Having just returned from Dallas, the Spud can report that even the hard-charging America's Team Cowboys were relegated to second fiddle last week in the local sports media by the career suicide being committed by Mavericks basketball player Josh Howard and the over-the-top support of his team's owner.
Howard's mocking of the National Anthem while brandishing the race card in a widely distributed Internet video had many of the city's sports pundits lamenting that the Mavs didn't ship the misguided forward to the Sacramento Kings for well-traveled defensive ace and celebrated pugilist Ron Artest when the opportunity presented itself a few months ago.
You don't have to be in Dallas long to realize this is a city that takes its patriotic loyalties quite seriously. Watching and hearing Howard say of "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to a flag-football game, "I don't celebrate this shit. I'm black," you had to know it wouldn't be long before the pundits were calling for his head. And did they ever.
Predictably, team owner Mark Cuban rushed to the defense of the oft-troubled Howard by offering up a cavalcade of selected backlash — mostly racial in tone — from irate fans on his online "Maverick Blog."
Instead of going into damage-control mode, the maverick Mavericks owner fanned the flames of the city's discontent by portraying many in the local fan base as illiterate bigots who somehow managed to learn how to use email.
Not only is Howard now officially persona non grata in that bastion of conservatism, but the colorful and controversial Cuban has helped to further tarnish his team's already battered brand. The Mavs are little more than a playoff also-ran at this point and fan patience with the futile franchise will continue to wear thin.
The dawn of a new NBA season usually means starting with a clean slate, but Cuban and the Mavs will open the upcoming campaign with wary eyes cast upon them. The best thing they can do at this point is rid themselves of malcontent Howard and send a signal they are willing to start anew their relationship with the city and its fans. Otherwise, these Mavs could turn into Mav-nots very quickly.
The sad thing is, he will get away with saying this because of his race. Blacks can get away with just about anything nowadays, while Rush Limbaugh gets fired from ESPN for saying something far less offensive.
Blacks can say anything they want about whites all they want and get off scot free, but if a white said something similar about blacks, it gets broadcast on national TV and they are branded as racist. I'm tired of racism only being one way.
Posted by: Josh Neumann | September 25, 2008 at 08:47 AM