Friday Afternoon Fun: Bomani Jones’ Interview With “Moose” Lewis, Self-Avowed “Huckster”

Hardcore Sports Radio’s Bomani Jones interviewed Don “Moose” Lewis, the creator of the All-American Basketball Alliance, on his podcast this afternoon. (That’s an MP3 link.) When an interview more or less begins with an exchange like this, you know it’s going to be golden.⇥Lewis: “What we’re stressing here is fundamental basketball, which blatantly fits white players better.”⇥⇥Jones: “Why do you think it blatantly fits white players better?” ⇥

⇥⇥L: “Well, because the facts speak for themselves. Look at the NBA, which is a very athletic-oriented style of play. Would you agree with that?” ⇥

⇥⇥J: “There are definitely good athletes in the league, but it’s hard to get to the NBA if your fundamentals aren’t strong.” ⇥

⇥⇥L: “That can be debated, but fundamentals do get lost in the shuffle. With our league, it’s going to be emphasized. That’s the first thing. Secondly, the other reason for the league of being white, American-born players, not only to stress the fundamentals, but also, it is to create positive role models in the community. Now I know that’s going to get some type of question from you, right?”⇥⇥

⇥⇥J: “Well, I’m just curious. I’ve never felt like there’s a shortage of positive white role models.”⇥⇥

It only gets better from there.

⇥L: “I’ve been approached by two different parties to not only televise what we’re doing, but to turn this into a reality show from the time we start all the way through, and at the end, have our white all-stars play a group of all-star black players, with the series called Snowball Versus Bro Ball.”⇥⇥⇥J: “Snowball Versus Bro Ball?”⇥⇥

⇥⇥L: “Yes.”⇥⇥

⇥J: “But you don’t see anything racist about any of this?”

And there’s more...⇥J: “If an all-white basketball league would really make that much money, don’t you think David Stern would have started this already?”⇥⇥⇥L: “I think David Stern’s making plenty of money right now, that one, he wouldn’t have the time, and two, not everyone has the cojones to do this.”⇥⇥

...and more...

⇥J: “Do you think that those people that are coming to watch this game are really just coming for fundamentals? Do you really not think that you’re playing on racism in order to get people to come watch this league?”⇥⇥L: “I am sure there will be some people who come to the game simply because it is an all-white game. And you know what? There are people who go and watch every year, in March, the Gonzaga Zags play, because they are predominantly white, with a historically predominantly white starting lineup, and root for them continuously--”⇥

⇥⇥J: “Sir, when is the last time you watched Gonzaga play? They haven’t been like that for quite a while.”⇥

⇥⇥L: I don’t watch a lot of conventional basketball anymore, because you know what? I do not like it, just like I said, I don’t like it. Okay? It’s not the type of basketball that we like. Middle America is tired of this.”⇥

...and more...

⇥J: “And one last thing I want to ask you about before I let you go is, you talked about this before, that you talked to somebody about the Snowball Versus the Bro Ball. Where would you be finding these bros?” ⇥⇥⇥L: “We have had calls from black players, and some of them have actually played in our other league, and are friends of mine, that they would love to have a group of all-stars play against our all-stars. You know what? I promise you that we will sell out whatever arena we go into with that. I promise you that. That’s the way people are, and that’s the way human nature is.” ⇥⇥

⇥⇥J: “Sir, that doesn’t sound like a horrible idea to you?” ⇥⇥

⇥⇥L: “Nope. Sounds like fun.”⇥

...and, well, this.

⇥J: “Let me ask you this: When this is all said and done, and when you hang up from this interview or the others, do you really like go home and laugh at us? Because as I go deeper in this, I know you have a background in promoting wrasslin’ matches and stuff like that, that you’re running a big ol’ hustle on us. I mean, honestly, you’re talking about this league and all the fundamentals, and you’ve basically said before ‘Don’ you think people will show up?’ Like, do you go home and laugh that you’ve run this hustle and people like me are actually willing to talk to you about this and give it some credence?”⇥⇥⇥L: “Well, first of all, I’ve been called a huckster earlier this morning, and now I’m running a hustle.”⇥

⇥⇥J: “I mean, everybody runs a hustle. I run a hustle.”⇥

⇥⇥L: To be honest with you? I laugh at how the entire media world has jumped on this like a dog on a bone and tried to make something sensational out of this. And it’s like, you know what? This is a true indication of real America. Now, I’ll tell you this, I could not, in my wildest dreams, (have) created, wished, thought about, or tried to make this happen in the amount of publicity that we’ve received in the last 72 hours, it’s unfathomable. I never ever could have imagined this. And some people have driven their ratings, some people have done well, but the bottom line is, when all is said and done, I think people will come out and see a good quality alternative brand of basketball, and have some fun.”⇥

⇥⇥“And all these things we’re talking about will basically give you guys something to do this week, and next week, you’ll find something else -- maybe a politician will go and do something crazy or John Edwards will have another out-of-wedlock kid, who the heck knows, okay?”⇥

⇥⇥“But no, I don’t go back and laugh at you guys. I appreciate the media. And I appreciate the fact that you guys see something like this, that you do have the integrity and the professionalism to explore it and not simply take three paragraphs from a press release and make it gospel. That gives you my uttermost respect. And I applaud you for that.”⇥

So, yeah, go listen to the podcast. It’s riveting, and I left out the parts where he admits to being a “huckster” and encourages Jones to “bet on the white team.” You won’t be disappointed.

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