http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3592734

man this is horrible

9/17/2008 11:37:16 AM

why should he be appreciative of a country that allows him to makes 10s of millions of dollars to play basketball?

what a douche

9/17/2008 11:38:36 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDxf35b06s4

9/17/2008 11:40:18 AM

Quote :

"The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black."

lol wut

the white united states of america

9/17/2008 11:42:30 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q98BuAX2T0U

9/17/2008 11:56:00 AM

oh wow, he was clearly joking around there.

BIG DEAL.

9/17/2008 11:57:52 AM

The pride of Wake Forest University.

^Not something you joke about, especially on camera if you are a halfway intelligent person of any moderate amount of fame.

9/17/2008 12:05:24 PM

More like F**K Ryan Howard, amirite.

9/17/2008 1:41:28 PM

Quote :

"Not something you joke about"

lighten up. embrace globalization.

9/17/2008 2:07:00 PM

haha what is he saying about obama at the end?

9/17/2008 2:11:25 PM

too bad he will be back on the court next year like nothing happened.....

9/17/2008 4:31:58 PM

^ why shouldn't he be on the court?

it's his right to say whatever he wants

9/17/2008 4:45:28 PM

Hell, there is either a black pledge of allegiance or a black national anthem. It used to be sung at the CIAA tournament

[Edited on September 17, 2008 at 4:50 PM. Reason : wqwq]

9/17/2008 4:49:13 PM

He should NOT be fined or suspended for this but.........


HE should have to sing the national anthem before every home AND away game the mavericks play this year

9/17/2008 4:53:24 PM

^hahah that would be good

9/17/2008 4:54:45 PM

this guy never fucked up during his career at Wake, at least not that i can remember.


who knew he was such a fucking dumbass

9/17/2008 5:18:29 PM

I hope he chokes on freedom fries.

9/17/2008 5:27:37 PM

Quote :

"^Not something you joke about, especially on camera if you are a halfway intelligent person of any moderate amount of fame."

There in lies Josh Howard's problem

[Edited on September 17, 2008 at 9:04 PM. Reason : fdaf]

9/17/2008 9:03:38 PM

USA #1 BESS CENTRY AWN EARFTS

AIN NO OTHUR CENTRIES

JUST USA!@$!!!!

9/18/2008 8:29:35 AM

You get those sponsorship dollars Josh!

He'll be broke by the time he is 35, living off the American he so hates.

9/18/2008 9:48:54 AM

I laughed.

Obviously a dumb move for him - I mean it seems pretty clear he's joking around but at the same time still being disrespectful

the guy next to him going "Obama - '08" was great tho

9/18/2008 10:20:56 AM

Who cares. The Star Spangled Banner is a horrible song anyway. I'm much more of a fan of America the Beautiful. Easier to sing and a better song.


also, 1st fucking Amendment.

9/18/2008 10:54:29 AM

yeah, who gives a fuck...if you think the USA is such a great country, pull your head out of your ass.

9/18/2008 10:59:29 AM

^^whats the logic of hating the country that provides the 1st amendment that allows you to say that you hate the country

i mean, if anything, you should love it because you can vocally hate it.


^oh man. here we go.

9/18/2008 11:07:59 AM

IF YOU DONT THINK THE US IS A GREAT COUNTRY..........

THEN TAKE YOUR SORRY ASS SOMEWHERE ELSE

9/18/2008 11:15:51 AM

Quote :

"Who cares. The Star Spangled Banner is a horrible song anyway. I'm much more of a fan of America the Beautiful. Easier to sing and a better song. also, 1st fucking Amendment."

come on dude, you are smarter than that... no one said he should be arrested for saying it (which is what the 1st amendment prevents). 1st Amendment has nothing to do with other citizens/companies/corporations etc thinking hes a piece of shit for saying it

9/18/2008 11:20:34 AM

Anyone who doesnt like the US...

9/18/2008 11:21:55 AM

Quote :

"yeah, who gives a fuck...if you think the USA is such a great country, pull your head out of your ass."

You obviously are really dumb and haven't been outside the U.S.

9/18/2008 11:58:49 AM

U......S.........A!!!!!

9/18/2008 3:36:46 PM

Quote :

"come on dude, you are smarter than that... no one said he should be arrested for saying it (which is what the 1st amendment prevents). 1st Amendment has nothing to do with other citizens/companies/corporations etc thinking hes a piece of shit for saying it"

look at the statements made in this thread and then you'll understand the 1st amendment argument.

In reality, so many people have their panties in such a wad that they'll take offense to anytime someone doesn't like America.

9/18/2008 3:38:00 PM

packboozie have you been outside the us? its actually pretty nice

9/18/2008 3:48:04 PM

Yes I actually have. Several countries. I wouldn't want to live in most of them.

9/18/2008 4:47:41 PM

he has the freedom to say that

the mavericks have the freedom to say he made the team look bad and void his contract

they obviously wont do that, but i seriously doubt he's going to get any endorsement deals or anything like that

its only hurting himself

all the people who are like "hell yeah, FUCK america" arent the people who are writing the paychecks...they're much smarter than that

9/18/2008 5:43:00 PM

This is stupid. Why does he have to be patriotic? Theres a lot of things in this country that need to be fixed (especially in the eyes of someone from the winston salem ghetto) Freedom of speech? He's a basketball player. Let him play basketball and have his own political opinions off the court (wherever he was).

Quote :

"why should he be appreciative of a country that allows him to makes 10s of millions of dollars to play basketball? what a douche"

I don't know if you know a lot about basketball since you think the US is the center of the universe but he could easily be making more money in many other countries...

9/18/2008 6:05:08 PM

Quote :

"This is stupid. Why does he have to be patriotic?"

because he is a representative of the NBA and of the Dallas Mavericks, on and off the court

Quote :

"he could easily be making more money in many other countries..."

orly?

Howard is making $10 million a year...some NBA stars get twice that much

where exactly could you make close to that kind of money overseas, let alone "easily...make more money"? I know you can't make that much money in Europe, so where can you make that much? Jasikevicius is the highest paid European player that I know of and he is "only" making about $6 million (USD)...so please enlighten us

Quote :

"I don't know if you know a lot about basketball"

9/18/2008 6:35:33 PM

Quote :

"You obviously are really dumb and haven't been outside the U.S."

There are so many countries I would want to live in outside the US. And if it weren't for the fact that I live in a great place like Charleston, there would be a shit ton more.

I respect the hell out of America and all it has to offer. But there are a lot better places to live, especially considering the state of our country right now.

9/18/2008 6:40:23 PM

Is he not responsible for what he says? With freedom of speech there are also consequences.

9/18/2008 6:42:22 PM

^^what if you were getting paid $10,000,000 per year to play BASKETBALL? where else can you do that?

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 6:42 PM. Reason : ^^]

9/18/2008 6:42:39 PM

Quote :

" where exactly could you make close to that kind of money overseas, let alone "easily...make more money"? I know you can't make that much money in Europe, so where can you make that much? "

They don't have salary caps in Europe league. Plus theres just more money over there and many of the countries are a better place to live. Earl Boykins is making like 4 million a year, Josh Childress just signed a 20 million deal so I'm SURE Howard could make 10 mill.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nbaseuropeanexodus&prov=ap&type=lgns

This article talked about how many of the nba superstars will start heading over to Europe. Kobe and Lebron are already seriously considering.


^and even if he couldnt get paid that anywhere does that mean he can't be mad about things that go on in this country?

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 7:34 PM. Reason : come from where he's from, then talk shit about what he said on the internet.]

9/18/2008 7:32:54 PM

Quote :

"whats the logic of hating the country that provides the 1st amendment that allows you to say that you hate the country"

so he can say whatever he wants, as long as he doesn't say something that's somehow disrespectful of usa#1, b/c they give him the privlege to say it?

9/18/2008 7:37:51 PM

Quote :

"Josh Childress just signed a 20 million deal so I'm SURE Howard could make 10 mill. "

Childress is getting $20 million over 3 years...roughly $6.7 million per year...Howard is making $40 million over 4 years here in the NBA...$10/year

not very convincing evidence on your part to backup your claim that he could easily make more money overseas

and i read the story that you posted the link to a few weeks ago...its speculation...lets wait until someone who actually starts for an NBA team takes off for Europe, not Childress and Boykins

Quote :

"so he can say whatever he wants, as long as he doesn't say something that's somehow disrespectful of usa#1, b/c they give him the privlege to say it?"

this isnt about what the constitution allows you to say or not say...its about his contract with the NBA and Dallas Mavericks and him supposedly acting classy...sounds to me like he's pretty ungrateful

9/18/2008 7:45:19 PM

it's really not a big deal, at all.

embrace globalization.

9/18/2008 7:47:31 PM

He should take his ass to Africa. Lets see how long he would like to live there.

9/18/2008 7:47:40 PM

^^how about embrace where your contract says (parphrasing obviously) don't act like a complete fucking idiot

9/18/2008 7:49:23 PM

Well you've already shown you have no prior knowledge of the nba so let me just simply say Howard is a much better player than Childress who was only going to make 33 million over 5 years in the nba. Do the proportions and you will see.

9/18/2008 7:55:37 PM

o and one more thing the government doesn't pay nba salaries fyi

[Edited on September 18, 2008 at 7:59 PM. Reason : he pays the united states]

9/18/2008 7:58:41 PM

Quote :

"Howard is a much better player than Childress who was only going to make 33 million over 5 years in the nba"

players like Childress go overseas to play because players like Howard are taking all their NBA minutes...players like Howard don't go overseas

when Childress' $6.7 million / year deal is "unprecedented", the NBA isn't worried

9/18/2008 8:11:05 PM

look at the money that soccer players get paid, im pretty sure cristiano ronaldo gets around 200k A WEEK, so good bball players could easily make that much.

9/19/2008 12:10:53 AM

^thats about $10,000,000 / year

but Ronaldo is a better soccer player than Howard is a basketball player...plus isn't soccer bigger than basketball in pretty much every country BUT the United States?

9/19/2008 12:14:25 AM

i think he's trolling you.

9/19/2008 12:19:15 AM