Rodman, Artest, Howard
Some people differed when I said Howard was going to go in the same off-court direction as these other highly talented defenders.
Howard pulled an off-season hat-trick of PR-devastating antics, following up MJ confessions and extreme driving exercises with disrespecting the national anthem.
‘The Star Spangled Banner’ is going on right now. I don’t even celebrate that (expletive). I’m black.
I'm sure it was just an off-the-cuff joke in bad taste. Now while I think its all well and good to say stupid stuff like this to TV cameras, I do keep in mind that somewhere, US citizens are dying, dying for low wages and without a decent GI Bill and are being buried under that flag. Some of them are black.
With all the bad things that Rodman and Artest have done, most of them have been just crazy things, and some pretty wholesome violence (that they necessarily didn't even start), but they never took my money and offended me personally (yeah, I don't have dogs or children or care about Detroit fans who burn down their own city when they win something).
OK, maybe Howard is not yet as bad off as those guys have been, but hey, wages are good in Europe, Howard would be a perfect fit playing in France.
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Howard
I was one of those people, and while Howard has yet to kick a cameraman or instigate brawl, I can say with resignation, ‘this guy is really starting to piss me off’. He has been portrayed up to this year as a high-character guy in Dallas, and it is now clear he does not warrant that description. I hope the Dallas fans boo him, but hey, they’re the same fans that welcomed TO with open arms years after he stomped on the Star at Texas Stadium, so I’m not holding my breath.
How different is this than Shaq threatening someone’s life?
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
by Hawk42 on Sep 18, 2008 9:20 PM MDT 0 recs
Well
1) He’s 28
2) He smokes weed.
3) He doesn’t have much love for our government.
4) He drives fast.
He sounds like half my friends.
Side note:
Explain to me this logic:
1) Josh Howard, reasonably or not, has angst toward his government for its treatment of African Americans and expresses this angst by not paying attention to the national anthem.
Therefore:
2) He is disrespecting the troops in Iraq?
Quoi? If being at war means that we can’t disagree or even despise our government without being unAmerican or “French,” then you’ve pretty much equated patriotism with authoritarianism. And I really can’t stand it when people limit patriotism in that way. One can both disagree with a war or a government who started the war while still respecting the troops who are fighting the war since they aren’t in control of it.
Similarly it’s eminently possible for someone to:
1) Be disgusted with parts of our nation’s history
2) Be disgusted with our current government
3) Find things like flags and anthems now too politicized to have any meaning to them
and
4) Still love the United States.
Patriotism is a big idea and it definitely leaves room for dissent.
Purchasing my Dragic jersey
by rosewood on Sep 19, 2008 2:11 AM MDT 0 recs
The Flag
If you hate something the government is doing, but love the country/citizens/whatever that is fine. Actually, that is the definition of patriotism. That means you salute the flag and give the politicians the finger.
If you really love the county, but cannot stand something its doing, then you pay your respect to the flag that symbolizes what you love and change (protest is one option) what is wrong. However, if the entirety of the constitution bugs you, then France is one of your options.
Mmmmm ... Guinness
by JSun on
Sep 19, 2008 10:16 AM MDT
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The best thing about freedom
is that you don’t have to salute the flag if you don’t want to, and you can define your own definition of patriotism; therefore, you and Rosewood are both right (in my girlie, little opinion).
I do think that Howard probably wasn’t really thinking about how the public would receive his comment. I don’t think that necessarily makes him unpatriotic, just thoughtless.
by Carrie on
Sep 19, 2008 10:28 PM MDT
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howard is a moron...plain and simple
He’s not even a good player, this doesn’t bother me though, if it came from someone I respect, it would bother me (either as a poor taste joke or as just being dumb), but I could care less what Howard does, i really like the idea though that he goes away to europe..
On the entire subject of being patriotic, etc. It’s real simple, whether you agree or not with bush and the war, you are a big loser if you don’t respect the soldiers. You can disagree with the war…no problem there, but there’s a big difference in disagreeing with the war and treating the soldiers like dirt….and it seems that many in the u.s. are in the same ignorant boat of not respecting the soldiers regardless of their views as the vietnam war treatment of soldiers…not nearly as bad of course, but its still there…
by be-the-ball on
Sep 21, 2008 12:16 PM MDT
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Actually, that's pretty right
Kind of like the flag burning issue —
You can’t make someone love you, so you can’t legislate it. But if you do it, then what does that say?
I think I’m more troubled by celbrities and celebathletes that think their position gives them the right to preach from the soapbox. Bono and Nash kind of know what they’re talking about, so listen to them. The others …. well, let them play ball or star in a May-December romance.
Mmmmm ... Guinness
by JSun on
Sep 25, 2008 11:31 PM MDT
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I think you're missing the point
I am not talking about patriotism. That’s a subject for another blog. I am talking about a pattern of foolishness and bad judgement for a player who has demonstrated the propensity for bonehead plays on the court. He has been a hothead, and it has been easy for opponents to get him out of his game because of his problems with judgement. Judgement is an intrinsic quality that permeates our being, and manifests in whatever be our pursuit. Now this summer he pulls off the trifecta of drag racing, smoking pot (and publicizing it) and then this.
All this for a player who is well paid, and one who is being depended upon to stabilize the sinking fortunes of a highly visible pro basketball team.
For a person who has benefitted so much from the system that we live under, I find it disgusting that Howard can’t find time to be thankful for what he has received, and be a part of the solution to the problems he sees instead of tearing down what others have labored so hard to build. It takes dedication, hard work, and sound judgement to create lasting structures that will benefit others. It takes foolishness, a hard heart, and selfish short-sightedness to tear them down.
When you wave a red flag in front of the bull, that is free speech, but you know the bull’s coming after you. Similarly, when you insist on publicly denigrating the values of a majority of those who have made you rich, the free speech will cost you. Nobody, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, God, or the Devil can guarantee free speech with no consequences. Consequences are our teacher, without which we will remain the spoiled infants that were brought into this world.
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
by Hawk42 on Sep 19, 2008 9:58 AM MDT 0 recs
nice points...this might be a little strong
but i say let’s get a soldier with boxing gloves on – in the color of the u.s. flag…and have him talk to howard
:-)
by be-the-ball on
Sep 21, 2008 12:18 PM MDT
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Hesitant to jump in
on this one b/c it really has all the relevance of lipstick on a pig.
But I will say that I served 8 yrs in the Army and did two combat tours. I didn’t do what I for a song or a flag.
I get the feeling sometimes when we put too much value in our symbols they can over take their meaning.
I don’t know J-Ho or really have even bothered to read much about this “scandal”. But if he’s got a problem with how he thinks the country has treated him I am not really in a position to question that. And I certainly could care less if he ‘offended" a symbol. He didn’t offend me. He just made himself look kind of dumb.
Blogging Suns Basketball
by Phoenix Stan on
Sep 21, 2008 3:09 PM MDT
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I think my complaint is the simplistic excuse given
I smoke weed. I’m black.
I drive fast. I’m black.
I hate this or that. I’m black.
All of this seems to suggest: if you celebrate that shit: you ain’t black.
Amare is moving.
by ZonaFlash on Sep 21, 2008 6:42 PM MDT 0 recs

















