Re: copy of my letter to the NBA

[JB <JBMetzEA@yahoo.com>]

   Bravo!
   
       JB




on 1/15/02 1:40 AM, snoopy1@pig.net at snoopy1@pig.net wrote:

> If anyone is interested, here's what I sent off to the NBA offices.
> 
> "I was disgusted with the lightweight "punishment" given Shaquille O'Neal
> for his commission of what amounts to a felony act in Chicago.
> 
> He was flagrantly fouled, no doubt.  Likewise, there's no doubt that he got
> up, ran over toward a man whose back was to him, walking away, and threw a
> punch that failed to connect ONLY because Miller turned his head.  O'Neal
> then unleashed a second punch that DID connect.  One of the officials says
> he removed Miller's shirt because O'Neal was throttling him with it.  TO
> top it off, Miller wasn't even the guy who jumped on him!!
> 
> I SAW the fight as it happened.  I saw it replayed from multiple
> angles.  There was no reason whatsoever to believe this was ANY kind of
> "self-defense".
> 
> You suspended another player five games when his single punch MISSED.  You
> fine Mark Cuban like you needed his money to cover the league payroll.  But
> when someone commits what in ANY other place is aggravated assault and
> battery--at LEAST--you suspend him for three games.
> 
> That's insulting, and it's flat-out wrong.  You're sending a message that
> the NBA cares more for the marquee value of the Lakers on national TV with
> Shaq in the lineup than for making it clear that this kind of behavior is
> TOTALLY inexcuseable & unacceptable.
> 
> At the LEAST, he should sit the season and forfeit his pay.  Give him
> plenty of time to take the anger management course he is obviously in
> desperate need of.
> 
> This was also a result of what has become substandard officiating
> throughout the league.  No calls are made.  Bad calls are made.  The NBA
> spends more time charging people outrageous amounts of money for making
> legitimate complaints than they do correcting a problem that has now
> resulted in a man nearly crippled or killed.
> 
> If this is the kind of message the NBA wants to send, then perhaps I will
> cancel my subscription to the NBA League Pass.  Perhaps I will then make it
> a point to publicly encourage a general boycott of NBA games, particularly
> of Laker games, in protest of the obvious special treatment O'Neal is
> receiving.  Perhaps I will put up a website and describe the situation in
> detail, including how the league likes to talk tough during negotiations,
> then turns tail and runs when the hard decisions have to be made.
> 
> The League has embarrassed itself and declared itself a coward before all.
> 
> I've been a Celtics fan since I was a kid in Boston.  I've been proud of
> that, and of the NBA all along.
> 
> Until now.  Now, I'm just  embarrassed that this "response" indicates the
> NBA acronym stands for "No Balls Anywhere".
> 
> I urge you to reconsider this false course of action and to demonstrate
> that you're not going to wait until someone gets hurt or killed before
> meting out punishments with teeth.
> 
> Please, show us that the NBA really is better than the NFL, or the NHL when
> it comes to keeping the game clean.  Otherwise, it's all just hypocrisy."

        JB



                  Unchain My Heart !