The Artistry of an Athlete

You know those writers who make you feel better off for reading them? They tackle important subjects and always have intelligent opinions and seem to gracefully express in words the same ideas you were thinking (or wish you had been thinking)? Etan Thomas (pictured) is one of those writers for me. So smart and wise, so eloquent and his strong convictions shine through in his writing. It’s a pity that he doesn’t have a blog because it would be wonderful to read his stuff daily instead of just once a month in SLAM magazine.

As you can see, he plays professional basketball for the Wizards. But Etan Thomas obliterates the idea of the dumb athlete or the athlete detached from the real world. His columns typically center on race and basketball, which is right up my alley, and he frequently pushes the all-too-true notion that racism is still pervasive in society without sounding like paranoid fanatic that truth-tellers are often accused of being. Anyway, read Thomas’ columns on the Jena 6, unruly sports fans, the commentary of Andrew Bogut and other columns. I think you’ll be glad you did.