Kyrie’s comments on race in Boston

HomeRunBaker

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There have been documented cases of NBA players being subject to racial epithets in other cities; google is your friend. Kyrie is the one that decided to single out Boston for his own purposes.
Right. So no player last week from Philly or Utah, where the other attacks occurred, came forward and publicly made similar statements as Kyrie and Tristan. Gotcha.....and that’s exactly why Boston was in the news AGAIN for these incidents while Philly and Utah weren’t.
 

reggiecleveland

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My basketball take is that Kyrie has made Boston his enemy. That is bad for the Celtics, because he will play hard against them. We all saw he inexplicably took whole games off or got into self created funks. But, this incredibl talented weirdo will play his ass off VS Boston. I expect his comments on racism are designed to hurt eh Cletics franchise by making it harder to sign players. He is ruthless. He is a formidible enemy for the foreseeable future.
 

EvilEmpire

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The Westbrook thing was news too. Same with the family members (Ja Morant's family) harrassed in Utah. Trae Young getting spit at in MSG too.

I don't think any fanbase is getting a pass now, or should.

Edit: added more detail
 
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lexrageorge

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Right. So no player last week from Philly or Utah, where the other attacks occurred, came forward and publicly made similar statements as Kyrie and Tristan. Gotcha.....and that’s exactly why Boston was in the news AGAIN for these incidents while Philly and Utah weren’t.
If you don’t believe that there are no documented incidents of racism in those other cities, I don’t know what to tell you. If you don’t believe the Westbrook incident wasn’t racially motivated, I don’t know what to tell you.
 

Ed Hillel

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See, this is not helpful, people assuming this drunk kid throwing a water bottle did so because Kyrie is black. Maybe it’s because Kyrie is a fucking asshole and hated figure in Boston?

Again, not excusing the action, but using it as an example of racism without any more context is hot takes cultural look-for-a-fight BS, at least until we get more info.
Right. So no player last week from Philly or Utah, where the other attacks occurred, came forward and publicly made similar statements as Kyrie and Tristan. Gotcha.....and that’s exactly why Boston was in the news AGAIN for these incidents while Philly and Utah weren’t.
Maybe take 5 seconds to actually look in the news, dude. The fact you don’t even know why at least one of the Utah incidents was racist tells me you have not. And, yes, it was plastered all over the sporting news this week.
 
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NickEsasky

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See, this is not helpful, people assuming this drunk kid throwing a water bottle did so because Kyrie is black. Maybe it’s because Kyrie is a fucking asshole and hated figure in Boston?

Again, not excusing the action, but using it as an example of racism without any more context is hot takes cultural look-for-a-fight BS, at least until we get more info.
Maybe take 5 seconds to actually look in the news, dude. The fact you don’t even know why at least one of the Utah incidents was racist tells me you have not. And, yes, it was plastered all over the sporting news this week.
Yeah not to excuse the asshole who threw the bottle. He should get everything that’s coming to him. But he did watch Kyrie stomp and wipe the logo at center court seconds beforehand. Maybe that played more into him being an idiot than race did when he decided to throw something at Kyrie.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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My basketball take is that Kyrie has made Boston his enemy. That is bad for the Celtics, because he will play hard against them. We all saw he inexplicably took whole games off or got into self created funks. But, this incredibl talented weirdo will play his ass off VS Boston. I expect his comments on racism are designed to hurt eh Cletics franchise by making it harder to sign players. He is ruthless. He is a formidible enemy for the foreseeable future.
This is chilling, thankfully we have no cap space for the foreseeable future.
 

Ed Hillel

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This is chilling, thankfully we have no cap space for the foreseeable future.
We have heard this for years and gotten plenty of signings the past 10 years or so.

There is no grand scheme here, Kyrie is protecting his own ego. Deep down, he knows why he’s getting booed, but his brain forced him to create racism as a self-defense mechanism against introspection.
 

the moops

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DJnVa

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People are really upset about him scuffing one of his feet on the logo? Good god we have lost our minds if that in any way is him provoking a reaction.
It’s possible to be upset (in the realm of sports) about the logo stomp but not think anyone should throw things at him. In fact it’s not hard at all. I’m doing it right now.
 

the moops

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It’s possible to be upset (in the realm of sports) about the logo stomp but not think anyone should throw things at him. In fact it’s not hard at all. I’m doing it right now.
It wasn't a logo stomp though and if the media didn't label it as such, nobody would have even noticed. Such an overblown thing
 

moondog80

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It wasn't a logo stomp though and if the media didn't label it as such, nobody would have even noticed. Such an overblown thing
He walked over, stepped on the head of the logo, and immediately turned around. If it wasn't a deliberate attempt to make a statement and provoke a reaction from some of the more unrefined Celtics fans, what was it?
 

the moops

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He walked over, stepped on the head of the logo, and immediately turned around. If it wasn't a deliberate attempt to make a statement and provoke a reaction from some of the more unrefined Celtics fans, what was it?
He walked over to high five and shake the hands of his teammates. I'm not going to argue this to death, but that is about as an innocuous logo stomp I have ever seen in my life. And either way, who the hell really cares if he steps on the logo
 

moondog80

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He walked over to high five and shake the hands of his teammates. I'm not going to argue this to death, but that is about as an innocuous logo stomp I have ever seen in my life. And either way, who the hell really cares if he steps on the logo
Watch the video. After slapping hands with the last teammate, he take one extra step and then very deliberately steps on the head of the logo with a bit of emphasis. Now, if you want to argue that people shouldn't get mad about his, go ahead. I'm not mad about it. But it's pretty undeniable that this was an intentional act, and he surely knew the reaction it would provoke.
 

the moops

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Is there any indication that the knucklehead who threw the water bottle did so because Kyrie stepped on the logo and not just because Kyrie is an asshole?
 

moondog80

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Is there any indication that the knucklehead who threw the water bottle did so because Kyrie stepped on the logo and not just because Kyrie is an asshole?
No. But as you suggest, the logo deal was just another brick in the wall. Kyrie earned his rep long before that.
 

cornwalls@6

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Kyrie created an alternative narrative, then pushed buttons to get one moron to give him the punchline he wanted.

Well played KI.
This. He set up the entire weekend with his self-serving nonsense, and then finally got a dumb-ass Fitzy/Sully/Murph to take the bait, because he stepped on a logo, that gets stepped on approximately 8 million times during the course of an average game. And now the national sports media, plus some news media, have one more data point for the Boston is a racist city narrative. And they will close out the Celtics tomorrow. I'd say he won this round in a knockout.
 

kfoss99

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This was a pass/fail test, where one wrong answer fails. And one ass caused all of Boston, and New England, to fail the test, while we were all walking out of the classroom.
 

lexrageorge

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This was a pass/fail test, where one wrong answer fails. And one ass caused all of Boston, and New England, to fail the test, while we were all walking out of the classroom.
I think Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum had much better takes:

“I don’t want that to overshadow the rest of the fans that came and supported us tonight,” Tatum said. “I was extremely happy to see that. But obviously there’s no place in the NBA for throwing bottles, for throwing anything at a player. I’m sure they will handle that right away, but there’s no place for that in the NBA.”

Added Smart: “Our fans have been great. We just had a knucklehead do something knucklehead-ish and it got taken care of, and we’re happy for that.”
Yeah, all that will get lost in the narrative, as will the fact that the actions of this one non-fan have been seen in NBA arenas around the country with alarming frequency. Which is why I keep pushing back on calling this incident a "Boston problem with racist fans", beyond the fact that there is zero evidence that this idiots actions were any more motivated by racism than the actions of the non-fans in Philly and Utah. There is no place for what happened to Westbrook, Morant, and Kyrie over the past week; those are serious incidents which will eventually cause someone to get badly hurt if they are not curtailed.
 

kfoss99

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I think Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum had much better takes:
Yes, their takes are better. And this is a question for whatever philosophical thread we have: but, isn't it easier to not throw the water bottle? Like the lady who punched a flight attendant and the shit other fans did to other players, is it literally too hard for those people not to do the wrong thing?

I say you can't blame a beaver for building a dam. It appears to me, more and more, this applies to bullies and asses, it seems to be in their nature and exasperated under the circumstances of the last few years.

I'm glad the Celtics players are sticking up for the good fans, but do we get the same benefit of the doubt elsewhere?

Sorry to rant, but it's a sad incident piled on to a very large mound of sad incidences.
 

The Mort Report

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A team logo is a huge part of a team’s identity. A lot of my hockey locker rooms you couldn’t walk over it. I remember a guy getting lit up in football doing something on another team’s logo after the whistle. I would not have been surprised that if a Cs player saw him do that that they wouldn’t get in his face or say something. Not trying to excuse the idiot but in the realm of sports what Kylie did was extremely disrespectful
 

Fred in Lynn

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Is what Morant’s parents said happened to them in Utah the same as what happened with Westbrook and Irving? The former, if true, is undeniably a racist act. It’s not clear at all that popcorn dumped on Westbrook or a water bottle thrown at Kyrie are the same. Everything is not about race. In the case of the latter two, they’re not exactly the least controversial personalities in the NBA, so it’s slightly possible that idiot fans decided to interject themselves where they didn’t belong by tossing concessions at them with a thought process that didn’t include race.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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The bigger concern is making sure Tatum and Brown are happy with the franchise and the city. I'm pessimistic Tatum will want to spend his whole career in Boston.
To be fair, this is just how it is regardless of external factors. Once time for the 3rd contract rolls around it has been tough to keep stats around. Not impossible, but yeah, Ainge needs to get the trajectory trending back upward for sure.
 

fairlee76

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A team logo is a huge part of a team’s identity. A lot of my hockey locker rooms you couldn’t walk over it. I remember a guy getting lit up in football doing something on another team’s logo after the whistle. I would not have been surprised that if a Cs player saw him do that that they wouldn’t get in his face or say something. Not trying to excuse the idiot but in the realm of sports what Kylie did was extremely disrespectful
Yeah, that was Terrell Owens and he got lit up by George Teague.

Irving wanted to get a reaction, both with his statement last week and his "wiping sh** off my shoe on the Celtics logo" move last night. Unfortunate that one idiot took the bait.
 

benhogan

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The whole NBA has devolved into Kabuki theater. From the taunting amongst the players, the pushing/shoving act tough nonsense, post-shot staredowns, celebrations after making a basket in a game where there were 267pts, the play-acting creating fake fouls, the incessant swearing/screaming at officials, stomping on logos, multi-millionaire victimhood. Then all these players hugging after the game? There is some serious play acting going on here.
Add in these attention-seeking fans (grown men) dressing up in goofy costumes, face painting & partaking in the nonsense by throwing stuff at players. Then have the nitwit media types create all these extreme narratives. The NBA is no better than the WWF at this point.

Racism is a much bigger issue than what is going down at NBA arenas or what Kyrie is conjuring up in his mind.
 

E5 Yaz

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Is what Morant’s parents said happened to them in Utah the same as what happened with Westbrook and Irving? The former, if true, is undeniably a racist act.
I'm sorry ... but three fans have been banned over the incident. There is no reason to cast a shadow of doubt over the truth.
 

JakeRae

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Is what Morant’s parents said happened to them in Utah the same as what happened with Westbrook and Irving? The former, if true, is undeniably a racist act. It’s not clear at all that popcorn dumped on Westbrook or a water bottle thrown at Kyrie are the same. Everything is not about race. In the case of the latter two, they’re not exactly the least controversial personalities in the NBA, so it’s slightly possible that idiot fans decided to interject themselves where they didn’t belong by tossing concessions at them with a thought process that didn’t include race.
No, but they are still about race. Ask yourself this question: would you expect this to happen to a white player? I think the answer is no.

White disrespect for black lives/bodies is a necessary precondition of these sorts of acts. That is racism and we must recognize and confront that so we can start to fix it.
 

Fred in Lynn

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No, but they are still about race. Ask yourself this question: would you expect this to happen to a white player? I think the answer is no.

White disrespect for black lives/bodies is a necessary precondition of these sorts of acts. That is racism and we must recognize and confront that so we can start to fix it.
Would I expect a fan to throw something at a White player? Oh heavens, no. Fans don’t ever step over lines.
 

fairlee76

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No, but they are still about race. Ask yourself this question: would you expect this to happen to a white player? I think the answer is no.

White disrespect for black lives/bodies is a necessary precondition of these sorts of acts. That is racism and we must recognize and confront that so we can start to fix it.
If Gordon Hayward (for a random example) comported himself like Kyrie Irving his whole career, you really don't think someone would have, maybe, thrown a water bottle at him?

Obviously GH could not have picked at the festering wound that is race relations in Boston but maybe he could have proclaimed his preference for Manhattan clam chowder over New England clam chowder or something.
 

Red Averages

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Would I expect a fan to throw something at a White player? Oh heavens, no. Fans don’t ever step over lines.
If Gordon Hayward (for a random example) comported himself like Kyrie Irving his whole career, you really don't think someone would have, maybe, thrown a water bottle at him?

Obviously GH could not have picked at the festering wound that is race relations in Boston but maybe he could have proclaimed his preference for Manhattan clam chowder over New England clam chowder or something.
How many incidents can you remember of fans throwing things at white players?
 

moondog80

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Yeah, that was Terrell Owens and he got lit up by George Teague.

Irving wanted to get a reaction, both with his statement last week and his "wiping sh** off my shoe on the Celtics logo" move last night. Unfortunate that one idiot took the bait.
I feel like Owens, if nothing else, more or less owned who he was; curious to see how wanna-be-intellectual Kyrie reconciles this with his pleas for the fans to act more civilized.
 

Captaincoop

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No, but they are still about race. Ask yourself this question: would you expect this to happen to a white player? I think the answer is no.

White disrespect for black lives/bodies is a necessary precondition of these sorts of acts. That is racism and we must recognize and confront that so we can start to fix it.
Absurd hot takes about who the Celtics should target in free agency this summer are fine, and in fact recommended here on SOSH.

Absurd hot takes about racism...save those.
 

reggiecleveland

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The bigger concern is making sure Tatum and Brown are happy with the franchise and the city. I'm pessimistic Tatum will want to spend his whole career in Boston.
I agree. I mean Kyrie played about as badly, acted about as poorly as possible, and has spun it his way.

I am more concerned about Kyrie the player being in the east with an "I took it personally" chip on his shoulder. He is insanely good when motivated. In a weird way I respect his way of using this whole mess, that he created to make him play better.
 

nighthob

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No, but they are still about race. Ask yourself this question: would you expect this to happen to a white player? I think the answer is no.

White disrespect for black lives/bodies is a necessary precondition of these sorts of acts. That is racism and we must recognize and confront that so we can start to fix it.
Did Tie Domi suddenly morph into a person of color when I wasn’t looking?
 

The Mort Report

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Doesn't this seem a bit over the top? I don't get it
Yeah hockey players are definitely the most superstitious of all sports. One of my D wouldn’t put his helmet on until a specific guy in the room put his on for example. Maybe not the best example to compare to other sports, but I think team logos are sacred in almost all sports to a certain degree
 

djbayko

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How many incidents can you remember of fans throwing things at white players?
How many white superstars are there? I’m not saying these incidents aren’t racially motivated, but we have no idea. Yes, the latest happen to be black. They also happen to be star players on their respective teams and, in some cases, controversial figures. That’s always going to attract more ire from opposing fans.
 

ifmanis5

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JD Drew had all sorts of stuff thrown at him in Philly. Shane Victorians had a beer thrown at him at Wrigley. I am certain there are dozens more incidents
For sure.
I don't remember physical objects being thrown at Boggs and Clemens but just about everything else was thrown their way in Fenway when they were in pinstripes.
Hating on former players who went over to a division rival isn't new.