“Opposing Players love to foul Gallinari”
WSJ
James Brown once sang: It’s a man’s world but it would be nothing, nothing without a woman or girl. I’d like to revise this sentiment and say that the NBA is a black man’s world but it wouldn’t be any fun if there were no white boys to whip around. It turns out that opposing players love to hit Gallinari because he looks like the oafish version of John Turturro in Do the Right Thing. I’m sure that has something to do with it but why is Gallo picked apart with such ferocity? Do all the black players see him as the Italian Chicken? That would explain why they rush to grab a piece of him instead of leaving him untouched from far beyond the three point line.
Gallo is known for drawing the majority of these fouls away from the basket so these players are really intent on bum rushing him outside the paint so they can make such a striking lasting impression but why is that? Does Dwight Howard maul him because on Basketball Wives on VHI, his ex wife told her girlfriends that she thought Gallo was cute which motivated him to do his best Jake LaMotta impersonation? Dwight slams Gallo to the ground from five feet behind the three point line and plants his size fifteen shoes over him while he lies with his head split open and big bad Dwight says: You look cuter on TV.
Why are players so willing to exert their manhood on Gallo so he limps away like Beecher in OZ? Do they beat up on him more because they can’t stand the idea of him joining the holy group of other famous Italian’s that bless the walls of New York’s finest, old-school pizzerias? Getting into early foul trouble limits your playing time and hurts your team’s chances of winning. Yet players can’t control themselves around Gallo. They love to hit on him as often as possible so they can prove that Italians no longer pack any real muscle or have the capacity to carry out any deadly hits of their own. Are these players intent on beating up Gallo so he doesn’t need a translator to translate who owns who? Does he get fouled more frequently because white boys bruise easier which makes this sign of domination more pronounced on High Definition Television?
Do white boys like Gallo get fouled more than other players because he’s another glamorized white boy that has made a mini splash from overseas? Of course he does, but is every single foul against Gallo a flagrant slap of disrespect for even attempting to muscle in on the black man’s territory? Is every unnecessary out of the way foul on Gallo the universal sign of black power in the NBA? If Gallo wins a title like Manu will he still get mugged like a cross eyed Italian tourist? White boys like Gallo will never get any respect by opposing players in the NBA because they rarely take over games and there are no franchise players left like Bird to prove otherwise unless you include Kevin Love but let’s not get carried away yet. Even in Bird’s prime when he was defeating Magic in the finals, Isiah belittled his accomplishments by saying if he was black he wouldn’t be considered that special. Deep down, I understand why black players in the NBA are quick to bash and belittle these white hopes because the fans and media are so quick to build them up as the long lost saviors of pure bred basketball that started in the farms but got taken over by the inner cities. Gallo will continue to get manhandled like Sophia Loren because he is a pretty, bouncy target that is begging to get hit on and slapped around like an overrated, overhyped, overseas star in this league.
Written By,
Josh Kornbluth
Comments