The Iranian Invasion of Western Tennessee

Memphis: barbecue, bourbon, blues and 7'2" Iranian.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal (which is the best worst name of a newspaper ever-- take that, Cleveland Plain Dealer) has reported that Hamed Haddadi, the center for Iran's Olympic basketball team in Beijing, has signed with the Memphis Grizzlies. He is the first Iranian player to play in the NBA.

Sports get a lot of attention in this country, and a lot of criticism (much of it deserved and valid, granted); however, something like basketball fans in Tennessee rooting for an Iranian guy is really something only sports can engender. Like it or not, sport is one of the few venues in American culture that can flip people so hard and so fast. Does that mean that just having an Iranian national is going to lessen the broad negative perceptions about Iranians in particular and Middle Eastern people in general? Of course not. Will it help on some level, with some people? Yes.

For me, it comes as a very welcome development; I've been stewing over a recent decision in The Netherlands that bans Iranian nationals from taking courses in nuclear technology. Barring access to education, even if one feels threatened by a particular group having access to certain information, feels wrong to me-- I just can't get behind that.

In any event, the NBA story isn't that big of a deal, but is a small shred of welcome progress related to a topic that is usually just doom and gloom.