Michael Ray's kids are Jewish. Stop hating on Michael Ray! http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/basketball/more/04/04/richardson.albany.ap/index.html BA's Patroons drop Richardson Coach's deal not renewed after anti-Semitic remarks Posted: Wednesday April 4, 2007 11:59AM; Updated: Wednesday April 4, 2007 2:06PM ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The Albany Patroons declined to renew the coaching contract of former NBA player Micheal Ray Richardson following his suspension last week for using a vulgar slur at heckling fans and controversy over allegedly anti-Semitic remarks. Richardson was suspended for the team's last two Continental Basketball Association playoff games last week after he told the Times Union of Albany that he had "big-time Jew lawyers" working for him. Earlier, the coach yelled at hecklers during the first playoff game, using a profanity and gay slur. "We had spoken prior to all this hoopla. He had been negotiating with other teams," Patroons General Manager James Coyne said Wednesday. "We pretty much agreed earlier on he wouldn't be coming back to the CBA." However, Richardson's lawyer said the suspension for allegedly anti-Semitic and anti-gay remarks has put his client's entire career in jeopardy, including coaching opportunities elsewhere. "Now all the sudden he gets his contract canceled," attorney John Aretakis said. Richardson had been expected to coach for Coyne in the upcoming U.S. Basketball League season that starts in a few weeks, and that's not happening either, he said. "Now he's labeled the rest of his life as anti-Semitic, and he's not," Aretakis said. "He's got two kids who are being raised Jewish. He's got an ex-wife he has a good relationship with who is Jewish." Coyne confirmed he was talking with other coaches for his USBL team. He also noted that Richardson in two years "did great," bringing the Patroons to the championship series -- won by the Yakima Sun Kings in three straight games -- with a 30-18 regular season record. Coyne said Wednesday that they looked into both the anti-gay and anti-Jewish allegations, and the suspension was based on "inappropriate language to fans." He said many of the people responding to Richardson's other reported comments, including Jewish people, didn't consider them derogatory. "They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean? Which I think is great," Richardson told the Times Union. "I don't think there's nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they're run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they're run by Jewish. It's not a knock, but they are some crafty people." The team issued an apology. Patroons owner Ben Fernandez, also the CBA chairman, denounced Richardson's comments. "We will not tolerate -- and the league will not tolerate -- bigots," he said. Richardson has said he didn't think it was fair and he isn't bigoted. "But I want to make an apology if I offended anyone because that's not me," he said. Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman said the Albany Patroons did the right thing to suspend Richardson and apologize. "While he says he meant his remarks in a good way, Micheal Ray needs to understand that when he suggests that all Jews are crafty, that Jews have a lot of money and power, he is conjuring up classic anti-Semitic stereotypes," Foxman said. Aretakis said Richardson had also apologized to the hecklers after the game. "He said he's not anti-gay. ... He knew he was wrong." Richardson was the fourth overall pick in the 1978 draft. He joined the NBA out of Montana and played eight seasons with the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets. His NBA career ended because of drug use in 1986, when NBA commissioner David Stern banned Richardson for life after he violated the league's drug policy three times. Richardson began his comeback in 1988, joining the ranks of ex-NBA players in European leagues. His right to play in the NBA was restored that year but he stayed in Italy, where he was a leading scorer and fan favorite. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
His comments were beyond moronic, akin to calling all black people great jumpers and even better tenor saxophone players -- then wondering why they got angry at your "compliment." I still don't think he should be fired. Fined for the heckling/slur, but not a firable offense. Educate these people, don't deny them employment. Then again, he might have been a really crappy coach, and this was the perfect out.
Michael Ray isn't Tim Hardaway! Hasnt he suffered enough?!! How do you know he was being a standup comedian? Chappelle says worse stuff!
People are too easily offended. There are lot worse things than being called crafty, smart, and schrewd.
I would agree that we, as a society, are probably somewhat too sensitive in many respects. But this is the world we live in. That being said, most stereotypes - whether "good" or "bad" - really do more harm than good. We are (many times with no malice intended) placing constructs on folks by painting with broad strokes. Let me think of a quick example. Okay, we normally wouldn't think it offensive to stereotype all Asian people as "smart, intellectual academics" would we? But we tend to subconsciously apply what I'll call (for sake of discussion) the Law of Equality in that we think if a group is good at one thing they must struggle at another -- thus always avoiding an inevitable "master race" hypothesis if we were to attribute dominance in various fields to one specific group of people. So, in this example, many times the same speaker may also hold the view that those same Asian people (who he just "complimented") are not generally athletic or good at sports. And what is the harm in this, we may ask? Well, let's fast-forward the tape, shall we? What we've inadvertently fostered is an environment where a young Asian man who is growing up in, say, San Diego, is hearing these statements over and over again. And they are seared into his head. And as he's growing up and going through middle school and high school he never plays or participates in sports that much -- or at least doesn't invest the time nor the effort to figure out if he, just maybe, has a natural athletic gift. Instead he stays within the social constructs, hobbies, and interests that's "expected" from him by society. And, unbeknownst to him, he could have some very special (in this example, athletic) gifts that will never be cultivated. Why? Because of the way we pigeon-hole people without seeing the possible far-reaching effects. So it just seems like that even if we can rationalize certain stereotypes as compliments -- even backhanded compliments -- we're getting into an area where we're not looking at individuals on a personal level, but labeling entire groups. And that's not a productive thing no matter which way we look at it.
Then become offended when the person is told he is not good a sports not when he is told he is smart. There is a war going on in Iraq and hundreds of thousands of people are dying. There are millions dying in Africa from war and Aids and we get all bent out of shape because some basketball coach calls Jewish people smart, crafty, and shrewd. The same basketball coach who was married to a Jewish woman and has Jewish kids. WTF.
Set against the backdrop of war, famine, and disease anything will seem trite or trivial. I agree that we're probably too sensitive in our society for our own good. By the same token this appears to be the climate that we now live in -- having to bend over backwards not to offend. And if these are the values or mores that we have to deal with, then the rules need to apply to everyone. Across the board. Like KellyDwer posted earlier, it's akin to calling all blacks "great jumpers". And if the argument is, well, those stereotypes aren't patently offensive then the question is where do we draw the line? Who makes that subjective decision on what's an "acceptable" stereotype versus what's "okay"? And what happens if the stereotype is not really bad, yet not really good, either? Do we let it go or lambaste the person for it? And, like you said, Michael Ray was married to a Jewish woman. Is he inherently "exempt" from scrutiny? Does that mean a white man married to a black woman would also be exempt if he made a similarly-contexted comment about blacks? The bottom line is it opens up a tremendous can of worms as to "what's acceptable" and "what's not" and screams of subjectivity. I don't like that it's come to that, but it is what it is.
they should cut him some slack cause he's Michael Ray Richardson!! he's suffered enough! That's like making fun of Stevie Wonder cause he can't shoot jumpers. Come on! cut him some slack!
I know, tinman, I know. Between Michael Ray and Vernon Maxwell you've been busy the last couple of months trying to shake the haters off. Keep fightin' the good fight.
I dare ANY of the haters to watch "What happened to Michael Ray?" documentary and hate on him. Dude fought himself all the way back to the NBA and became clean of drugs, this guy works to help the youth of america. Just because he made some dumb comments doesnt mean he's a Klansman! They can diss you cause you said some bs, but we know you are a good person and amazing talent! <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/e4Ld0aKOO6U"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/e4Ld0aKOO6U" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
This poor guy has had one bad life. This is blatant censorship and an attempt to label this type of conversation as hate speech. Its a sad day in the world when this type of thing can ruin a guys second attempt at life.
