YouTube has also been pretty bad to athletes. Shaq faced criticism for an expletive-laden freestyle rap where he repeatedly asked Kobe to “tell me how my [rear] tastes.” Countless clips expose Bruce Bowen for the dirty cheater that he is, showing him kick opponents in the head and punch them in the nether regions in super-slow motion.
Recently, the video-sharing site might’ve done more damage to an athlete than ever before, effectively killing the already-tarnished reputation of Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard. For those of you unaware of the story, a video taken with a camera phone at a charity flag football game shows Howard turn around during the playing of the National Anthem and say, “Star-Spangled Banner goin’ on right now. I don’t even celebrate that sh&*. I’m black godda$@#t. Obama ’08. Obama and all that sh$*.”
In the last six months or so, Howard has done quite a number on his Q rating, proclaiming on a radio show during the playoffs that he smokes weed in the off-season and that most of the NBA does too, and following up that act by throwing a lavish birthday party—for himself, after losing a pivotal playoff game.
What makes this whole ordeal particularly intriguing is twofold: first, how quickly and completely the public perception of Howard has done a 180; and second, how Howard has possibly ruined his career and thrown more wood on the negative-stereotypes-about-black-athletes fire by doing what more black athletes should be doing in exactly the wrong way.
Hard work at Wake Forest University turned Howard into the 2003 ACC Player of the Year and an NBA first-round pick on the court, and a sociology major and the first college graduate in his family off the court. A defensive stopper, Howard’s scrappy play quickly earned him the affection of Mavericks fans. In his fourth season, Howard scored 18.9 points per game and earned the honor of playing in the 2007 All-Star game. After another successful campaign, controversy struck during the 2008 playoffs convincing sportswriters like ESPN’s Kevin Blackistone that the Dallas faithful will not welcome back the former fan favorite and that the Mavs may trade or drop him.
In a time of fakeness and posturing, where athletes would rather say the acceptable thing than the right thing, Howard decided to tell the truth. Unfortunately, instead of sparking a much-needed conversation about the prevalence of drug use in the NBA—a problem that the league has swept under the rug for over 30 years—he reinforced the belief that most NBA players are just a bunch of pot-smoking thugs. Then, as if his comments didn’t completely fulfill his crusade to ruin his image, Howard decided to throw a party that told the world “I’m a me-first athlete that doesn’t care about the impending playoff game that will make or break my season.” All of this was just a couple of days after his comments on weed, mind you.
Howard’s mission to further ruin the image of black athletes in America took a hiatus over the summer, only to return with a splash so big that a Charles Barkley cannonball would be jealous. His rant during the anthem brought to the surface fears about the unpatriotic nature of black Obama supporters and Senator Obama himself, a hot topic sparked by Jeremiah Wright’s controversial sermons. Not only did Howard become Exhibit B to Wright’s Exhibit A for skeptics who believe that Obama is in some way anti-American, but he also undermined the political word of black professional athletes.
With a black man running for president, one would expect some current NBA players to say something—anything—about the election. When you represent a group of people that has undergone and continues to undergo terrible hardships in this country, you’d expect to hear something other than a chorus of crickets.
Have caution before you blame the NBA players for their silence. In a politically-charged Beijing Olympics, where Darfur and other issues took center stage, director of USA Basketball Jerry Colangelo essentially forced the players to take an oath of silence. These guys have to keep in mind not only their careers, but also their endorsability. Although an extreme example, the Howard situation shows exactly what could go wrong if you present your controversial views the wrong way.
And that’s precisely what makes this situation so sad. Not only has a city justifiably turned its back on a former chosen son, but Howard’s ill-informed words now serve as a giant warning sign to the rest of the league. The message? Just keep your mouth shut and play basketball.
You know the old saying that things look darkest before the dawn? Well, perhaps that is the case now, with the only NBA player with a more radioactive image than Howard, Ron Artest, making this poignant statement: “I think Josh Howard’s comment is a reflection on education. I think the schools need to teach deeper in the history classes and make the students aware of racism, but also teach them that all people are not bad. I can relate to not feeling wanted by my own country at times but as I dug deeper I realized that America is divided and we need leaders to bring America closer together … I hope [Howard] overcomes this.”
I never thought I’d write these words, but why can’t more NBA players be like Ron Artest?