Rant #3,069: No

“Dear NBA Commissioner Adam Silver:

Enough is enough.

I know that you are a busy man, but did you notice that Kyrie Irving deleted his Instagram post where he apologized for putting up a link to a film that featured one anti-Semitic trope after another?

Remember, earlier this season, Irving put up this link, and then pretty much refused to show any remorse for doing so?

His team at the time, the Brooklyn Nets—playing in the New York City borough with one of the largest Jewish populations not only in the country, but in the world—suspended him, forced him to take classes to understand the Jewish experience, and fined him … but he still never apologized.

Then he finally put up this message, and this instance was pretty much put in the rear-view mirror.

NBA players generally backed Irving during this entire period, not saying one world about how hurtful his post was, and denying his anti-Semitism.

Well, what do you say now after his press conference introducing him to his new team, the Dallas Mavericks?

Not only did he reveal that he had deleted that post—brushing it off by saying that he often deleted such posts—but he also stated that he felt “disrespected” in Brooklyn, with his talent never appreciated.

First of all, you, Mr. Silver, as a Jewish human being yourself, should have seen how gimpy his apology was.

It was obviously written and/or orchestrated by his agent and/or his employer, and all he had to do was post it—and not believe a world in it at all—just to move on from this incident that the player caused himself with his original post.

Second, not only was his “apology” gimpy, but the NBA’s reaction to it wasn’t really was quite questionable, but was as lame as his apology was.

Irving should have been suspended for the rest of the year, or at least for more than the eight-game suspension that he was given.

In a league that wholeheartedly supports the Black Lives Matter organization, if the shoe were on the other foot, and a white player put up a similar link to a film showing blacks in such a bad light, you just know that there would have been more of an uproar than that surrounded Irving’s post.

More importantly, you should have enacted a league-wide edict that every player in the league had to take sensitivity training when it came to their relationship with the Jewish population—a population that has supported the NBA since Day One.

In fact, if it weren’t for Jews, there would be no NBA.

As I think you know, the majority of players in the early days of the league, more than 70 years ago, were Jewish, and to this day, a good percentage of the league’s owners are Jewish—and Irving’s new team is, in fact, owned by a Jew, Mark Cuban.

And YOU are Jewish.

You would think that there would have been more of a punishment for Irving, but I guess when you score 27 points a game, little things like anti-Semitism don’t really matter.

Irving is far from the only current NBA and former NBA player who has demonstrated anti-Semitism, including everyone from Stephen Jackson to Dwyane Wade to Kevin Durant to Allan Iverson to Meyers Leonard … sure, the intent of each one of these incidents perhaps was different, but in a league that stands up for the “downtrodden”—blacks, women, the LGBTQ community—the silence on the Kyrie Irving matter was deafening.

And how could it be that there was just one voice in the wilderness to point out how deafening this silence really was?

Only one former player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, saw the indignation of the NBA’s silence over the Kyrie Irving situation, saying that it does not run true in a league that supports Black Lives Matter so strongly.

Does the silence stem from the view of many blacks—including NBA players, the majority of whom are black—that Jews are simply a fringe element of the white race, and thus, they don’t deserve their sympathy because wile Jews are actually part of the “problem,” because they are white people?

I just don’t know, but I want to conclude this message to you in a way that perhaps you will understand.

I have been going to NBA games since my father took me to the old Madison Square Garden to see an NBA doubleheader—remember those?—way back in 1965. There were few people in attendance, but I had the time of my life at my first NBA game.

I have continued to attend NBA games to the present time, and I followed up my father taking me to games by taking my own son to games both at MSG, Barclays Center and at other arenas in the country.

As the Kyrie Irving incident unfolded, and I saw the lack of response from the NBA and its players to this oblivious instance of anti-Semitism, I declared that I would never go to an NBA game again.

I have been going to games for roughly more than a half century, but I cannot support a league that does not support me, as a Jewish American.

And now, with Irving’s deletion of his supposedly apologetic post, I clearly see that the NBA doesn’t care about me, my son, my deceased father and every other Jewish fan that it has had since 1948.

You have lost me, lost my money, and lost my interest.

I would be happy to discuss this with you at greater length at your convenience."