ajcsportstalk

By Clean Harry

December 18, 2006 01:44 PM | Link to this

“Melo” should have gotten 15 games for throwing a punch, and then another 15 games for running away like a little girl.

By Anthony

December 18, 2006 01:47 PM | Link to this

What a waste of time this league is. A bunch of overpaid idiots running around the court. The ones who didn’t get in on the fight were probably worried about their gold teeth getting knocked out.

By Anonymous

December 18, 2006 01:48 PM | Link to this

Hey Clean Harry, don’t insult little girls like that.

By Ed

December 18, 2006 01:50 PM | Link to this

This punishment is way over the limit. I really did not see anything besides a head lock takedown and a slap on the face. Legal moves in wrestling. So whats the big deal. Maybe we should put a ring courtside and let the players let go of their frustration for a few extra tickets. Oh well I just a fan and some so called expert saw it different.

By jcfromindy

December 18, 2006 01:50 PM | Link to this

These penalties are way to harsh. The league is already sissyfied, so seeing a good brawl ain’t never hurt nobody. I mean what does the NBA expect. You can’t show any emotion to the ref, why not take it out on each other. Kudos!!!Carmelo is my man!!!!!

Screw the HAWKS, FALCONS and UGA

Go Tech, Go Colts.

By Scooter11

December 18, 2006 01:50 PM | Link to this

I laugh at fans stupid enough to pay to see such thuggery. Good call, Clean Harry.

By SCBird

December 18, 2006 01:50 PM | Link to this

I agree. What a girl.

By Scooter11

December 18, 2006 01:51 PM | Link to this

And good call as well, Anonymous.

By Kudzu

December 18, 2006 01:52 PM | Link to this

Uh, What’s new? Considering the playa’s, what do you expect? It’s a throw down thug gangsta rapping mentality where million dollar spoiled ignorant children whine and hit and retilate and protect “turf” and kill you if necessary. Players ought to be suspened for life…Clean it up or dont play…sickening.

By SCBird

December 18, 2006 01:53 PM | Link to this

“The ones who didn’t get in on the fight were probably worried about their gold teeth getting knocked out”

What an ignorant statement. There’s always one, thanks Anthony!

By Muhammid Mexico

December 18, 2006 01:59 PM | Link to this

If it weren’t for the NBA and the NFL, they would have to build 10 new prisons.

By phraughy

December 18, 2006 02:02 PM | Link to this

Their behavior is pathetic. They should be fired. There is no excuse for behaving like a neanderthal. Assault charges should be brought against them as they would if it was anyone else.

By SC Bird

December 18, 2006 02:06 PM | Link to this

“Uh, What’s new? Considering the playa’s, what do you expect? It’s a throw down thug gangsta rapping mentality where million dollar spoiled ignorant children whine and hit and retilate and protect “turf” and kill you if necessary. Players ought to be suspened for life…Clean it up or dont play…sickening”

Are you guys really serious? Where’s all the gangsta rapping mentality when guys like Michael Barrett starts a baseball brawl? Oh, my mistake, it’s different then right? Get a life.

By Fulton

December 18, 2006 02:07 PM | Link to this

Funny how ‘thuggery’ only exists in basketball but baseball and hockey HAVE WAAAY MORE INCIDENCES. Any smart assed comments on that?

By It's About Time

December 18, 2006 02:08 PM | Link to this

I am glad to see this level of punishment. What a bunch of thugs!!

Not to metion the great example they set for today’s youth.

I for one am glad to see something done which will impact the individual along with the team.

By L.

December 18, 2006 02:10 PM | Link to this

Maybe the Nuggets can cash in, and risk their values on Allen Iverson, since the NBAs “leading scorer” will be out 15 days.

The NBA sucks, especially since now that it has been reduced to shrimpy, “elderly” non-American white boys only getting MVP awards.

By jcfromindy

December 18, 2006 02:10 PM | Link to this

All those harsh critics about the nba being full of thugs, well the owners are thugettes who getting rich off the thugs. Don’t knock their salary. I bet you some of yaw butts go to the those games to watch those Thugs. oh and by the way those thugs on UGA can’t read or write, so all you UGA Fans, go finger yourself!!!!!Kudos Mark Richt, you producing some fine young men!!!!! Now you talking about a Thug!!!! I don’t see folks screaming about these overpaid coaches!!!! Oh yeah, by the way, Isiah, YOU FIRED!!!!!

By anonymous

December 18, 2006 02:15 PM | Link to this

I smell rednecks………………

By Tyler

December 18, 2006 02:17 PM | Link to this

Why can the NBA have the balls to ban players for this kind of behavior?

By kew

December 18, 2006 02:23 PM | Link to this

Isiah have alway been a thug, even when he was playing in the NBA he was a thug - why do we think he has changed? My opinion is that Isiah Thomas should be fired…NOW, not tomorrow.

By Fulton

December 18, 2006 02:25 PM | Link to this

The punishments seem fit….but for SOME of you, your hoods are not hiding your double standards. It does however, speak VOLUMES about YOUR character as you spew your same old rhetoric from the safety of a keyboard.

By NBAstinks

December 18, 2006 02:30 PM | Link to this

Hey Fulton,

Hockey has fighting in the rules….if you knew sports, you would know that.

You can’t run like a girly man….you got to give out & take ‘em!

ps…..NBA still a thug league. Do you see all that gold “grills” or tattoos in MLB or the NHL?

By mike

December 18, 2006 02:31 PM | Link to this

Its ok for baseball and hockey. But the NBA is full of thugs and gold teeth when they do the same thing. I smell a lot of hate out there. It is ok hater fans since most of those suspended will be home in their mansions looking at the games on those big new wide screens and driving their expensive cars around and maybe taking in a little shoe modeling at the local club. Eat yo hearts out.

By NBAstinks

December 18, 2006 02:32 PM | Link to this

Fulton, he “hood” goes both ways……the “race card’ straw man interjected into every argument…. weak!!!

By NBAstinks

December 18, 2006 02:38 PM | Link to this

The NBA has been hyjacked by rap thugs. Michael, Magic, Bird & Dominique =class Today’s thugs = Trash

By Rock

December 18, 2006 02:40 PM | Link to this

Fights happen in all sports. I don’t really have a problem with that, it’s always been a part of sports. I just can’t get past Carmelo running away like a sissy after he landed his punch. Was he even born with a pair?

By NBAstinks

December 18, 2006 02:40 PM | Link to this

“The punishments seem fit….but for SOME of you, your hoods are not hiding your double standards.”

Who is it I see walking down the street with hoods on in 75 degree weather?

By Chris

December 18, 2006 02:40 PM | Link to this

LOL… What about the “thugs” in baseball and hockey… LOL… Oh.. I forgot.. NBA players are majority black and baseball and hockey have several more white players.. So therefore, in that case, they aren’t thugs rapping and living the “thug life.”

By John Vaughn

December 18, 2006 02:41 PM | Link to this

SC BIRD…It is different you idiot. If you have a small hard baseball thrown at you at 100 mph, then you have the right to defend yourself by charging the mound. Rarely do fights escalate before benches clear and everyhing is calmed. When is the last time you saw a fight in baseball where 10 players were ejected? NEVER..Did the NBA thugs deserve being ejected? Likely no but the refs feared for their life. All of this with 1:20 left in a 15 point game. Pathetic and awful!!!

By deegee

December 18, 2006 02:44 PM | Link to this

Looks to me like the fans were digging it. Why should basketball players get fined but hockey players don’t get fined? It’s all a show, isn’t it?

By Chris

December 18, 2006 02:44 PM | Link to this

“Hockey has fighting in the rules….if you knew sports, you would know that.

You can’t run like a girly man….you got to give out & take ‘em!

ps…..NBA still a thug league. Do you see all that gold “grills” or tattoos in MLB or the NHL?”

Stupidest post ever… Just because they put fighting in the rules makes it OK? Well hell, in that case fire up ole Jim Crow in that case then. Oh yes, someone have gold grills and tats makes them thugs. I would love to see where you get your lavish and eloquent theories from. Idiot…

By chuck gnarly

December 18, 2006 02:45 PM | Link to this

Children playing a child’s game what do you expect? I could go on…

By TF

December 18, 2006 02:46 PM | Link to this

Its about time they started cracking down on these ghetto rats. When id football, both college and professional going start holding thier athletes to some sort of standardalso. Kudos to the commissioner.

By Kudzu

December 18, 2006 02:49 PM | Link to this

You guys can’t for real defend this NBA trash, you can’t really, can you? Oh, wait, you’re just OFFENDED…cry me a freaking river…

By Charles

December 18, 2006 02:52 PM | Link to this

Just a bunch of thugs disguised as “athletes” doing what they do best.

Who cares? I can’t wait until the entire sports industry collapses under its own heavy weight of ridiculous salaries.

Then these guys will assume their place in society…flipping hamburgers.

By Rob

December 18, 2006 02:54 PM | Link to this

This was the best performance the Knicks have had all season!

By Rob

December 18, 2006 02:55 PM | Link to this

This was the best performance the Knicks have had all season!

By Kudzu

December 18, 2006 02:55 PM | Link to this

Your boys playing this round-ball wouldn’t last 5 minutes “having it out” with these hockey playa’s, they don’t pretend…that’s a real sport…and I don’t know a damn thing about hockey except the guys playing seem like a tough breed…not wanabes…who get offended so sissyly.

By NBAstinks

December 18, 2006 02:56 PM | Link to this

“most of those suspended will be home in their mansions looking at the games on those big new wide screens and driving their expensive cars around and maybe taking in a little shoe modeling at the local club.”

…And there are 1000 % more who try to emulate the thug life who are in prison now……great legacy!

By SC Bird

December 18, 2006 03:04 PM | Link to this

What’s ridiculous is the generalized statements being made on this thread. It’s like everyone with gold teeth or playing in the nba is a thug…That’s as stupid as saying the business world is filled with crooks like Christian Deeb Rahaim from Enron… You guys really need to step out and view the world and stop watching so much TV.

By Pops

December 18, 2006 03:06 PM | Link to this

Anthony, your Mom loves gold teeth…that bit#h hangs out on Bankhead.

By Pops

December 18, 2006 03:09 PM | Link to this

Charles, you lay awake every night thinking about those “thugs” and their millions that you will never see in 5 lifetimes…..white punk..lol

By Iman

December 18, 2006 03:16 PM | Link to this

This is one reason why I loathe the NBA and support high school and college basketball. TERRIBLE role models for our youth! I am soooooo glad street ball is going the way of the Dynosaur. Give me a good fundamental ballgame any day. I think the NBA should clean house, starting with the ridiculous salaries. Why don’t they incorporate community service and mandatory donations to a favorite charity in the contracts? The poor and inexcusable acts exhibited by the NBA players only promotes the distorted belief that money allows any behavior. $500,000? Pocket change to these folks, I’m afraid.

By national BRAT association

December 18, 2006 03:17 PM | Link to this

All professional sports are out of control: overpriced, overpaid, over-hyped. I am especially disappointed in COACH thomas; then again, NO I’m not! I miss ‘Nique and Bird.

By sam

December 18, 2006 03:31 PM | Link to this

Being from ‘cuse and all, I’ve been a fan of Carmelo Anthony for a while now. but man what a punk-a* move that was! wait until the guy aint looking and then throw a cheap shot. he doesnt have the sack to throw a punch when they were standing toe to toe. I have lost all respect for that chump. I knew he was kind of soft but not that soft.

By joe

December 18, 2006 03:33 PM | Link to this

NBA, NFL, both permeated by inner city gapped toothed gold toothed, bling wearing thugs who’d for sure be in prison had they not been able to throw or catch a ball. That brawl didn’t surprise me at all. We used to go to Knick games all the time and never saw anything close to a brawl, NEVER! The way to cure it but quick? Immediately fire all the offending players without pay and ban them for life from the NBA. Say what you want but I guarantee that would happen just one time and there would never be another fracas such as we witnessed yesterday in NYC. There’s a hundred guys w/ just as much talent waiting in the wings to take these loser’s place.

By Brent

December 18, 2006 03:41 PM | Link to this

I don’t hear you Klansmen calling hockey players thugs when they fight every night.

I guess you are afraid one of those “thugs” might have a flashback and give YOU what you deserve…lol

By Fulton

December 18, 2006 03:45 PM | Link to this

I understand some of you are 15, JUST DON’T GET IT and are just seeking an avenue to spew your childish HATRED. I can’t name 5 NBA players with gold teeth & how many tats do Tommy Lee and other Rock-n-Rollers have? But neither point has anything to do with it! I am not advocating fighting but again, in BBall you may have 1 outbreak a year, WHAT ABOUT FIGHTS IN BASEBALL, HOCKEY, SOCCER?? I see it’s quite easy for many of you to not address the issue and just be jackasses!

And yes, Carmelo is very much a punk for the hit-n-run….

By sam

December 18, 2006 04:00 PM | Link to this

this stuff doesnt have anything to do with gold teeth, tattoos, hip hop music, thugs…. its got to do with brains and class. Unfortunately very few NBA players have either and from the looks of most of these comments neither do any of you.

By Fulton

December 18, 2006 04:09 PM | Link to this

Good job Sam…’nuff said!!

By 87

December 18, 2006 04:10 PM | Link to this

So when the yankees & Redsox brawl every other game are they thugs? Is roger clemmons a thug? When NASCAR drivers fight are they called thugs?Larry Bird,Dr. j,nique,magic have all been in fights in their career are they thugs? As a matter of fact go to SI.com they have a list of sports memorable brawls and only a few were NBA the majority were baseball and hockey!

By Ursie

December 18, 2006 04:17 PM | Link to this

I see that calling someone a “thug” is the new term that whites are using to call black folks “n****”. You people kill me, I laugh at you and I laugh at your kids evertime I see them with baggy pants on and corn rows in their blonde hair. I guess all “n****” ain’t black. LOLOL You people are so stupid, get a life.

By aa

December 18, 2006 04:17 PM | Link to this

Lets say this whte people call blck people “thugs” because we brawl at a basketball, or football game..So shall we call them Poor Whte Trash” or Crackers”..You pay to see the games, kiss their butts if you run into one at game for a autograph Dont use that term unless its for your people as well..

By dougmo

December 18, 2006 04:20 PM | Link to this

So, where is the fine for Isiah Thomas? He told his players to commit the foul that started it all. He was a 1st class a-hole while a player, he destroyed the CBA single handedly, he truly sucked as the GM of the Knicks, and now he is still a 1st class a-hole as a coach.

he

By JUNIO

December 18, 2006 04:20 PM | Link to this

These redneck @ss bigots like to get all p** off about the “thugs”, and “punks”; the new code word for n——, we all know.

They’ll never change and are hypocrites. Fights happen, though this was way out of control. These atheletes are “punks” and “thugs”, until one of their little SNOT NOSED BRATS runs into them somewhere and wants their autograph, then redneck daddy will act all phony as if the “thug” is his next door neighbor, trying to convince the “thug” he too is “down with” Jay-Z or something.

LMAO. What hypocrites.

By aa

December 18, 2006 04:20 PM | Link to this

Charles is a racist…see comments

By toney

December 18, 2006 04:38 PM | Link to this

Sorry sam, but to say there are very few players in the nba with class is a lie. White people love to take a nba player who has been in trouble or done something wrong and make him the face of the entire league. yet when it comes to other sports its not the same. ray lewis, jamal lewis, ray carruth, lenord little, the bengals, pacman jones, etc., are never the face of the nfl, but somehow allen iverson is the face of the nba. I’m tired of white people pretending to care about black role models in sports and pretending to care about athletes and the crimes they commit, becasue you dont. If you did you wouldn’t watch the nfl or college football. how many players on the uga football teams has been arrestes since richt has been there. how come their not thugs. how come the nfl isn’t a leauge of thugs. whites love the nfl and are willing to pretend that somehow the blacks in the nba are different from the blacks in the nba. Cornrolls and tatoos!!! whites seem to love those cornrolls and tatoos on the sec football fields every season, and there favorite nfl teams, but now that its basketball season so how its a problem. This dress code the nba has, how many times did larry bird wear a suit to the game, how about brett favre—never. You have to wear a suit if your black becasue stupid white people, like some of the ones on this post might get offened if you dont, you might dress to black. White playes—come as you are!! you talk about a double standard

By Frankie

December 18, 2006 04:51 PM | Link to this

I think Stern ought to resign for only suspending those players for 6, 10, and 15 games, Hell the artest fight the lowest was 25 games, if Stern is serious he would suspend the players for a minimum 30 games no matter what. If yu hit, got hit, or left the bench. Only if you were already on the floor and tried to break up the fight should lesser fines apply. They talked about how great security reacted, well you got one security person with his back to the fighting telling a spectator to sit down or whatever, he should have been putting himself between those players. The players are slaves to the organization and owners and the masters know if they keep the players out for longer than 20 games the owners and organization leaders loose tons of money.

By sam

December 18, 2006 04:56 PM | Link to this

Lets get one thing straight Toney, none of these guy are my role models. They are great athletes, not great people. I dont give a damn about them personally, I like to watch time play, thats it. And Allen Iverson the face of the NBA? Yeah right, is that why he was picked for the Olympic Team? Oh, thats right he wasnt invited to try out. As for Larry Bird, he wore a suit to and from the arena every night, when he was on the bench hurt too. Anybody see Joe Horn on the sidelines yesterday, that must have been the new sleeveless suit the NFl is requiring. Man Toney, if you’re going to say your piece, at least know what you’re talking about. One more thing, Bill Romanowski=THUG (he’s white Toney)

By Laurence Tennyson

December 18, 2006 04:58 PM | Link to this

Who cares anyway? many more brawls like this, and the NBA is going to be hurt where it hurts….in the pocketbook. People are sick and tired of watching overpaid criminals who can play a little ball (street ball at that)act unprofessionally. I agree with the comment above, any fights, any inappropriate behavior, fire them and ban them for life. Maybe then all of this foolishness stops. If corporate America stops sponsoring the NBA, the league no longer exists. I mean 1/2 of the people in attendance at a Hawks game are there on comped tickets. I am just stating facts, and yes, I am a black man, and believe it or not I do understand credit scores. Mine happens to be 476.

By Wes

December 18, 2006 05:03 PM | Link to this

Of course the fines don’t fit. If any one of us “normal” people were to walk into our office and get into a fight we’d be handed a cardboard box to carry our belongings out in.

By Just Wondering

December 18, 2006 05:32 PM | Link to this

The suspension is perfect for Carmelo (I heard his mother is a big fan of carmel candy and that’s how she came up with the name). Now he can spend more time making videos showing people in Baltimore (I hear they call that town “The BAL”) how not to cooperate with the Police.

By the way, jcfromindy, great use of a double negative. Also, it’s “way too”, not “way to”. Out of curiosity, where did you get your edumacation?

By Just Wondering

December 18, 2006 05:43 PM | Link to this

I’ll tell you what, if this fighting keeps up I may just start watching the NBA again. Most of these guys can’t shoot, maybe they can punch.

The NBA as a product is brutal. The Eastern Conference is a joke. Go look at the records in the Atlantic Division.

David Stern deserves every penny he gets. I don’t know how the guy does it. The man is a magician. “Step right up and watch me turn crap into gold.”

By Martha

December 18, 2006 05:52 PM | Link to this

Thugz R Us plays basketball. Here’s a plan…chain off the playing floor. Next time a fight breaks out, don’t let anyone in or out of the area until there is one creature left standing. What a bunch of loosers and our kids idolize these jerks???

By marcus

December 18, 2006 07:58 PM | Link to this

Georgia Crackas are the biggest hypocrites on the planet. They praise hockey players for fighting and never call them thugs. INCREDIBLE!

By Martha

December 18, 2006 08:26 PM | Link to this

Oh, no, marcus. I will never, and have never, praised anyone—-hockey players included—-for fighting. Thugz is thugz.

By Bree

December 18, 2006 08:27 PM | Link to this

I think the fines were appropriate, and it should have been suspension without pay. To see them all out there fighting like hoodlums is an embarrassment to the black race. You don’t give white people a reason to call you the n- word, but that’s what happens when you act the way they did. Shame on all of them. First of all, the foul looked like an accident to me. It was all unnecessary. They need to remember that they represent all African Americans when they do stuff like that. You don’t ever see African American women professionals fighting and spitting on people. Come on, guys. Give me a break.

By Judi

December 18, 2006 08:34 PM | Link to this

All players and coaches involved should be barred from the sport for the rest of the year WITHOUT PAY!!!!! These people make obscene amounts of money and this is the way they choose to conduct themselves. What a poor example they are for the youth of today!!!!

By Alexis

December 18, 2006 08:39 PM | Link to this

Give the goo gobs of money spent on these losers (which they squander within a few years on bling bling, strippers and gas guzzling cars) to the educators, firefighters, and policeman, who strive every day to make a real difference. Problem solved.

By toney

December 18, 2006 08:58 PM | Link to this

sam i never said iverson was the face of the nba i said people try to make him the face becasue he’s an easy target and gives whites like the ones on this post the chance to sterotype all black nba players. as far as larry bird in a suit.

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER’s Don McKee writes, “I don’t get the whole hullabaloo about the NBA dress code. … I’ve never had any objection to Allen Iverson’s off-court dress, or that of any other current superstar. Iverson’s big hat and sweatshirt look is far more dressy than that of, say, Larry Bird, who made rumpled blue jeans and golf shirts a fashion statement.”

bird, mchale, ainge, lambeir, chambers, paxon, stockton or no other white players dressed the way jordan and the other black players did, they didnt have to, black players have to dress up in 3 piece suits so whites wont accuse them of looking like thugs. Like its 1953 all all over again. This dress code wasnt put in for steve nash or dirk, you know that sam. how many fights did lambier or danny ainge get into they were tough and scrappy, funny SAM they were never called thugs. fights in the nba have been 4ever, its not new sam. jason varitek gets into a huge fight with arod and the sox and yankees brawl and its becasue their rival and competitors, but when its nba, their thugs huh!! How about nascar drivers and hockey players, their tough guys, nba players are thugs. SAM you take offense to me having an issue with whites referring to black athletes as thugs, do me a favor and read this entire post from start to finish. it true.

By ripdog

December 18, 2006 09:12 PM | Link to this

Thanks AJC for providing a forum for the racist idiots that read your newspaper. Funny, I never saw anybody calling Larry Bird or Bill Laimbeer a thug when they got in a fight. There’s probably a fight every week in hockey, why aren’t they thugs? Let’s not forget about baseball. Are the hitters thugs when they charge the mound, striking the pitchers? Or is the manager a thug for picking up bases and throwing them? What about the NASCAR drivers who actually get out of cars to fight each other over a tap in the bumper. What about the AJC Staff member who started this? He’s too much of a b*** to even put his name on the by-line. Why don’t you have blogs like this when altercations occur in other sports. Yes, thanks AJC for continuing your legacy of racist reporting. You certainly have the reader base to support this style.

By Martha

December 18, 2006 09:18 PM | Link to this

Get over yourself, there are white thugs, too. Thug isn’t a color thing, it is a class thing—thugs don’t have it. Never have and never will.

By ripdog

December 18, 2006 09:19 PM | Link to this

Laurence, your post is right on the money. I take offense to white people calling black athletes thugs. In my book, that’s an under-handed way of calling them the N word. I have never seen a blog when this type of thing happens in a predominately white sport.

By Kudzu

December 18, 2006 09:54 PM | Link to this

Offended yet?

By Dre

December 18, 2006 10:05 PM | Link to this

Would you all have the same stereotypical comments if that was basebrawl? I think NOT! So lay off the racist, stereotypical mess yall like to use as a sad excuse. They got into a fight, the punishment was right for the crime.

By I am the decider

December 18, 2006 10:08 PM | Link to this

Kudzu, for someone who detests the NBA you sure have a lot to say about it. Nice user name btw, freaking weed that spreads over the south and something you can’t get ride of. Maybe AI will hire you to wash his car one day. loser

By Dre

December 18, 2006 10:11 PM | Link to this

Sorry Martha, we all know that ‘Thug’ is used on the AJC blogs to cover everybody’s hatred of certain people. Lol. If you was black in our shoes, you WOULD TAKE GREAT OFFENSE to somebody calling a member of your race a Thug? How about we start calling all those sissy hockey players thug. They fighting with all that damn padding on! That’s not fighting, that’s legalized HUGGING Can’t feel not one punch in all of that padding. I agree on the comment on the NASCAR drivers fighting like lil girls, and what do they DO? DRIVE A CAR in circles??? WHAT THE HELL!!!

By Who's Your Daddy

December 18, 2006 10:24 PM | Link to this

I haven’t watched an NBA game in years, nor have I gone. At one time I was a big fan, but I am not about to waste my money, time, energy or interest in something like this. No thanks, keep the NBA, keep the low life mentality that some of these guys exhibit. You can fine them ‘til the cows come home they have more bling than most of us will ever see in three life times. NBA wants to prove it’s serious - zero tolerance on violence.

By Just Wondering

December 19, 2006 01:38 AM | Link to this

First, for purpose of full disclosure, I am white. Because, of course, here in Atlanta it’s all about black and white. That’s why this city will never be a real major city. It’s laughable that people think this is an international city.

Anyways, I don’t think the guys involved in the fight Saturday are thugs. Basketball is a physical game. Couple that with heated emotions and you are going to have fights break out from time to time. Just like in football, basketball and yes, hockey.

Now the sucker punch that Carmelo Anthony threw shows me he’s a punk and a little girl. Not a thug. It’s the illegal activities he takes part in off the court that makes him a … put in your word here.

Sorry folks, it’s not the type of clothes you wear or whether you wear jewelry that makes you a good or bad person. It’s how you carry yourself and how you treat other people.

I don’t approve of the n word and find it offensive. But I don’t get how rappers can use it and it’s alright.

The same holds true for the word thug. I’ve heard it used in the phrase “thug life”, and keeping it “thug like”.

So, which is it? Are they offensive or not? And if they are, why not speak out against those who use the n word or glorify the “thug life”. Sorry, you can’t have it both ways.

There’s a reason guys like Donovan McNabb, Dwanye Wade, Peyton Manning and LeBron James have big time national endorsement deals (read not just shoe contracts). It’s because they’re predictable and they have minds of their own. They aren’t easily influenced and they don’t follow the crowd just to be cool or to fit in.

There’s a reason they call it mass marketing and not niche marketing.

And this is where we get back to the brawl in New York on Saturday night. David Stern is a mass marketer, and a very good one at that. He works for both the owners and the players. His job is to generate as much revenue for both sides as possible. Now his job becomes that much more difficult when the image of the league takes a hit as it did on Saturday.

TV is all about pictures. And the fight makes for great TV. And so TV is going to play it over and over again.

David Stern doesn’t need the headaches, thus why he came down so hard.

Again, the fighting doesn’t bother me at all. I’m glad to see when guys care about the game and are there for their teammates when someone takes a cheap shot or flagrant foul.

For those who are offended by the fighting, please stop whining. If it really bothers you that much just don’t go to the games or watch them on TV.

Myself, I don’t watch because the play overall is weak on most nights and downright brutal on the rest.

To the guy or girl who made the comment about the non american white guys winning the MVP awards, there is a reason the “non americans”, as you put it, are in the league. And why even more will be in the league in the near future. It’s because they can shoot, they play defense, and they play fundamental basketball.

Those are all things that most college coaches teach you. Unfortunately, too many college players leave way too early and are lucky to be able to hang on in the D League.

To the person who said that college football fans are hypocrits, you are right on. It’s always the other schools who have the thugs, but never his.

So again, please stop whining about a fight in a meaningless basketball game. If you want to complain about something why not start with the terrible crime problem we have here in metro Atlanta. Oh, that’s right, we can’t talk about that here. It’s not politically correct.

It’s all about image. It’s all about mass marketing.

And the hits just keep on coming.

By Just Wondering

December 19, 2006 01:48 AM | Link to this

Hey Dre, instead of taking offense to members of your race being called a certain name, how about taking offense to the actions of certain members of your race, and mine, that precipitate the use of such descriptions by members of yes both races.

It is amazing that people get more upset with the words used to call criminals then the crimes that criminals committ.