I rarely do multiple malaka of the week "awards" if that's what you want to call them. I decided to do so this week because the other one was way serious and sometimes boys, as well as girls, just want to have fun. This instance is centered on the casual bigotry of Jock World, and that is why Jason Whitlock is malaka of the week.

Whitlock appeared on Keith Olbermann's sporty chat show on ESPN (Keith quite famously tweeted the day before the decision: mach 2 that if he could return there, then LeBron could go back to Ohio.) Sorry for that epic, parenthetical digression, but sports chatter makes my mind reel like the drunk monkey in that legendary Zen koan. Damn, I did it again. I'll try a new paragraph and see if it makes me snap out of this bad case of manic digression, which to paraphrase Jimi Hendrix is a frustrating mess.

While chatting with Keith, Whitlock said several things worthy of the honor including a brief defense of Tony Dungy. It's this slur on Andrew Wiggins in particular and Canadian athletes in general that got me riled up:

So, the gist of Whitlock's comment is that LeBron doesn't want to play with Canadians because they don't try very hard. Here's the exact quote:

Andrew Wiggins is from Canada, and Canadian athletes (I think, among NBA players and NBA people) perhaps don’t want it as much as even some of the Europeans and certainly the American players.

I don't recall anyone calling noted gym rat, gamer, and proud hoser Steve Nash a slacker. Perhaps Whitlock has spent too much time pondering the McKenzie brothers, eh. He probably fell asleep watching Strange Brew (also a Cream song) after drinking two cases of Moosehead…

The whole thing reminds me of when Dodger GM Al Campanis said that blacks "may not have the necessities" to run baseball teams. Campanis was no hardcore racist but he was guilty of casual bigotry. It was not negated by the fact that he'd played with, and befriended, Jackie Robinson in the bush leagues. Campanis was also Greek-American so he knew from malakatude but I digress once again…

Back to Jason Whitlock. Jock World is full of announcers who say stupid shit, especially on ESPN. But as an African-American, one would hope that Whitlock wouldn't indulge in such casual, stupid bigotry. If he said that black cagers didn't want it as much, he'd be in deep shit and sinking fast.

I hold no brief for Andrew Wiggins but if he's, uh, lacking the necessities, it has nothing to do with being Canadian. If Whitlock persists, he may be in for a Rob Ford body slam or even a harangue by teevee shark/dragon Kevin O'Leary. I'll give Mr. Wonderful the last word: