Hoops: Bickering over the Bekkering interview

It's Kool and the Gang that Canada AM interviewed Calgary Dinos hoops star Henry Bekkering this morning. (Here's a link to the page that has the clip.)

However, sadly, it was all too sadly and typically Canadian for the the interviewer, Mi-Jung Lee, have to phrase her question this way: "A lot of people are wondering, why aren't you playing for a U.S. college, why aren't you on a scholarship down south somewhere with that kind of talent that we're seeing?

No one is asking Canada AM to be a recruiting tool for the University of Calgary or an ad for the CIS. They featured Bekkering for his dunking exploits, not because of whatever his stats he's putting up in the Canada West conference.

The problem with that question is that it implies somewhere, anywhere in the U.S. would be a better place to play than at a Canadian school. (For the record, Bekkering handled it like a champ, pointing it out that he was NCAA Division 1 Eastern Washington, for two years before transferring back home to Southern Alberta.)

Why couldn't the question be phrased like this? "A lot of people are wondering, why would you choose to play in Canada when there must be any number of American colleges that would love to have talent like that?"

It's a fair way to ask the same good question. Who knows, perhaps Bekkering brings his answer around to pointing out that he felt he could get a pretty good level of competition while following in his family's tradition of playing at the U of C, or that he valued a Canadian education.

Instead, thanks to a lazy line of questioning, CTV ended up reinforcing a lot of the negative stereotypes that Canadians have toward university sports in their own country. That said, any publicity is good publicity, right?
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2 comments:

  1. A discussion amongst a few Kingston guys produced what should have been Bekkering's response:

    "Well Mi-Jung Lee, when people found out you were interviewing me they asked me 'Why isn't she interviewing important people down in LA or New York??"

    Perhaps that might have put it in perspective for her.

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  2. That would have taken the kind of balls that Wilson doesn't have in stock.

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