He made some surprising comments that he has stopped watching the NBA because it had turned too political. I guess from his perspective, he's 77, he's won 13 NBA titles as a player and coach, his career is done, so he can say what he wants.
He has made controversial comments before.
Jackson on the dress code:
“The players have been dressing in prison garb the last five or six years. All the stuff that goes on, it’s like gangster, thuggery stuff. It’s time. It’s been time to do that,” he told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune as the dress code was introduced.
In October 1999, these words came out of his mouth:
"I don't mean to say [that] as a snide remark toward a certain population in our society, but they have a limitation of their attention span, a lot of it probably due to too much rap music going in their ears and coming out their being."
Yes, 1999, 2005, 2016, and now 2023, different times, but same guyDifferent times
I'm fine with what he said. If it's OK for the "woke" crowd to speak out and not "shut up and dribble" then sports celebs should be able to speak out if they have a different point of view on the same topic... especially when BLM has proved to be a fraudulent organization.
Yes, 1999, 2005, 2016, and now 2023, different times, but same guy
True, but my point was it not that surprising of a comment from him, there is a patternPoint is, if the culture now existed back then, he probably would have been canned.
Supposed to be, at least from the perspective of the consumer, which should count for something.I'm fine with it also. I don't want to see politics at all, conservative or liberal, in sports that I watch. Who does? Sports is an escape.
Is posse now controversial?
Just because Lebron didn't like doesn't mean it's controversial.To use that label, and if you go and read the definition of what the word 'posse' is, it's not what I've built over my career. It's not what I stand for," James said "It's not what my family stands for. And I believe the only reason he used that word is because it's young African-Americans trying to make a difference."
Jackson wouldn't be able to get a word in with those 2 clowns melting down about everything.Would like to Popovich, Kerr and Jackson on a Podcast talking politics , would be interesting
You used to be able to protest things b/c of what you believed, not just b/c of how you vote. Vietnam is equivalent to Iraq...neither should have ever happened. And I'm a conservative. Richard Nixon is a choir boy compared to what current presidents and federal government are getting away with.Two thoughts
1. Has Jackson entered his old age “get off my lawn”. This is a man who literally took to the streets to protest Vietnam and Richard Nixon.
2. I want sports to be politics free so I can watch them through the eye’s of my 10 year old self. But sports have pretty much always been political. From the 36 Olympics, racism in sports, the miracle on ice against the Russians, to economic battles over money.
Typically WE/I say shut up and dribble to athletes we disagree with and then turn around and say what a champion of ethics he/she is when our politics align