Minnesota Republican State Rep. Pat Garofalo is not a big fan of the NBA. He’s previously tweeted that the NFL “Pro Bowl sucks even more than the NBA.” Well, no one likes the Pro Bowl, and there’s certainly nothing controversial about saying that game sucks. As much as I think the NBA is vastly superior and much more interesting than the NHL, even I have trouble paying attention to the NBA before college basketball season ends.
Even die-hard basketball fans such as myself have some major issues with the NBA: the season is twice as long as it should be, some teams are obviously tanking, and on any given night your favorite team (even the ones which aren’t tanking) may not even really put in a whole-hearted effort. So while I don’t really blame you for not caring about the NBA until the real games start (that would be the playoffs), what the Minnesota politican tweeted last night about the league is still racist, exceedingly offensive and hopefully a career killer for Pat Garofalo.
Let’s be honest, 70% of teams in NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/ possible exception of increase in streetcrime
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) March 9, 2014
This is disgusting coming from any Twitter user, but from even worse when coming from an elected public official.
Pat Garofalo claims his comments were not racially motivated; despite the fact that 76% of the men who comprise NBA rosters are African-American. Here’s how Pat Garofalo defended himself:
“I was talking about the NBA’s high arrest rate and that their punishment for positive drugs tests are weaker than other leagues. No intent beyond that,” Pat Garofalo wrote in an email to Deadspin. “The culture among many pro athletes that they are above the law is the problem, not people like me pointing that problem out.”
Here’s his apology, which is pretty lame. However, unlike everyone else who ruins their career with bad social media practices, he didn’t delete the tweet:
To those NBA players and others who are unfairly categorized by my comments, please accept my apologies. https://t.co/xiGaEc47Qo
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) March 10, 2014
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on news talk radio; with regular segments on ESPN,NBC, CBS and Fox. A former NBC Chicago and Washington Times writer, he’s also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)
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