Ingrate Thy Name Is Howard

This morning on the way to work I was "entertained" by this STORY

I feel doubly bad about this because I consider the DFW area my second home, my brother lives there, I lived there before I joined the Army and it's just a pretty good place to live.

Howard disrespects national anthem

07:11 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 17, 2008
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com

In a video posted on YouTube, the swingman is shown at Allen Iverson's charity flag football game in July. When the national anthem is being sung, various participants are shown mugging for the camera. When the camera gets to Howard, he says: " 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black."

Howard goes on to make a difficult-to-discern comment that includes a reference to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The video comes on the heels of his July arrest for a late-night street race in North Carolina and last season's admission that he is an occasional marijuana user. He also had a birthday bash for himself after the Mavericks lost Game 4 of their playoff series against New Orleans, even though coach Avery Johnson had asked the players to keep extracurricular activities to a minimum during the playoffs...
... "Josh really is a good guy with a great heart," (Mavs Owner Mark)Cuban said. "He just doesn't do a good job of showing that side of himself publicly. We will work on that."

A DFW area talk show host, Mark Davis, had a discussion about this on his show. His point of view essentially was that yes it was stupid, yes the Mavs Owner should do something to make it hurt Mr. Howard financially so he might think twice the next time, but it wasn't worth boycotting the team or anything of that magnitude.

It's an easy decision for me, because I don't watch that much NBA action...so until the league can stop hiring thugs, punks and reprobates, I won't be enjoying any National Basketball Association games of any sort. As with my ban on all things Jane Fonda, I don't exhort others to join, I just state what I choose to do, or in this case don't do...what you do, is up to you.