP awards in 2019 and 2020 and Defensive Player of the Year in 2020.
The most popular selling jerseys, behind future Hall of Famer and arguably the greatest player of all time, LeBron James, are Dončić and Antetokoumpo.
While it may make Americans less than happy to be on the losing end of Olympic men’s basketball games after decades of post-Dream Team dominance – the sport’s globalization is a huge win for the league and its fans. The League gets to expand its fan-base worldwide. We as fans get to see the basketball talents of our entire planet on display.
“Anyone questioning whether Giannis can become the face of the NBA is ignoring the fact that Giannis IS the face of the NBA.”
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And if a face of the NBA is the living embodiment of greatness in basketball, both on and off the field, that, in a word, is Giannis.
On the Court, he is the League’s most dominant force. All you need to do is check out the footage from the 2021 NBA Finals. Returning from a hyper-extended knee that most thought would keep him out of the playoffs, all he did was reel off a series of 40+ point, 10+ rebound games, execute blocked shots that seemed impossible, and for good measure kick in 50 points in the clinching game. Phoenix had no answer.
Off the Court, he is charismatic and lovable – embracing foods he tried for the first time in Milwaukee like corn dogs and posting videos of him order 50 chicken nuggets from a drive-through fast food restaurant (“Not 49, not 51, 50”) to commemorate his 50 point game in the Finals.
And his journey from where he came from to where he is is the stuff of dreams.
I’m thinking back to when that 60 Mins segment on Giannis aired, where ppl from every corner of my life texted me that night, saying “This kid is fascinating—how had I never heard of him?” He has such an incredible story, and the league is beyond fortunate to have him as a face.
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) July 21, 2021
As sportswriter, Russ Bengtson (@russbengtson), aptly summarized, “Anyone questioning whether Giannis can become the face of the NBA is ignoring the fact that Giannis IS the face of the NBA.”
We can pronounce his last name. We learned. (Giannis also works as one of those single name people like Madonna. Or he can even stay with the Greek Freak nickname). We learned the stories of Magic and Bird and Jordan and Kobe, because of who they were, and are perfectly able to learn Giannis’ story as well. We can “relate” to it just fine.
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And what of baseball? “The Great American Pastime.”
In contrast to the NBA, MLB is the least diverse and the most White of our major sports (football, basketball and baseball). As of Opening Day 2021, just seven percent of players on MLB rosters are American-born Black athletes. Just two percent are Asian. Past decades have seen a large rise in Hispanic players, who now comprise about 30% of MLB and account for 31 of MLB’s top 100 players.
Once upon a time, Babe Ruth was the face of baseball. Old time greats such as Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron held the crown long ago.
Decades ago, while we – thankfully – didn’t have hot take sports shows, there were surely debates over whether a Black player could really be “the face of baseball.” Can you imagine that conversation in the 1950’s just after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier?
A generation of now middle-aged fans recall when Ken Griffey, Jr. burst on the scene and grabbed the crown, wearing his baseball cap backwards, big smile on his face, as he scaled walls to reel in baseballs and showed off that smooth lefty homerun stroke. Later, the torch was passed to Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and then to Barry Bonds, in the now-tainted home run (and PED) bonanza years of the late 1990s. With the Yankees run of Championships that followed, the face of MLB to many was Derek Jeter, the clutch Yankee Captain and shortstop. For the last decade, the face of baseball has been the superlative on-the-field, laconic off-the-field, LA Angels outfielder, Mike Trout, who shows off a rare blend of power, speed, and defense and has won three MVP Awards. While this has been to the chagrin of some who charge that although Trout’s baseball talent is undeniable, his quiet and “boring” personality do not help to market the sport. (There may be some truth in that; the man’s number one hobby is “liking the weather.”)
Today, alongside Trout, a new wave of young players are making their case to be the game’s signature players. Braves outfielder, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Nationals outfielder, Juan Soto, both of whom debuted in the 2018, came into the league at the ages of 19 and 20. Acuña has showed off a truly rare blend of power and speed. Many already consider Soto to be one of the best natural hitters since Ted Williams. Another much heralded young star is Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., son of the Hall of Famer, Vladimir Guerrero. He might end up being an even better hitter than his father, and is a legitimate Triple Crown threat this year. The most electric talent and incandescent personality of the bunch may be San Diego Padres shortstop, Fernando Tatis, Jr., another son of a former major leaguer. Nicknamed El Niño, Tatis oozes athleticism in the field and at the plate, clobbering home runs and showing off five-tool talent that earned him an unheard of 14-year $330m contract at the age of twenty-two. He is the fastest in baseball history to hit fifty home runs and steal fifty bases. He’s the guy that the sons of MLB All-Stars want to meet, he is cooler than me or you, and if there were no Shohei Ohtani, he would have a great case to be the sole “face of baseball.”
The universal language Ohtani is speaking with his bat and his right arm is not English, its baseball.”
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Yet, in 2021, no one has made a better case to be the face of MLB, than the Angels pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani. Following the path from Japanese superstar to MLB star that was once taken by the likes of Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, and Yu Darvish, Ohtani is making a case to be – simply put – the most talented baseball player of all time. When you are referred to as “Japan’s Babe Ruth,” you have some gigantic shoes to fill.
This year, his first fully healthy year in the league, Ohtani is doing just that. “Sho Time” is must see TV on a baseball diamond like we haven’t seen in a long time.
19 of Shohei Ohtani’s 37 HR have been 110+ MPH. It’s also the most in @MLB this season.
Ohtani is both an All-Star starting pitcher – featuring a 100 MPH fastball and a nasty splitter – and – with his league leading 37 HR plus 15 SBs before the end of July – an All-Star designated hitter/outfielder and the league’s most dangerous offensive player. Simply put, his ability to hit and throw at this level is unrivaled and harkens back to the legendary Babe Ruth.
You want rare? This year, he was the starting pitcher in the All-Star Game AND was also the American League’s leadoff hitter! And in this year’s Home Run Derby, MLB players and fans alike were there to see Ohtani. As fellow Derby competitor, Trey Mancini, admitted that night, “I don’t know if I should be preparing,” Mancini said. “But I don’t want to miss Shohei.” (While Ohtani did not win the Derby, he put on an absolute show in a battle with the Nationals Juan Soto.)
As far as his English in concerned, it doesn’t look like that much matters. His teammates love him. His colleagues love him. Fans love him. The universal language Ohtani is speaking with his bat and his right arm is not English, its baseball.
“This is what Shohei Ohtani does. He reduces men who are the best in the world at what they do to fanboys. He turns fans who can’t conceive of what he does to putty. He takes the idea that Major League Baseball isn’t cool or interesting or fun and renders each of those conceits moot with his play alone. He takes the limits of sporting achievement to the precipice — and sometimes beyond what we considered possible. He takes a world so big — from his home country of Japan to the United States to nations beyond — and shrinks it to a 5-ounce orb that he can hit 500 feet and propel at 100 mph…Nobody tunes into a sport to listen to what athletes have to say. It might be important, it might be noble, it might be righteous, but it is not the draw. The athlete is. What he does is. What she achieves is. Anybody who chooses to watch baseball only if Ohtani addresses the media in English instead of Japanese doesn’t deserve the joy and pleasure of watching him.”
And like Giannis, his story and his path, are not only “relatable,” they are inspiring. As Passan went on to explain so passionately and well, “Shohei Ohtani came to this country at 23 years old. He left behind his family. He left behind his culture. He left behind his country. He left behind everything he knows to go and pursue The American Dream. He wanted to come here and be great. And he is the sort of person who this show and this network and who this country should embrace….We should look at Shohei Ohtani as a bastion of what this country and this sport is about.”
If that’s not enough to be the Face of Major League Baseball, no one is or ever will be.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock