I don't like a cac saying this to a bm but as much as y'all won't like it: I'm not going to defend Harden. no reprimand the reporter. Both were unprofessional at a point in their respective careers, and dysfunction begets dysfunction so....
It's up to his employer to do something about same way the Rockets should've done something about James, but now all we'll see is if the reporter has comparable leverage that James had with Rockets or not.
I'm a big character in your profession guy so I'm not killing the reporter, when most outside of Houston have given James a pass. I'm consistent. If he made this a racial thing with a boy or a ******, than I'd jump on fukk the reporter bandwagon.
Finally, to those who say it's just sports, congratulations your life outside of sports has enough value to you to matter more than anything related to sports/not let sports affect your mood, thought, and emotions. It's not like that for more people than you think. For people like bettors, people that use sports as an escape/happy place (I used to be on this tip as reflected in my sig), people who's passion is their local sports team, etc. they live and breathe this shyt so if they feel cheated, they react/talk the same way, the same way would about an ex who cheated on them, or a person who stole from them, etc. Again I'm not defending just revealing the mindstate, that deep adulation can turn to vehement disdain when the wrong moves are made.
Also put in perspective Houston fans thought they won a World Series a few years ago, only to find out their team was cheating and end up clowns of the MLB while George Springer is on his way out, thought they had a perennial contender in the NBA only see the star/focal point quit on the team/heel turn, thought they had a franchise QB and potential HOF DE with a chance to contend only to realize at the start of 2021 NFL season both may be gone and they'll start over again. They loved the shyt out of all 3 and it's blowing up in their face. In the Astros situation it's just business, in the Texans situation they have poor ownership/leadership issues but they can't do anything about, in the Rockets situation they gave the man everything just to be shat upon. They defended basketball that Kobe himself said wouldn't win a chip and they got played by the very man they treated as a legend. I equate it to a divorce.
Again not going to defend the comments, because they weren't right, but I get it.
In closing, one of the smartest/meanest things Bron ever said was after he loss the '11 Finals to Mavs. He said something in the vain of "Well, now all of you have to go back to your miserable lives."
It's fukked up but true sports is the best part of some peoples lives, when you mess with people's happiness shyt goes left
