On sportsmanship
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/basketball/nba/12/27/bc.bkn.nets.kiddfined.ap/index.html
Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets has been fined $20,000 for, after the game was over, referring to the referees as, get this, the Three Blind Mice.
Okay now. I'm all for encouraging sportsmanlike conduct and all, and if the only way to get players not to interrupt the game, not use foul language, not threaten referees, not push people, etc., is to fine them, then so be it ... but surely a fine for such a comment is over the top? I mean, let's look at what he didn't do: 1. He didn't make his comments during the game. 2. He didn't interrupt the game in any way. 3. He didn't use any obscenities. 4. He didn't use any racial or other epithets. 5. He didn't push or otherwise touch the referees or anyone else. 6. He didn't threaten anyone. 7. He didn't make any comments that referred to anything other than the referees' lack of calling a foul that he felt was blatant (I mean, he didn't insult their mothers, or say they looked like penises wearing little hats, or anything). 8. He didn't make his comments directly to the referees. 9. He didn't even raise his voice.
No, what he did was, when discussing the game after it was over, make an allusion to a children's rhyme. The horror!
Jason Kidd of the New Jersey Nets has been fined $20,000 for, after the game was over, referring to the referees as, get this, the Three Blind Mice.
Okay now. I'm all for encouraging sportsmanlike conduct and all, and if the only way to get players not to interrupt the game, not use foul language, not threaten referees, not push people, etc., is to fine them, then so be it ... but surely a fine for such a comment is over the top? I mean, let's look at what he didn't do: 1. He didn't make his comments during the game. 2. He didn't interrupt the game in any way. 3. He didn't use any obscenities. 4. He didn't use any racial or other epithets. 5. He didn't push or otherwise touch the referees or anyone else. 6. He didn't threaten anyone. 7. He didn't make any comments that referred to anything other than the referees' lack of calling a foul that he felt was blatant (I mean, he didn't insult their mothers, or say they looked like penises wearing little hats, or anything). 8. He didn't make his comments directly to the referees. 9. He didn't even raise his voice.
No, what he did was, when discussing the game after it was over, make an allusion to a children's rhyme. The horror!