Date: Monday, February 1, 2010
By: Frederick Cosby, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com

For all those who truly believe that white men can’t jump or hanker for the good old days of the two-hand under-hand free throw and the not-so-fast fast break, boxing and wrestling promoter Don “Moose” Lewis has something for you.

Lewis is making the rounds as commissioner of the All-American Basketball Alliance, a 12-team league consisting of all-white players that he hopes will take to the court in June – providing any city, town, suburb, neighborhood or block agrees to host a franchise.

Lewis has appeared in print, on sports radio shows, on the Internet and on television in recent weeks to promote his league as an alternative to the NBA, which he says has devolved into a street ball league with black players running, dunking, alley-ooping and high-fiving all over the place.

“Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play the league,” read a press release announcing the formation of the league.

Lewis insists it’s nothing personal or racial, and he doesn’t want the AABA confused with the KKK. All he’s looking to do is take basketball back to its roots – to the era of tight shorts, Bob Cousy, Dolph Schayes and Bob Pettit. Besides, Lewis said, anyone of any color or ethnicity can own an AABA team. They just can’t play for one.

“There’s nothing hatred about what we’re doing,” Lewis told Georgia’s Augusta Chronicle newspaper. “I don’t hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here’s a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like.”

When asked if he’s a racist, Lewis said he’s promoting boxing matches in Nigeria pitting black fighters against white ones. The popularity and success of the bouts, he says, has prompted some Nigerians to make him an honorary chief.

Lewis said all he wants to do with the all-white AABA is put an entertaining product on the court that’s an escape from the gun-toting, package-handling thug life haven that the NBA has become.

“Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?” he told the Chronicle. “That’s the culture today. And in a free country, we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction.”

Charles Barkley, a black NBA Hall of Famer known for sometimes offering contrarian and conservative views on hot button issues, maintains that Lewis’ AABA concept is what it is.

"It's just blatantly racist if you look at the code words used," Barkley told Atlanta’s WGCL television. "I don't take it seriously, but it just lets you know there's blatant racism out there. ... It lets you know, as a black man, there are people out there who don't like you."

Despite getting a lot of local TV airtime and mentions on Fox News and cable’s “The Colbert Report,” cities aren’t jumping to put an AABA team in their arenas, even small ‘burghs hungry for any kind of minor league sports.

Even the city that’s home to golf’s famous Augusta National Country club - which didn’t accept its first black member until 1990 and is yet to have a woman member - has said "thanks, but no thanks" to the AABA.

“I’ve always supported bringing more sporting activities to Augusta,” Mayor Deke Copenhaver told the local paper. “However, in this instance, I could not support in good conscience bringing in a team that did not fit with the spirit of inclusiveness that I, along with many others, have worked so hard to foster in our city.”

Still, Lewis says he’s gotten some positive feedback about his league. He told a Baltimore sports talk radio show last week that he’s gotten some interest from TV executives about his product.

“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," Lewis said, "and at the end, have our white all-stars play a group of all-star black players, with the series called 'Snowball vs. Bro Ball.'”