Mike Freeman

Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy, on his radio show, made some of the more remarkable and eloquent comments about the media and sports I have probably heard in some time.

He covered the gambit and it's shocking what he said has not received more play from both people who would agree and disagree.

I'm not just saying this because he agrees with my take on Tyler Hansbrough and the media. I'm saying it because if we had more honest words from players and coaches about race, the issue wouldn't be as thorny as it is.

Here is what Van Gundy said on his radio show. The part of the conversation about Ben Wallace is particularly interesting and something I never thought of.

The interview begins with host Boog Sciambi (who is white) wondering the same thing I did aloud to Van Gundy (who is white): would the qualities assigned to Hansbrough be assigned to him if he were black? This is what Van Gundy said:

"Well probably not. But I think there's two things going on there. Well three. Let's give the guy his due. He plays the game well and he plays it hard okay. With no hyperbole he does do that so let's start there.

"But then the second and third factors I think definitely you hit on it there's the racial thing. People go crazy over white players. They tend to assign character qualities to them rather than just good play. And then the third thing is the emotion. He plays with a lot of emotion. You know, he's jumping up and down, he's all over the place and for whatever reason when fans see that they think that equates to a greater desire to win than a guy let's say that plays like Tim Duncan played even in college. Who just sort of pretty even keeled, doesn't show a lot of emotion but just keeps playing well and getting the job done.

"For whatever reason fans, media whoever equate the show of emotion with a greater desire to win and I think it's B.S. But I think it happens so I think there's that on top of the racial issue."

Van Gundy was then asked about the double standard of a black athlete like Chad Johnson demonstrating a show of emotion and he's denounced versus a white athlete like Hansbrough who is praised.

Said Van Gundy: "That's a great point. I mean I do think that happens a lot. The black guy has no class but the white guy's playing with fire. I don't think there's any question about that.

"But I will say at times you know it does go the other way. Like I always think that Ben Wallace, I've always said, is a good player in this league but if his hair was different he wouldn't have been thought of as highly as he is with his hair flopping around. People go crazy. It's amazing what people latch on to. They talk about his tremendous effort and everything else but if he cut his hair and played like that he'd just be another guy playing hard."

Wow and wow.

His words, I can't stress enough, are some of the more honest on this subject you'll ever see.