Haslem: Worse than Alomar?

[nsentv]

Heat forward Udonis Haslem threw his gum at referee Joey Crawford and was ejected. Is this worse than Roberto Alomar spitting at an ump?

[NJTank]

Its bad but I think Alomar was worse

[Jigga]

I don't think it's worse, because Alomar actually spat in the umps face. If someone throws something at me and it doesn't hit me, I'm not going to go ape , but spit on me, I will lose my muthafuggin mind.

However that was baseball and No Spine Selig, but you can bet that Furor Stern will send a clear message and suspend Haslem for the remainer of the series, if not longer.

[Eye]

Heat forward Udonis Haslem threw his gum at referee Joey Crawford and was ejected. Is this worse than Roberto Alomar spitting at an ump?

Haslem threw his mouthpiece at Crawford, not his gum.

[HowBoutThemFins]

Heat forward Udonis Haslem threw his gum at referee Joey Crawford and was ejected. Is this worse than Roberto Alomar spitting at an ump?

Haslem threw his mouthpiece at Crawford, not his gum.

Correct. Thank you. How can throwing a mouthpiece in a referee's direction (while sitting on the floor) be WORSE than spitting on an umpire. Come on...

[The_Admiral]

you can bet that Furor Stern will send a clear message and suspend Haslem for the remainer of the series, if not longer.

Stern=playa-hater

[NJTank]

Haslem shoudl be suspended but no more than 2 games, though 1 game will likely fit.

[The Nation]

In basketball, players do take out their mouthpiece when angry, primarily because they can't speak when it's in their mouth. Seeing a mouthpiece go flying is a common site in basketball, Haslem would of only been t'd up had he thrown the mouthpiece in a different direction.

However spitting is in a league of its own.

[HedleyLamarr]

Throwing a mouthpiece is just as bad as spitting. How? They are both obvious gestures at disrespecting the officials, just like punching the ball into the stands after the ref calls a foul against you. These are professionals, and they should act like professionals.

The NBA has a real problem with the maturity with their players. They're throwing a lot of money at people who are too young and too immature to be held at such a highly-viewed workplace. Setting an age restriction was a good first step. The Dress Code was a decent step, but more has to be done. Make every draft-eligible player have to take some sort of maturity test or make all rookies and relatively young players take some course like the NFL does on Decorum on and off the field. These instances like throwing mouthpieces, throwing balls into the seats, and going into the stands have to stop, or some fans are going to be turned off by this lack of maturity and not go to another NBA game. The quality of play from the average player has already fallen...don't let the immaturity from these players be an even bigger turn-off.

[WSU151]

LOL. Hedley, have you even played a sport competitively?

Good luck with that plan... A maturity test??? C'mon, let's be at least a bit realistic. You can't measure natural instinct on a piece of paper.

People get frustrated. It's nothing new. Football players bump officials (Steve Smith) and spit on other players (Sean Taylor), and flick people off (especially fans - see Jake Plummer) and no one really complains about maturity in the NFL. Coaches and players "disrespect" officials all the time by arguing with officials' calls in ALL sports. It's part of the game. And the thing is, the most "mature" people can do the most "immature" things.

Hindsight is 20/20, and it's always easy to fix something when you're sitting at home on your la-z-boy.

[WJMorris3]

If it's me, any major unsportsmanlike conduct has a penalty of 20% of the season, minimum. So for basketball, we're talking a 16-game suspension.

[VitaminD]

This is a case of, "There's bad... and then there's worse."

Throwing a mouthpiece is everything that's been said - wrong, disrespectful, immature. But on Haslem's uniform, it's really the only thing that's small and throwable quickly and in the heat of battle. In his rage and lack of thought, he probably didn't consider that it was covered in his spittle; it was something that fit in his hand, didn't require him to strip off his clothing, and would be light enough to fling. I am in no way condoning it, not by a longshot. But for lack of a better phrase, it probably made the most sense at the time, more than unlacing a shoe and pitching that, or stripping off a jersey.

On the other hand, spitting at another person is degradation of that person as a man. Plain and simple, and unequivocal. There is no misinterpreting that gesture, there is no room to rationalize the action as I tried to in the previous paragraph. That's telling a man he lacks any worth as a person, nevermind as a professional official. Expelling bodily fluids onto another human being is as debasing as you can get.

Like Jigga said, you throw something at me, I'll be pissed but it may end there. You spit on me, I promise you it's on. I'm not quick to fight, and I'm not saying I'm some tough guy but I was spat on once. You can believe fists were thrown with extreme vengeance, and that was the last time the kid tried it (he was bigger than me, and 2 years older).

There is a difference.

[HedleyLamarr]

LOL. Hedley, have you even played a sport competitively?

Good luck with that plan... A maturity test??? C'mon, let's be at least a bit realistic. You can't measure natural instinct on a piece of paper.

People get frustrated. It's nothing new. Football players bump officials (Steve Smith) and spit on other players (Sean Taylor), and flick people off (especially fans - see Jake Plummer) and no one really complains about maturity in the NFL. Coaches and players "disrespect" officials all the time by arguing with officials' calls in ALL sports. It's part of the game. And the thing is, the most "mature" people can do the most "immature" things.

Hindsight is 20/20, and it's always easy to fix something when you're sitting at home on your la-z-boy.

Yes, I have.

I've had my share of frustrations on the football and baseball field. Did I throw a batting helmet or the football at the official/umpire in frustration? No. Did I ever try to show up the umpire after a called third strike? Nope....maybe a couple words telling him where the ball was, but I didn't toss the bat down and start a heated debate.

Of the four major sports leagues, the NBA has the worst problem of overall player maturity, and no one can deny that. The NFL is in the running, but the fans are rarely in direct contact with the players, unlike the NBA. The NFL, the NHL, and MLB have their delinquents, but the NBA has a higher percentage of delinquents and poor behavior skills from their players.

[NJTank]

Looks like he got 1 game and I think tahts about right it was bad but not so bad he should miss the series.

[slapshot]

It's not quite the same as Alomar, but it's very disrespectful and warrants the suspension just the same.

Had Haslem been thrown the mouthpiece at the referee's face, that would have been the same as spitting in the referee's face.

The fact is that Haslem threw his mouthpiece, in disgust, in the direction of the referee. It doesn't matter what the sport, you don't throw your equipment at the referee. Period.

[bnick05]

This is absolutely not worse than the Roberto Alomar spitting incident. Throwing a mouthgard in the direction of an official is disresptectful, however, I don't think it warrants an ejection. A player can verbally abuse an official and get only a technical foul. I can see how if the mouthgard made contact with Joey Crawford, Haslem should have been ejected.

On a side note, Joey Crawford absolutely lives for this type of stuff. He is the epitome of what is wrong with major sports officials. In my mind an official should never be the reason for one team beating another. They also should never try to draw attention to themselves during a game.

[slapshot]

This is absolutely not worse than the Roberto Alomar spitting incident. Throwing a mouthgard in the direction of an official is disresptectful, however, I don't think it warrants an ejection. A player can verbally abuse an official and get only a technical foul. I can see how if the mouthgard made contact with Joey Crawford, Haslem should have been ejected.

On a side note, Joey Crawford absolutely lives for this type of stuff. He is the epitome of what is wrong with major sports officials. In my mind an official should never be the reason for one team beating another. They also should never try to draw attention to themselves during a game.

So, what you're saying is that Haslem should have gotten a slap on the wrist? A minor talking-to?

Wow.

I'm tired of people saying that the referees are the reasons teams lose. Referees don't shoot bricks. Referees don't make bad passes. Referees don't foul other players.

[nsentv]

The NFL, the NHL, and MLB have their delinquents, but the NBA has a higher percentage of delinquents and poor behavior skills from their players.

Got any numbers for that? Or just baseless generalizations?

Haslem was stupid. He apologized for what he did, but he deserved another game tacked onto that suspension. That being said, Joey Crawford is an ass--not that what Haslem did was justified.

[FiddySicks]

Seriously, thats like trying to compare getting poked in the chest to getting kicked in the nuts. Alomar's actions were head and shoulders worse than Haslem's.

[WSU151]

Of the four major sports leagues, the NBA has the worst problem of overall player maturity, and no one can deny that.

I can deny that, as I respectfully disagree. Plus you have to remember that the NBA plays five times the schedule of an NFL team, so proportionately, the NFL has many more immature acts than the NBA - it's not even an argument.