The big news in the NBA on Wednesday was the on-going feud between Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks and the almost-but-not centerpiece player DeAndre Jordan, who made his first trip to Dallas after spurning the Mavs to return to the Los Angeles Clippers and childishly refusing to talk to members of the Mavs after reneging on his agreement this off-season.
To suggest Cuban is holding a grudge is an understatement, but’s not just the Mavs owner that’s angry. A lot of Dallas fans and the Dallas media have focused their ire toward Jordan in the early part of the NBA season, leading to the Dallas Morning News printing a cut-out photo of Jordan as the devil, and culminating in resounding boos in the arena last night.
Dallas newspaper gets fans ready for Clippers-Mavs tonight. Don't miss this on Prime Ticket at 5pm. pic.twitter.com/vBK2nDFoLg
— Ralph Lawler (@Ohmeomy) November 11, 2015
To his credit, Jordan took it in stride, telling reporters, via DallasNews.com, “I thought it was going to be a lot worse. They obviously booed and heckled, but I thought it would be worse. It was cool.”
Jeff Van Gundy, working the game for ESPN, was asked by partner Mike Breen about the treatment of Jordan, and while Van Gundy made the point to acknowledge legitimate reasons why fans are upset at the situation—Jordan could have turned Dallas into a contender in the Western conference and his change of heart decimated those chances for what might be several years—Van Gundy made sure to point out the hypocrisy in how Dallas fans are treating two noteworthy stars this week.
From Dr. Cork Gaines at Business Insider:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5lg14baveE&feature=youtu.be
“But I would also like the Dallas fans to acknowledge the sheer lunacy and absurdity that they’re booing DeAndre Jordan tonight, and they will be cheering somebody like Greg Hardy on Sunday. That to me is absurd. All this guy did was change his mind.”
In that context, Van Gundy is right, but it’s not entirely fair to chide a fan base for booing Jordan one day just because other fans—and, to be fair, maybe some of the same fans—will be cheering Hardy a few days from now.
Fans in Dallas have every right to be uspet with Jordan. Hell, I’m nothing close to a Mavericks fan and just as a fan of the NBA I’m still mad at how Jordan treated the Mavs organization and its fans. He’s public enemy number 1 in the NBA this season, but that comes with the understanding that the ire toward him exists strictly within a basketball context.
What Hardy did is something altogether more heinous, vile and criminal and anyone cheering him because he’s a good player who sacks quarterbacks needs to reevaluate their perspective on sports and life. Is it fair to boo Jordan in a basketball context and cheer Hardy in a football context? No. No, it is not, because what Hardy did should supersede sports. He shouldn’t be in the league anymore, so cheering him for what he does on the field is tacitly approving of his NFL existence.
What Jordan did was a basketball decision that played out in real time for us in the media. That’s why it’s okay to boo him. It should never be okay to cheer Hardy, which was the larger point Van Gundy was trying to make.
That said, to compare that to the boos Jordan was getting in Dallas on Wednesday night to the cheers Hardy has been getting for the Cowboys wasn’t fair to the fans doing the booing. They should be allowed that right. Granted, Van Gundy won’t be calling the Cowboys game this weekend, so this was his only chance to make the point. A good one, if a bit unfair to whatever group of fans might be mad at both players, certainly for very different reasons.
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