# New Basketball League: You Aren't Going to Believe This **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [January 20, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743 "2010-01-20T21:21:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/1 "2010-01-20T21:21:07Z")
Presented without comment. > [@](#): > > A new professional basketball league called the All-American Basketball Alliance (AABA) sent out a press release on Sunday saying that it intends to start its inaugural season in June, with teams in 12 U.S. cities. However, the AABA is different from other sports leagues because only players who are “natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league.” AABA commissioner Don “Moose” Lewis insists that he’s not racist, but he just wants to get away from the “street-ball” played by “people of color” and back to “fundamental basketball.” [Link.](http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/20/white-basketball/) ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/2 "2010-01-20T21:22:09Z")
OK, one comment BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good luck with that you racist jackhole! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/3 "2010-01-20T21:22:37Z")
He’s going to get a ton of free publicity from the outraged, I’ll tell you that much. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/4 "2010-01-20T21:23:15Z")
> [@](#): > > he just wants to get away from the “street-ball” played by “people of color” and back to “fundamental basketball.” Wow - Isiah Thomas managed to ruin \*another \*entire basketball league, and without playing a single game! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/5 "2010-01-20T21:24:15Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Wow - Isiah Thomas managed to ruin \*another \*entire basketball league, and without playing a single game! I hope they let him run the finances of this league, too! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/6 "2010-01-20T21:24:56Z")
I can see it now. An entire league made up of black players who were adopted as children by white parents. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/7 "2010-01-20T21:28:06Z")
I preferred _The Onion_’s old website. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/8 "2010-01-20T21:29:59Z")
It’s going to be tough for them to play in those white robes, and I don’t think the eyeholes in their masks are going to be big enough to see. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/9 "2010-01-20T21:34:30Z")
This league already exists down at the Y, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/10 "2010-01-20T21:38:23Z")
How can you tell the difference between the ball and the skin-heads? ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/11 "2010-01-20T21:41:44Z")
I don’t know if this works if you don’t have a Twitter account but there are some great one-liners in here. [Twitter Link](http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23allwhitehoopsleague) My personal favourite: Phrase “coast to coast” replaced by “manifest destiny.” ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/12 "2010-01-20T21:47:49Z")
Given the progress in non-Caucasian players in pro sports, I think there ain’t enough :smack: :smack: :smack: emoticons in the world for this idea. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/13 "2010-01-20T21:52:18Z")
Are Jews allowed to play? > [@](#): > > New York Daily News sports editor Paul Gallico wrote in the mid 1930s that basketball “appeals to the Hebrew with his Oriental background [because] the game places a premium on an alert, scheming mind and flashy trickiness, artful dodging and general smartalecness.” We see how qualities such as cunning and wiliness were posited as the keys to Jewish basketball success and how these kinds of statements were indicative of early 20th century America. Looks like the more things change the more they stay the same. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/14 "2010-01-20T21:54:52Z")
I agree with the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/15 "2010-01-20T22:00:13Z")
I don’t know. Maybe it’s time to face the fact that black people just aren’t cut out for basketball. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/16 "2010-01-20T22:10:48Z")
He’d have better success if he said they were using the very first set of [Naismith rules](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_basketball#Original_Rules), and insist on period clothing during games. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/17 "2010-01-20T22:53:49Z")
Yep no dunking, no fancy behind your back dribbles are allowed! ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/18 "2010-01-21T00:08:39Z")
This guy seems to think it’s an elaborate publicity hoax: [http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/All-White-Basketball-League-Hoax.aspx](http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/All-White-Basketball-League-Hoax.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/19 "2010-01-21T00:19:58Z")
> [@Hoopy\_Frood](#): > > This guy seems to think it’s an elaborate publicity hoax: [http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/All-White-Basketball-League-Hoax.aspx](http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/All-White-Basketball-League-Hoax.aspx) I agree, it has to be a hoax – or more accurately, a troll. It’s a press rease sent by one guy about a “league” that doesn’t actually have any teams, players or coaches. It would be next to impossible to find cities willing to host these teams anyway, much less find players and coaches willing to work for an overtly racist league. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743/20 "2010-01-21T15:28:11Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I agree, it has to be a hoax – or more accurately, a troll. It’s a press rease sent by one guy about a “league” that doesn’t actually have any teams, players or coaches. And the one guy used to be a promoter for the International Wrestling Union. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-basketball-league-you-arent-going-to-believe-this/525743.md?page=2)