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The League Won’t Punish Howard for Anthem Comments; Cuban Will Punish Racist E-Mailers

Sep 19, 2008, 6:30 PM UTC

The embattled Mavs star must be breathing a sigh of relief today.â†µAccording to Theâ†µDallas Morning News, the NBA won’t be punishing Josh Howard for exercisingâ†µhis freedom of speech, however recklessly:â†µâ†µâ‡¥While the league still is processing information about Howard’sâ†µâ‡¥videotaped bashing of the national anthem, previous instances ofâ†µâ‡¥players saying inflammatory things have not brought forth anyâ†µâ‡¥suspensions.â†µâ‡¥
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â†µâ‡¥A couple years ago, Allen Iverson’s rap lyrics sent ripples throughoutâ†µâ‡¥society and the league. Before that Charlie Ward’s anti-semiticâ†µâ‡¥comments were a source of angst.â†µâ†µSpeaking of Iverson, where’s the praise for him playing the nationalâ†µanthem at his charity event -- totally unnecessary at a flag footballâ†µgame, and directly contradicting the view many still hold of him as aâ†µpossession-wasting Black Panther of a guard. Even though Iverson wasâ†µheart-broken when he was partly blamed for Athens 2004/not invitedâ†µback into the USA Basketball fold. So I guess the whole world shouldâ†µbe focusing on Iverson’s patriotism, at least as much as they’reâ†µtrashing Howard’s jihadism. Unless having the anthem there was a farceâ†µand practically inviting trouble -- as implied by the fact that onlyâ†µHoward seems to notice it’s playing, and everyone else is just busyâ†µmugging for the camera phone. So way to look out for yourself and noâ†µone else, Iverson. Some things never change.â†µ
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The real hero in this sordid tale has to be Mark Cuban, hardly aâ†µstranger to saying stuff that gets him into trouble. First, he takesâ†µan all-business,â†µpragamatic approach to this, stressing Howard’s need to watch whatâ†µhe says at all times. But then, he turns around and goes hard at someâ†µof the virulent reaction against Howard -- by publishing a ton ofâ†µoffensive emails he received, along with addresses, on his blog.â†µGranted, these are some of the worst, and most of them patentlyâ†µirrational. And there are reasonable criticisms to be made of Howard’sâ†µfeelings, or how and when he had (“made” implies too much intention)â†µthem heard.â†µ
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â†µCuban reminds us, though, that as offensive as you might find Howard’sâ†µcomments, you’ve got to keep in mind that there’s just as much toâ†µreject on the other side. By the way, his post is probably NSFW,â†µunless you work for the KKK.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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