Why can't the NBA shake the "thug" image?

[Eja117]

The tatoo-thug link that many make doesn't make sense to me.

Tatoos are more accepted now than ever, but they're still viewed negatively by an awful lot of America. Especially big tats like most NBA players have all over their arms/torso/faces/necks.

What the tattoo says matters. If it's a picture of a lost friend that's one thing, but if it says "Get paid" (which I think was supposed to be Asante Samuel's actually) then that's totally different

[Eja117]

Behavior totally matters though.  Nobody would say Miami University Football is less thugish than say the Celtics or Toronto Raptors.  Obviously Colorado Football back in the day was more thugish than most NBA teams. If you describe actual behaviors it's different.

Also there are other things. It doesn't help when NBA players make quasi gang symbols during the game.

When they asked Carmelo Anthony if he'd help the police make a video called Keep Talking he laughed in his face and was like "I can't do that"

UMich basketball still hates Duke basketball and plays up their inner city and hip hop roots as something to be celebrated and Duke's academics and clean cuttness as something to hate.

And while tons of pro athletes have children out of wed lock I can only think of NBA players with amounts of kids in the teens.  On a side note Larry Bird doesn't seem to get called out much for treating his daughter like a leper. It also didn't help when Juwan Howard said it was the woman's decision to have Juwan Howard Jr. so he shouldn't have to pay anything, then she settled for like 5 cents of every hundred dollars he made. This was a guy whose crib was a drawer and should have known better.

The NBA has specifically marketed itself towards inner city markets and the NFL has specifically marketed itself to middle America and uses country singers in its TV shows.

Plus we all know Tim Tebow wipes away all the sins of the NFL. The NBA hasn't gotten that guy yet.

[action781]

Plus we all know Tim Tebow wipes away all the sins of the NFL. The NBA hasn't gotten that guy yet.

TP

[fairweatherfan]

Plus we all know Tim Tebow wipes away all the sins of the NFL. The NBA hasn't gotten that guy yet.

SOON, MY CHILDREN.  SOON.

[barefacedmonk]

Former NFL player charged with sex trafficking.

[nickagneta]

Gotta say  I don't ever recall anyone I associate with calling the NBA players a bunch of thugs or labeling the NBA as a group of thugs.

Of course, I run with a very diverse crowd, racially and also almost every guy I know loves the NBA. Obviously, some people I know weren't too crazy with the players during the lockout and called them greedy and babies and spoiled, but thugs, or some other possibly racially oriented insult or slur, not one bit.

I think the NBA has some members who like to promote the fact that they have "street" cred and act like idiots off the court and sometimes on the court. But doesn't every league have those types of players in them, regardless of skin color or ethnic background?

I'm with Roy on this one. I think people who are doing this labeling have agendas in labeling the NBA and its players as such or are in fact doing it to make a racially motivated statement. And honestly, I'm not cool with that.