What's your opinion of players casually swearing on live tv interviews?

[dhsilv2]

I'm not saying he shouldn't be able to control it.

Only that any professional office setting is light years away from a pro sports setting... and it's a huge reach to compare the two in any way.

A professional office setting should be much more casual than a live TV interview for a family friendly product. Just like if you work for a public company, your company's earnings call will be more formal than in someone's office where you might hear some F bombs if someone screws something up.

Sure. I'm not disagreeing with any of that.

Only that it seems silly to compare a pro athlete's job to any office job. The difference is so stark that almost any comparison is strained.



[Note: However, I do like to compare NBA salaries (and fines) with average everyday people and jobs. For example, Edwards being fined $100,000 is like a person making $100,000 being fined $237. Or, players being fined $2,000 for technicals is the same as a person making $100k being fined $4.74.]

I think the "interview" aspect of basketball and an office job are more similar that different. Even the post game has a dress code...which might now be more formal than some officers post hybrid/work from home influence. My boss's boss came in the other day in a baseball cap and hoodie lol. And the hat looked like he'd been using it for farm work lol. And like...he's a senior finance officer for the company... Now if the CFO were in town...he'd have been in a suit.

[Nate505]

I personally don't care if they swear. That said, if they're making millions and the NBA enforces this code, I have about a thimble's worth of sympathy for them. I know enough the times and places not to swear on my job.

[bisme37]

Every child has heard these words. Its on the parents to teach them not to say them.

But the religious right pretends that they should never be used or heard. Meanwhile murder and violence is prime time fare. But fine for 100k. Get your priorities straight.

I want to agree with you on principle about parental responsibility but there are a lot of parents who have no idea what they're doing and suck at the job. Like, well, Anthony Edwards for example.

Then their jerk kids grow up and leave the house and we all have to deal with them. So I'd prefer pro athletes not being idiots and making kids even bigger jerks.

We've gotta have rules and boundaries for some things or society stops functioning. The Social Contract and all that. I'll try not to cuss in front of your kid and you try not to cuss in from of mine, please. It's just basic decency.

[prolific passer]

Remember the Shaq and Brad Miller incident? Pepperidge farm remembers.

[D.Brasco]

Remember the Shaq and Brad Miller incident? Pepperidge farm remembers.

Funny enough, that was the specific incident in my mind that made Ant look worse.

Shaq was pissed and running on pure emotion when he swore on live TV. Ant was calm and collected but still felt the need to throw in the f-word, to make himself sound cool I guess?

[Bad-Thoma]

Swearing doesn't bother me in the least, been working construction for 25 years and it's just part of conversation. That said, for an order of magnitude (or 2 or 3) less money than Ant is making I can talk to a customer and not curse. I'm not offended by Ant swearing but I'm even less offended that the NBA is tryng to enforce their standards on professionalism. Fantastic player but he does seem to have a little growing up to do.

[prolific passer]

Remember the Shaq and Brad Miller incident? Pepperidge farm remembers.

Funny enough, that was the specific incident in my mind that made Ant look worse.

Shaq was pissed and running on pure emotion when he swore on live TV. Ant was calm and collected but still felt the need to throw in the f-word, to make himself sound cool I guess?

Bron dropped the F bomb in a press conference talking about today's game not that long ago. Figure if he can do it than other players can also....I guess.

[Hair Jordan]

It’s another reason why ratings are tanking. Swearing and having disrespectful or indifferent attitudes turns a lot of people off. Guys like Ant, Ja and others need to carry themselves with the professionalism of a Dr. J, Jordan, Magic etc. It’s not that hard. Grow up.

[benhillboy]

Every child has heard these words. Its on the parents to teach them not to say them.

But the religious right pretends that they should never be used or heard. Meanwhile murder and violence is prime time fare. But fine for 100k. Get your priorities straight.

I want to agree with you on principle about parental responsibility but there are a lot of parents who have no idea what they're doing and suck at the job. Like, well, Anthony Edwards for example.

Then their jerk kids grow up and leave the house and we all have to deal with them. So I'd prefer pro athletes not being idiots and making kids even bigger jerks.

We've gotta have rules and boundaries for some things or society stops functioning. The Social Contract and all that. I'll try not to cuss in front of your kid and you try not to cuss in from of mine, please. It's just basic decency.

I wished we could transport back to the time you’re referencing. Sadly we cannot.

Ant’s parlance isn’t ideal for kids watching no question. Personally as a 43 yo with no kids I give him a pass because I find his candor very refreshing and endearing and he’s from my side of town so I totally empathize with his natural mode of native West Atlantan speech. He’s actually holding back normally you’d hear 5 or 6 “godd@mns” sprinkled throughout

[prolific passer]

It’s another reason why ratings are tanking. Swearing and having disrespectful or indifferent attitudes turns a lot of people off. Guys like Ant, Ja and others need to carry themselves with the professionalism of a Dr. J, Jordan, Magic etc. It’s not that hard. Grow up.

They were inspired Jordan's f bombs in the last dance and all the f bombs in winning time..... probably.

[Nate505]

I know a lot of people will be it's just words and kids say so much worse online, etc but maybe I'm an old geezer and I think standards still matter and when we just expect more boorish behaviour (meaning we expect less) then that becomes the norm and I don't know if we just want to keep lowering standards of decorum.

Even if I didn't care about the standards, and I really don't, the NBA does. They are the ones who pay his salary. If he doesn't like it, he can find a job where he can swear as much as he wants during a tv interview without getting fined.

[bovice]

Not a big deal.

Kids talk worse in elementary school nowadays.

my mom works in an elementary school and said she's caught kids looking at porn on their phones nowadays.

no big deal, let's allow nudity on broadcast tv

[Aventador]

i drop f bombs to clients and my boss and we all laugh about it. It creates canaries. This is real life.

[Nate505]

Comparing our professional work settings to pro athletes is kinda silly.

That being said... branding is very important for pro sports leagues. And if they don't want pro athletes cussing... then, they need to find a way to curb it. A $100k fine is one of the larger fines we're going to see. Edwards will probably take the hint eventually.

Heck, considering the league only fines players $2k for flopping, $2k for flagrant fouls, $4k for ejections, et al... it seems that they are serious about this issue compared to any of those.

Maybe a more interesting angle is the amount of fines for the same issue. For example, Edwards was also fined $75k earlier this week for ripping officials. The largest fine for such an offense since his teammate, Rudy Gobert, was hit with a $100k fine last year. Others have been fined as little as $25k.

For what it's worth... Edwards has now been fined $224,000 so far this season.

I think the comp is reasonable with some context. If he yelled something to a ref or another player...that's whatever. But when you're being interviewed and have a mic, you should be able to control yourself there.

I'm not saying he shouldn't be able to control it.

Only that any professional office setting is light years away from a pro sports setting... and it's a huge reach to compare the two in any way.

In a locker room? Sure. On tv? Yeah, it's a huge reach to compare. It's way more restrictive on live tv than pretty much anywhere else.

[kulaz3000]

This type of language doesn't offend me, however, in a work place, there is a level of professionalism that is expected from you or is clearly written into many of the contracts you sign.

I don't necessarily think any less of ANT, or any other player who have similar moments, when it comes to their choice of language, however, I do think it's a sign of immaturity and lack of professionalism. It's not about restraining yourself from being "less human" it's about facing the reality that when you signed an NBA contract, when you're playing in an NBA arena, you're supposed to be a professional employee, it's as simple as that. They aren't playground basketball players, just representing themselves, despite them playing for a specific team, they also represent the entire league as a whole.

Again, it's not a massive deal, and it's not something you want to judge a person for too heavily. The fine was the correct punishment and everyone moves on and gets on their merry way.

[meekrab]

Totally unprofessional. We don't swear while we talk with our boss or client and players should also watch their language while giving interviews on tv.

Maybe you don't. My manager gets worried when I haven't cussed in a while.

Not a big deal.

Kids talk worse in elementary school nowadays.

my mom works in an elementary school and said she's caught kids looking at porn on their phones nowadays.

no big deal, let's allow nudity on broadcast tv

Nudity and pornography are vastly different...

[Clav]

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=DanielBothma

[Onlytimewilltel]

If it's 1 curse word I think it is absolutely ridiculous to fine a player .... Now context matters - If a guy is on a profanity-filled rant criticizing an opposing player or ref postgame that's different. The "professional setting" argument is BS for a couple reasons - 1 being yes it's a business but it's not some corporate meeting in an office building, it's a physical demanding sport and emotions run high. You also wouldn't hit a guy in an office building in the arm to foul him but you do in basketball; it's a totally different environment ... and 2 - Do professional people not curse? I work in an office setting, not to corporate but still professional none-theless, and have had bosses routinely throw in the F word in meetings and noone bats an eye. Can't imagine 1 of them getting fined for that. That is ridiculous.

And if their 5 and 6 year old kids were sitting in those meetings watching, would the bosses still routinely throw in the F words? And if your 5 and 6 year old kids were in those meetings, would you be ok with the F words bomb brigades in the meetings? Common dude, try to see the bigger picture.

Saying a guy should curse and saying he should NOT be fined for it are 2 different things. I don’t curse. I’m a parent. I think athletes have a duty to not curse and speak well to the media. That doesn’t mean I think they should be fined for cursing. Now if a guy routinely does it every interview, then sure the NBA can warn him and then if he doesn’t stop, maybe a fine after that.

But that’s not the case here.

I find it amusing the NBA has people like yourself hacking them as if they give a f about how kids are being influenced by the nba. A kid hearing a guy curse in postgame is having minimal negative impact - much less impact than a kid going to a game and hearing the vulgar music constantly being played in nba arenas. But nba doesn’t care about that.

Fining Edwards is not about “protecting the kids” . It’s simply about control and it’s stupid. It creates fake athletes to the media which does play a small part in turning fans away from the game. There’s very few real personalities nowadays partly because of the nba’s police on speech.

Doesn't sound like we are too far off on opinion, just the method. I don't care how they accomplish it. I said I'm not a fan of them cursing on live TV and don't agree with it. I don't care if they curse on podcasts or whatever else. As far as how the NBA accomplishes this, I really don't care, they're probably doing what they think is within their control with the fining part. This guy has already been fined multiple times so it doesn't seem like "warnings" are working with him.

It's been a while since I've been at a live game so can't comment on that. But yea, not gonna feel bad for them getting fined for something actually super simple to accomplish. Just don't curse live on TV. It's not that hard. Plenty of us have done interviews and presentations in the past where we had to behave differently from "watercooler talk conversations".

[D.Brasco]

i drop f bombs to clients and my boss and we all laugh about it. It creates canaries. This is real life.

If you were being interviewed by the media as a representative of your company would you be dropping f bombs? Be honest now.

[Deivork]

that America has a double standard on what's allowed and what's not, what's offensive and what's not.

On the one hand you have violence and aggression available pretty much anywhere but god help us if a swear word is said in public

Now I am used to it, but as an European it firstly sounded so ridiculous the notion of an f "bomb" or the b "word", for instance. Still does in part. Feels child-like.

Like, jeez, they are actual used words. By hewhoshallnotbenamed-ing it you only give it power imo.