People got pretty upset with Josh Howard disrespecting the Star Spangled Banner. Understandably so. But as with everything else, there's a right way and a wrong way to voice that opinion. Some, like Stephen A. Smith, chose to do it the right way, in an intelligent, thoughtful article on Howard and his actions. Others, however, went about it all wrong.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban received a multitude hate-laced emails about Howard, many which contained racial slurs and downright offensive content. While I'm sure most people thought that Cuban wouldn't even READ the emails, Cuban decided to not only read them, but take it a step further. He decided to post a sampling of the emails on his blog for all to read, with names and email addresses included.

The first one starts off with a bang, referring to Howard as 2 separate racial slurs in the first sentence, and finishing with another. Another one was especially ironic, as the individual starts the email with a vague threat, and finishes it with "Have a blessed day".

His email:
"You better get that piece of work out of your team for talking and disrespecting the national anthem or you are going to pay the price for it…..  What kind of org. allows a looser(SIC) and an idiot play for them?  You are so low you make me vomit!!!!  If you allow a hate of America play for your team, you also Hate AMERICA.  GET OUT OF HERE!!!!"

Another sample:
"You & Howard…two peas in a pod. Don’t think we’ve forgotten about that Brian De Palma anti-military propaganda film, “Redacted”, that you produced, Cuban. Ya might tell Howard the next time you talk to him, that if not for America, he’d probably be be throwing spears in Africa someplace instead of free-throws.
Semper Fi,
M.E. Heffernan"

The closing in Heffernan's email insinuates a connection with the US Marine Corps. For his sake, I hope he's not still in the military. As someone who is, I can assure you that something like this is a career killer. I was unable to locate an M.E. Heffernan in the online list of personnel, but either way, his views are certainly not indicative of US servicemembers. There's no place ANYWHERE for stuff like this, especially among those who defend Howard's freedom to speak out, however inappropriately he chooses to do so.

The emails that Cuban posted on his blog range from polite to absolutely disgusting. But it's rather ironic that people choose to speak out against Howard's perceived disrespect in a way that is even MORE disrespectful.

Was Howard wrong? Yes, I absolutely believe so. But when people are so caught up in self-righteous indignation that they fail to see their own offensive hatred, something is wrong. Hypocrisy is abundant in the emails that Cuban received, and it's unfortunate that people fail to see that.


Closet Racists Shouldn't Email Mark Cuban [Fanhouse]
Thanks for the advice on Josh [Blog Maverick]