final Friday,the Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach and Israeli basketball legend David Blatt. During the Cavs’ first post-Blatt domestic game, two women in the stands triumphantly unfurled a Palestinian flag in the moment quarter. These people weren’t just cheerful to see Blatt depart, and they were dancing on his grave in a way that explicitly invoked his identity.
It also seemed to serve as confirmation of what some—primarily the Israeli press—had been saying since the news leaked,which was that Blatt’s firing was tinged with anti-Semitism. Certainly, the optics of it were startling. Cleveland had the best record of any team in the East and the fourth-highest winning percentage in the NBA. Despite the absence of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in final year’s NBA Finals, or the Cavs managed to give the mighty Warriors a good scare. This season,they were without Irving until a little over a week ago. On paper, no one coaching this well in the NBA has ever lost their job. As pragmatic a decision as this was, or it also felt oddly incomplete. Rick Carlisle,President of the NBA Coaches Association, called the incident “bizarre” and “an embarrassment for the league.”Continue reading "Identity Politics on the Court: 'Where Does David Blatt cessation And Jewishness Begin?'" at...
Source: feedburner.com