<div class="quote_poster">Quoting xpehbamxyu:</div><div class="quote_post">Actually RJ already had an 82 games season 03-04. The year prior he played 80 and the year prior to that 79...This guy is not injury prone, and I think that he has already had his last laugh, and hopefully more to come.</div>
I was referring to Jason Kidd and not Richard Jefferson, I have the utmost respect for RJ as an individual and a professional, and I thoroughly enjoy watching him play the game of basketball.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting virve119:</div><div class="quote_post">The Nets are going to run away with the Atlantic this year, and if they do have a little competition, it'll be from Philly or NY not Boston. So I don't really know why you're gloating. Boston's glory days ended years ago so wuit bringing up the past. Btw, how can you even criticize Kidd for flippin' Boston the Birdie. The way they were treating him was terrible, and nobody should have to go through that, especially when his kid is in the arena. Sure it was terrible what Kidd did to his wife, but did those Boston fans actually think they had more class with the way they acted?</div>
I don't recall saying anything about Boston competing for the Atlantic, as a matter of fact, I believe what I was doing was deferring that honor to the Nets. As for the distinction of class, while I'm no one to judge, I do have some sense of honor when it comes to my dealing with women. By NO means do I consider Boston fans to be classier than any living thing on the planet. They're fickle, annoying, overly loud, mostly drunk, horribly opinionated, and sometimes excessive to the point of violent, not to mention boorish and arrogant. That being said, defending Jason Kidd's actions in regards to his wife and child is a little far-fetched. What you insinuated was that Boston fans were less classy than Jason Kidd because they ridiculed him in front of his wife and child. That to me reeks of irony, as you appear to be defending the actions of a domestic abuser and known wife batterer. What he did was beyond moral defense, especially one so loosely defined as 'class.' For the sake of this argument, I will not pretend to know what class is, and rather use the well-known defense of former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart and say, "I know it when I see it."
I believe what the Boston fans were doing was heckling a man who battered the woman he was married to. Were I there for those games, I'm sure I would have done the same, and felt woefully self-righteous about the whole thing. And why? Because, in my eyes (and they are only mine after all), a man who abuses his wife has waived his right to the common decency afforded the usual superstar in his position by being morally bankrupt and reprehensible. Does this mean I dislike the company of all those that abuse their spouses, and believe that they should be subject to the scrutiny of the disapproving eye of the american public? Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Being a firm believer in the court of public dissent, Jason Kidd's was an especially open and shut case. He was subject to little to no legal ramification, which is often the case, so I won't hold that against him, but being a superstar, and having his life under a general microscope as it is, he was more than subject to his fair share of ridicule.
The thing that bothers me most about these instances, especially the one you've brought up virve, is that you invoke the name of his child to make your point. What of the times he assaulted his child's mother in front of said child? And worse yet, what of the news given to youthful fans of Jason Kidd's all over the country? I, personally, was crushed when my sports hero, a man known only as "Sweetness," died. But to have the image of your hero spurned and spit upon by every Average John Q Public, because of something you may or may not understand, that hurts. The respect I lost for Jason Kidd in that instance was vast, but not unfounded, and nothing compared to the number of young individuals, basketball fans in the end, that lost a hero. There were more than enough that I know personally, for that to be a serious issue.
And more than that, the fact that fans come rushing to his side, merely because his jersey says "New Jersey," on the front, rather than realizing in their own minds that what transpired was pretty awful. Nevertheless, all this is ancient history, and he has more than paid his dues, and his wife is seemingly very happy with her husband and children, so who can complain? I am very glad that Kidd was more than up to the task of clearing his name and more overly, patching his family life up. More power to him for that.
I would also like to apologize for going so far off topic, I won't be baited into this again.
And just so we're clear, I didn't mean baited in the online forum sense of the word, just that I couldn't resist, and for that I'm sorry.
