I saw his interview on ESPN yesterday and heard him mention that when got traded to Boston, he received mail with razor blades in them and that some of the ball boys would get cut so he just had them throw it all away. So in that, yeah, I can see that having something to do with racism. Even if Kunnert had punches him and instigated the fight, would it have changed the punishment? Perhaps the only thing that would have come off it, would have been a suspension for Kunnert also. Just to clarify my original point though, I dont necessarily see how racism affected his punishment or him being blackballed from the league. Off the subject, but another thing I found interesting about the book was, how some of the major players kept crisscrossing throught their careers, like Kunnert and Washington playing on the same team (Boston, LA and Portland) for several years after the incident. Also, how Pete Newell was the GM with the Lakers when they drafted Washington and then the GM in Houston when they drafted Rudy. Too weird. I also liked the story of how Auerbach was one of the main people that helped Washington get his life back on track. Great book I tell ya.
OK I've read enough about this and quite frankly, some of these posts simply disturb me. So I decided to throw in my 2 cents. I was not there when Kermit layed the punch, but I did see the video and know quite a bit about the incident. I agree that race was a huge issue back then and maybe KW got some hate mails, as can be expected. Back then even non-fighting black players probably got hate mails. I won't argue about whether Rudy was going to lay out KW if he didn't get whacked first. But what KW's got the balls to say simply disturb me. KW is no doubt using the race card here. Was the punch a mistake? I think it was, you might not agree with me but he just punched Rudy a bit too hard (ie. over-reacted during a fight, nasty one at that). BUT, I think most of us are reasonable. If KW came out saying he made a mistake, he was trying to defend himself, we would of forgiven him, maybe even felt sorry for the guy. But NOOOOOOOOOOO, he went ahead and blamed Kunnert. That's just sick. I mean he got a 10 K fine and suspended for 60 friggin' games. Nearly killing a guy is something that will get you 5 to 10, if you're lucky, black or not, and he b****es about 60 games? 10 K is a lot of money back then (even today), but nothing compared to what he'd lose if he ended up in jail. His coaching career might have been caused by race, but that's what happened to all black players back then, not just him. And his life long screwups are definitely NOT Kunnert's fault. Rudy, sincere or not, at least said he forgave KW, and a long time ago at that. He did not blame his drinking problems on him when he could easily have done so, and everybody would understand. So why can't he just admit he made a mistake, without the but? We would of forgiven him if he did that. I would of forgiven him if he did that, but no friggin' way now. PS: Jabbar was in the fight too, one of the first ones that started it. I don't seeing KW blaming him.
MFW, Just to clarify a couple of points you were making, it wasnt 60 games, it was 60 days (30-40 games or so?) and the suspension was without pay. So he lost not only $10,000 but half a seaons pay, which was approximately $125,000.
But he didn't do that today. And he'd probably get off because he'd have a reasonable self-defense argument.
