Fatherly Advice: Activist Etan Thomas Writes Book About Fatherhood

When former Syracuse All-American Etan Thomas twice led the Big East Conference in blocked shots before pacing the league in field-goal percentage as a senior in 1999-2000, no one thought at the time he would become a leader in parenting.

Thomas, after growing up in Tulsa without a father, has assembled a collection of essays from celebrities in a book called "Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge." And a formidable challenge it is inasmuch as nearly three-fourths of African-American kids are raised in single-parent households.

"The importance of parenting is something that men do not talk about," the nine-year NBA veteran told the Syracuse Post-Standard.

Talkative Thomas, also vocal in disapproving Georgia's immigration crackdown while playing for the Atlanta Hawks, is a peace activist who actively supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and appeared with DNC chair Howard Dean on a bus tour to encourage voter registration drives. Hoopster-in-chief Obama, a JV player for Occidental College (CA) after growing up in a dysfunctional family, made a controversial policy change regarding young illegal immigrants last week because it was the "Left" thing to do.

Thomas, who averaged 5.7 ppg and 4.8 rpg with the Washington Wizards, Oklahoma City Thunder and Hawks in nine NBA seasons from 2001-02 through 2010-11, joined Obama among the ranks of hoopsters-turned-authors in 2005 when he released a 34-poem book "More Than an Athlete," which included a questionable-taste work dedicated to former Wizards coach Doug Collins entitled Haters.

Collins grew up in Benton, Ill., where his high school coach, Rich Herrin, never had an opportunity to coach an African-American player in his 29 small-town seasons of prep coaching until he was hired by Southern Illinois University after the 1984-85 campaign. But Collins became an All-American with Illinois State under Will Robinson, the first black head coach at a predominantly white Division I school.

Collins might have come from an environment deeming hip hop as spit slop and rap as crap, but there is no ample evidence of him being a stereotypical "hater" while coaching a long list of prominent professional players such as Bill Cartwright, Joe Dumars, Horace Grant, Richard Hamilton, Grant Hill, Allan Houston, Lindsey Hunter, Michael Jordan, Charles Oakley, Scottie Pippen and Jerry Stackhouse before turning around the young Philadelphia 76ers' fortunes the past two seasons.

Actually, Collins probably should have been included in Thomas' book in a favorable light featuring the Olympian's relationship with son Chris, a Duke assistant who was a significant player for the Blue Devils and likely will be an NCAA Division I head coach in the very near future.

Thomas, who said he loved ESPN's Fab 5 documentary denigrating Duke, seemed to take the simplistic approach that anytime you disagree with Obama, you can be branded a racist. In a CNN.com editorial in the spring of 2011, Thomas criticized Donald Trump, pulling out the race card saying the real estate magnate is a "Hey, what is that black guy doing here?' racist. He is the type of racist who wants black people to stay in their place." Thomas doesn't indicate whether or not a voting bloc going about 95% in one direction is racist.

In the editorial, Thomas described two incidents from his days at Syracuse, saying one professor questioned how he could get a B-minus on a test that most other students failed, and that another instructor wondered why Thomas was in his class and not in "remedial English or Rocks for Jocks?"

In a recent column for hoopshype.com, Thomas offered the stereotypical "college athletics is nothing more than a corrupt system focused on exploitation and greed." But even if a conservative might think Thomas' progressive politics are remedial appealling to the LCD, you have to hope his book ultimately succeeds with improving the state of fatherhood.