Basketball Community

Photo By: Misha

My upcoming autoethnography will consist of information about the culture created by basketball players from an insider's perspective of the group. I intend to ease common stereotypes about both male and female basketball players around the world. I have conducted research from interesting and opinionated sources in order to do so. The main misconceptions that I will talk about in my podcast are the beliefs that all basketball players are tall and freak athletes. Based off feedback received when I asked outsiders what their opinions on basketball players were, the main assumptions recorded were height and athleticism among others. One of my sources is useful in convincing people that you don't need to have height in order to succeed in the game of basketball. The words actually come straight from former NBA players, which puts into perspective the falsity of the theory that short people can't play basketball. Admittedly, height is a major advantage, but not a necessity. Love for the game, work ethic, and commitment are more necessary in terms of excelling in this sport. I will also talk about why stereotypes in general are so common. Another source on this topic explains the reasoning. Stereotypes are becoming difficult to not use as explanations for everything. The article goes back to examples from history to prove it's point and uses specific examples of stereotypes in basketball. The main claim of the author is that stereotypes shape how we see the world and how we metabolize the data in front of us.