Let me preface this by saying that I was raised in Philly (Southwest)....
It's comments like this that perpetuate the "ghetto" mentality. I'm not saying that there are not good men that play professional sports BUT I'll be damned if I encourage this MYTH. (Professional athletes as "our" princes).
Let's look at how the media portrays MOST of the African American professional athletes....
1. Ignorant. (Little education for the most part. Escapes the 'hood for the "bling-bling" lifestyle)
2. Baby Daddies. (If I hear one more story about an athlete who has 5,6,7...children by DIFFERENT women or the athlete who finally marries his first 3 children's mother...)
3. Not interested in marrying a Black woman anyway.
4. Stupid. (Can't manage their own money and end up broke)
IS this really the man we want our daughters/nieces/sisters to marry? (The prince to take them away from it all).
Philadelphia has a RICH African American history. South Philadelphia has a history of Black Achievement....Marian Anderson for one. South Philadelphia was home to some of the greats in the medical and cultural arenas. The history if this section of Philadelphia also boasts of many African American businesses that thrived (Restaurants, Funereal Homes, Clothing Stores...)
I can only guess that Mr. Elliott has bought into the "new" mentality ("We" only knows what you tell us marse John) OR that he was NEVER taught his true history.
Sorry for the long post BUT I get sooooooooo emotional on this topic.