Josh Howard has got himself back into the spotlight again with some questionable decision making. In this world where just about everything a professional athlete says makes it to the Internet, the Mavericks forward probably should have avoided his disrespecting of the national anthem.
At Allen Iverson's Charity Flag Football game held in July, Howard is shown in this YouTube video saying, "The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this (expletive). I'm black." He also utters something that has to do with Barack Obama, but I can't exactly discern what he says.
As you can imagine, his comments, that he probably didn't think would make news, have caught national attention.
Despite Howard having some previous issues that were more serious, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has his back (I think):
Owner Mark Cuban said the Mavericks dealt with Howard's flag football episode after it happened in July.
"That said, we will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp," Cuban said Tuesday. "I have explained to him that cellphone cameras are not your friend and that what you think you said on camera is never what people will hear when it shows up on YouTube or TV.
"There is only one universal response that works: 'Both teams played hard.'"
At this rate, Cuban could use to hire an entire PR firm just to follow Howard around. This embarrassment follows Howard's late night high speed street race in North Carolina, his admission that he's an occasional marijuana user (he's in the NBA!), and his birthday bash following a Game 4 loss to New Orleans in the playoffs.
It's clear Howard hasn't exactly grasped the whole new media deal, but I'm pretty sure what Howard said was exactly how it sounded on the video. It's certainly news to me that the Star-Spangled Banner isn't a favorite among the black community.
But who knows what the context of this video was, and since I do not have anything positive left to say, I'll heed Cuban's advice:
Both teams played hard.
Dallas Mavericks' Josh Howard disrespects national anthem [Dallas Fort Worth]
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