J.R. Smith fined 25k for tweet of a half naked woman who had the “the biggest ass ever,” wearing a thong in his bed

J.R. Smith celebrates dunk against Cleveland Cavs (Newsday)

In something that can only be described as J.R. Smith being J.R. Smith, Smith was fined 25k by the NBA for tweeting a picture of @TheRealTahiry wearing a thong in his bed.

The photo that J.R. Smith Tweeted.

J.R. Smith is prone to lapses in judgement, so this should be no surprise to anyone. However, you hope at some point he’ll get it and mature into an adult who thinks before he tweets. At least this time Smith said that he made a poor decision in tweeting the picture.

When will J.R. Smith troubles outweigh his talent?

Related articles

• J.R. Smith Fined For Inappropriate Twitter Photo (tracking.si.com)
• NBA Fines Knicks’ J.R. Smith $25K For Twitter Photo (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• J.R. Smith Lives Up to His Reputation with Idiotic Twitpic (bleacherreport.com)
• J.R. Smith Tweeted A Photo Of “The Girl With The Biggest Ass Ever” Wearing A Thong In His Hotel Room Bed [J.R. Smith] (deadspin.com)
• Get A J.R. Smith’s-Eye View Of Tahiry From The Bedroom [PHOTOS] (hiphopwired.com)

Jeremy Lin and Race

I was listening to ESPN First Take on the radio the other day and I found this discussion very interesting and informative looking at how others view racial sensitivity. This discussion can to play after the questionable ESPN headline referring to Jeremy Lin stating “Is There a Chink in the Armor;” “Chink in the Armor” was also used by an ESPN anchor during an interview.

Related articles

• ESPN employees punished for Jeremy Lin phrase (abclocal.go.com)
• What if Jeremy Lin Wasn’t an Asian? (sports-central.org)
• Morning Mail: ESPN editor who was fired for Jeremy Lin headline speaks out on Twitter (offthebench.nbcsports.com)
• Jeremy Lin: Linsanity Will Die Down, Lin’s Impact Will Not (bleacherreport.com)

Jeremy Lin is on the Sports Illustrated Cover AGAIN!

Here’s the cover.

Jeremy Lin on the cover (Sports Illustrated)

I really hope the media slows down with this Linsanity because I for one am beginning to tire of it. Of late, sports media has shown an incredible ability to beat a story to death with  the prime example being ESPN’s coverage of Tim Tebow.

I am starting to feel bad for Jeremy Lin, let the kid breathe! His family is now being stalked in Taiwan for crying out loud.

[Jeremy Lin asks that Taiwan media respect his family’s privacy]

 

A Take on ESPN’s Deleted Headline Regarding Jeremy Lin

By: Kelly Dwyer (From: Ball Don’t Lie)

In these early stages, we can’t tell you if ESPN copy editors using “chink in the armor” as a way to describe Asian-American Jeremy Lin and his New York Knicks losing their first game in 13 days on Friday night is on par with what Jason Whitlock pulled off a week before. Whitlock obviously, and admittedly, made an awful (and worse, to me, unfunny) joke at Lin’s heritage’s expense. The copy editors that OK’d this headline:

ESPN.com and ESPN mobile snapshot of the headline (Gothamist)

… and the on-air copy whose work you’ll hear on video after the jump could have just been making a pair of mortifying, awful mistakes. Endless amounts of writers from all fields still use that phrase, and for those of us that only think about Lin’s ethnic background about once-in-whenever someone does something stupid, we have to go easy until we find out just who put the mistakes together. Knowing ESPN, though, we’ll never know, we’ll never find out their real intentions, and this will “go away” quicker than rumors of a potential human relations violation regarding the preparation of the gruel in 1930s Siberia.

[Related: Reality: No Linsanity if he didn’t play in New York City]

Here’s the video, from ESPNNews on Wednesday. And while we can’t excuse this sort of phrase going through, think of the endless times you’ve heard it used on either 24-hour radio or 24-cable shows like these to describe a mitigating factor. Again, no excuse for someone on the floor not to raise a hackle and ask the anchor to switch his copy, but it could be an innocent, mortifying mistake:

As a writer, I’m not picking my poison in trying to be safe in failing to deliver some third-hand slamming of what happened in Bristol on Friday night. If the editor in question pulled this as a joke, then he or she should be fired in an instant; and this is coming from someone that wasn’t at all in favor of Jason Whitlock’s firing (though I did get one FOX News joke out of it on Twitter).

Whitlock’s was an unfortunate attempt at humor. This play on words was more of a play on an ethnic slur, if it was intended to reference “chink” as “Asian,” even if it was a smarmy joke from someone who is too dumb to know better.

It’s an ugly word that happens to double as a type of fissure that would serve as an Achilles heel of sorts in a knight’s suit of armor. I’m not being overly cautious when I tell you without looking that, honestly, I wouldn’t be shocked if I used that phrase in my breakdown of New York’s acquisition of J.R. Smith from Friday, or any other post that or any other day. It’s a go-to sports cliché. If it was meant as a joke, by someone who doesn’t think the word is “that bad,” then this is a fireable offense. If this was meant with malice, then this is a fireable offense.

If this really was someone using yet another sports cliché that he or she has to fit into about 20 characters or less? Than that’s different. A terrible, awful, oversight. A learning experience, no doubt, and a nice reminder that — holy crap, this Asian-American kid is amazing at pro basketball, and we happily have a whole new set of double-entendres that we have to watch out for as writers.

To have that oversight — using a phrase that would go unnoticed most other nights regarding just about any other NBA storyline that details a potential weakness to be exploited regarding a sports team — possibly paired in a post that mentions Jeremy Lin? That would be mortifying.

To serve as a headline directly below a picture of the most noted Asian-American basketball player in NBA history? I can see why you’re either up in arms at your angriest, or dubious at your most patient. You’re well within your rights to be both. If you want to be angry and assume the worst, believe me, you have more than enough reason to, and my own blessing. There’s a very good chance this was deliberate, and that’s astonishing in its insensitivity and tactlessness. Especially in describing someone who never wanted to identify himself with anything more than as “Jeremy Lin, NBA point guard.”

Until we find out more, which is doubtful considering ESPN’s history, I’m going to ease off a bit. Uneasy with the knowledge that it, honestly, could happen to anyone (especially on an understaffed Friday night) with nobody looking over their shoulder, with no malice intended. That’s just my take until I’m proven wrong or the creator, personally, apologizes. Even ESPN’s quick statement of apology, issued on Saturday morning, feels unsatisfying:

“The headline was removed [35 minutes after it appeared]. We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.”

You, sick of this, are more than welcome to demand a swifter, and more transparent and public reaction from ESPN.

Note: This article was retrieved from Yahoo! Sports. I didn’t write this article, however I found it interesting so I decided to post it.

Related articles

• ESPN Apologizes For Tasteless Jeremy Lin Headline (sbnation.com)
• Jason Whitlock Apologizes For Small Penis Joke Made at Jeremy Lin (inquisitr.com)
• Linsanity: Asian-Americans rejoice as Jeremy Lin breaks stereotypes (haleybehre.wordpress.com)
• Asian-Americans rejoice as Lin smashes stereotypes (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• ESPN Apologizes After Describing Jeremy Lin With Racial Slur (chicago.cbslocal.com)

Carmelo Anthony has Cost me my Fantasy Season…

Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks strained his hamstring last night in the Knicks game against the Utah Jazz. Since I am not a Knicks fan, I thought about the impact that Melo’s injury would have on my fantasy basketball team(s).

I only have Melo in one of my leagues, thank goodness, but his injury is catastrophic to my teams hopes at winning a title. Even before his most recent injury, Melo has been below par for the past few weeks, suffering from a couple of niggling injuries.

Since it is a keeper league that I have Melo in, I now am taking a deeper look at his career stats and trying to figure out whether I should trade him, or keep him until next season.

Melo has never missed more than 20 games in a season, but he’s only missed less than five games twice in his career. He it typically an average-above average shooter, in terms of shooting percentage, but he’s shooting a career low from the field this year. So, to put it simply I am very confused what I should do with Melo in the long run. If anyone can help me out it’d be great.

Thank goodness I have Russell Westbrook, I never thought I’d say that.

Related articles

• Carmelo Anthony Injury: Knicks Star Could Miss A Couple Weeks With Groin Injury (sbnation.com)
• Knicks won’t have hurt Melo for 1-2 weeks (espn.go.com)
• Carmelo Anthony Injury: Updates on Knicks Star’s Groin Injury (bleacherreport.com)
• Melo leaves Knicks game with a strained groin (espn.go.com)

Who Needs Melo’ and Amar’e When you have the Asian Sensation?

Andrew Gomber/EPA

And the Asian Sensation returns! Jeremy Lin aka the Asian Sensation came through again tonight for the New York Knicks against the Utah Jazz.

This effort tonight was more impressive than his Saturday night effort against the New Jersey Nets. Tonight, Carmelo Anthony was injured in the first quarter and didn’t return which greatly reduced the Knicks scoring punch. In addition to Melo‘ being knocked out of the game early, Amar’e Stoudemire is in Florida mourning the loss of his brother.

Lin throughout the game was very aggressive, at times overly aggressive which led to his eight turnovers, and got to the rim on countless occasions. Lin was the catalyst for the Knicks tonight enabling them to beat the Jazz 99-88.

For someone who was an afterthought at the beginning of the season, Lin has had a rapid rise to stardom which is great news for Knicks fan who have been desperately looking for a point guard this season.

How long will the run of the Asian Sensation last? Only time will tell!

Lin’s statline: 10-17 from the field, 7-9 from the line, 1 three, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 8 turnovers.

Related articles

• N.Y. Knicks: How the Knicks Can Learn from N.Y. Giants’ Super Bowl 2012 Victory (bleacherreport.com)
• It’s Jeremy Lin aka the Asian Sensation! (sportsforaddicts.wordpress.com)
• Melo leaves Knicks game with a strained groin (espn.go.com)
• Carmelo Anthony Injury: Updates on Knicks Star’s Groin Injury (bleacherreport.com)
• Amar’e Stoudemire’s Brother Killed In Car Accident (thesource.com)

It’s Jeremy Lin aka the Asian Sensation!

I was watching the New Jersey Nets vs. New York Knicks game tonight at MSG. It was the biggest game of the season for the Knicks and they needed to win after narrow losses against the Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics.

The Knicks have had sub-par point guard play this season, to say the least. So, little known Jeremy Lin from Harvard, who has been a D-League player for the majority of his career was entered the game facing one of the best point guards in the league, Deron Williams. To say the least, he took advantage of it and had the best game of his career and carried the Knicks on his back and helped the Knicks to a 99-92 victory.

Final stat line: 36 minutes, 10-19 from the field, 5-7 from the line, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover.

Deron Williams isn’t going to sleep too well tonight…

Say hello to the Asian Sensation!

Image via AP