Kobe Bryant has another scandal.  Bryant had a technical foul called on him. Kobe, not being a mild mannered chap at all, responded.   According to Eurweb.com:

It took place during the 3rd quarter of their game with the San Antonio Spurs after Kobe received a technical foul. The NBA star — clearly upset — screams for ref  Bennie Adams and appears to mouth the words, “F**king f**got.”

 

I am no fan of Kobe Bryant. But $100,000 fine? Was he fined for the first F word or the second F word?  Team representatives said they could not confirm that is what he said.

Now I am all for not using homophobic slurs.  It is a matter of sensitivity and good manners to refrain from doing so.  But is the punishment really worth $100,000? 

15 Thoughts to “Expensive Blow Up”

  1. e

    it is unjust that sports figures command such obscenely high salaries while hardworking teachers, cops, and other government employees toil so hard, contribute so much and are rewarded with so little, so any way or means to return some of a sports figure’s income, or the wealth of any other american who has made more than his just share of the pie, is justified and to be utilized

    1. Yea if public employees made more money they could be fined if they picketed against their govt.

  2. Rick Bentley

    It’s a lot but with stardom comes responsibility. He’s probably happy to pay it and get this behind him, not wanting more publicity after having by hos own account more or less raped someone a few years back.

    I’m not sure what he makes but I’m sure this is less than his salary for one game (of the 82 they play).

  3. Rick Bentley

    I see he is appealing it though. He wants to apologize but takes exception to the fine.

    I wonder if that ref really is gay? I have a feeling that must be the background to the league choosing not to gloss over this.

  4. e

    it’s a pittance compared to the 8-carat purple diamond ring worth about $4 million he got his wife after she caught him cheating

  5. Rick Bentley

    not only cheating, but non-consensual sex-ing

  6. Rick Bentley

    Kind of rough, a guy who dodged a rape charge so closely speaking in these terms about someone else. I’m a little surprised. Maybe I shouldn’t be because like his hero that he’s patterned his basketball and even personal mannerisms after (Michael Jordan) Bryant is crazy intense and gets very angry at the refs when he feel that he is not being treated like royalty.

  7. @Rick Bentley

    He managed to slither out of that rape accusation. I thought he was guilty.

    His wife should have bobbitted him just for the embarrassment. I expect he had to pay his victim a lot also.

    I suppose the real point is, should people be fined that much for 2 F words? Are there rules or laws against saying ‘faggot?’ Is this a first amendment issue?

  8. Rick Bentley

    The NBA maintains the ability to fine players for bad behavior, and their contracts contain wording that maintains this. And there’s an appeals process, which is something between the league and the players union.

    I remember baseball and football players being fined before for this (usually it’s something they said in an interview or to a reporter).

  9. Rick Bentley

    We never really got visibility into what happened between him and the young woman at the hotel, but it seems that :

    – She was somewhat crazy and disturbed, generally, and was trying to be near him
    – He was aggressive
    – He probably believed it was consensual at the time, but in retrospect given the girl’s mental instability can see that from her side it might have been different

    Strange incident whose particulars are now buried.

  10. Rick Bentley

    And he did what Ray Lewis did before him and what I teach my grandson to do when you get in trouble … take your lumps and act like a man, don’t whine, keep moving ahead and people will probably give you credit for that.

  11. marinm

    This is less about Kobe being a star and kids looking up to him and more about how his words damage the brand of NBA, Inc.

    The NBA is very sensitive of how people look at the league.

    For example.

    http://www.nba.com/news/player_dress_code_051017.html

  12. Basketball? But…but…March Madness is over. Is there more basketball?

    Meh. Raise the goal two feet and put them all on skates. Now THAT would be an entertaining game 🙂

  13. Andy H

    $100k is a lot but the NBA is trying to make a point here. MarinM is exactly right. The NBA is a big business and they can’t afford to have their stars running around spewing epithets. Same with the NFL or other big sports biz.

  14. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    So, a homophobe, a rapist, and a black guy walk into a bar, and everyone’s like: “Hey Kobe, can I have your autograph?”

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