WARNING: This post uses bad language. Reader discretion advised.
Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 by the NBA for calling a referee a “f****** f*****” the other night in a game against the San Antonio Spurs that was broadcast on TNT.
What do you think would happen if an NBA player said the same words on national TV during the playoffs? Say, during Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals?
Take a close look at this video. What do you think KG’s saying at the 19-second mark (and beyond)?
This happened on national TV. And it’s not like the gay community didn’t notice it. Take a look at this post from May 16, 2008. And here’s an NBA blogger drawing attention to KG’s outburst around the same time.
So, David Stern, how come Kobe got slapped with a gigantic fine and Kevin Garnett didn’t have to pay a penny?
Here are two compilations of NBA folks saying not-so-nice-things.
And here’s His Airness himself, using some NSFW language.
Thanks to TrueHoop, here’s a pretty stunning video of Kenyon Martin cursing out Mark Cuban.
Can anyone else think of other NBA players using similar slurs and not getting fined?
