(UPDATE: Grant Hill talks about the movie, and his friendship with Laettner- exclusive)
Issues related to race, class and even sexual orientation serve as vital plot points in the new ESPN 30 for 30 film “I hate Christian Laettner.” The documentary is about much more than basketball, or even the story of just one basketball player. It truly is a movie bout society, where we’ve come since 1991 and how far we still need to go.
Here’s the link to our review/critique of the film. Remember though that the version we watched is a “rough cut,” as ESPN PR told us, and could end up being somewhat different from the version that will air Sunday night for the general public.
Still, this one is could be at the top of the ESPN 30 for 30 all time top ten list.
Director Rory Karpf breaks down the five root causes of Christian Laettner hate:
privilege, white, bully, greatness and looks.
It is within the final dimension that Karpf analyzes and showcases the false rumors that surfaced regarding Christian Laettner and his personal life during his college career. Back then, Laettner gave an interview to Sports Illustrated in which he said that three things important to him were: basketball, school and Brian (Davis, a teammate and close friend).
This leads to Doug Collins talking about Laettner (currently married with three children) while footage of Laettner slapping Davis on the butt after a game is played.
“He might even reach down and hold his hand, and Christian, he’s like okay, if that’s what you’re going to say then go ahead and run with it,” says Collins.
At graduation, Laettner actually bought Davis a car.
“All of us kind of raised our eye brows at that,” ESPN Analyst and former Duke assistant coach Jay Bilas says in the film.
Which then leads to a discussion of homophobic rhetoric; reminding us how far we’ve come since the early 1990s. As various panelists in the film point out, saying “that’s gay” in order to express disapproval was quite common 25 years ago.
Back then, it was even more “socially acceptable.”
As was the rest of gay bashing language.
As the film points out, “oh you’re a fag,” or “you faggot” was a very commonplace way to verbally attack one another. When Duke visited LSU, thousands of Tigers fans took the FSU war chant and changed it to “ho-mo-sexual” as a means to verbally antagonize and harass Laettner. The documentary shows fans LSU fans chanting “faggot” and Laettner as well.
Thankfully, this offensive and socially regressive “terminology” has since been dismissed by mainstream society. No one who is civilized uses such expressions.
No fan base would ever try anything that offensive and wrong today.
By no means has homophobic language disappeared however.
I myself, a heterosexual man, have had anti-gay slurs hurled at me by Ohio State fans when covering Buckeye sporting events. I’m sure it’s not a problem limited to just Ohio State fans.
It’s just that in my personal experience, it’s been Buckeye fans who have called me “a faggot” and “a queer,” for whatever reason that may be.
For Laettner many, if not most, of his antagonists were jealous of his good looks. Christian Laettner was named one of People magazine’s most beautiful people in 1992.
It also bares mentioning that Laettner’s college career, and the peak of his national media exposure, was long before the “metrosexual” craze of the early 2000s, a trend that seemed to have one lasting effect: killing off the “pretty boys are homosexuals” fallacy.
It’s a good thing this misnomer has been put to rest, and it makes one wonder how Laettner would have been perceived differently had his playing career occurred 25 years later.
Looks also explain the Christian Laettner backlash in another way. Billy Zapka, an actor who often played high profile villains in the 1980s, portrayed Johnny in “The Karate Kid, who was “the perfect villain” as narrator Rob Lowe explains in this 30 for 30.
Laettner does bear some resemblance to Johnny, especially with the always perfect hair.
Chicago Bears QB Jay Cutler also bears a resemblance to Zapka; which could explain part of the tremendous hatred that seems to follow Cutler wherever he goes.
Christian Laettner did a question and answer session with the media on March 11th; and it was PHENOMENAL. (Podcast is below) There’s some talk about the Fab 5 calling Christian Laettner “a pussy” and “a bitch.”
Laettner also called out a Twitter user who attacked him and his son during the call.
Another highlight was Laettner discussing the stories he heard of Michael Jordan being RUTHLESS in his playing days (here’s more on that).
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.