This whole thing is beyond stupid. Yeah I wish Rondo had just kept his mouth shut but Bill Kennedy deciding to publicly come out now framed this regrettable but minor situation in a way that puts him above reproach and transfers all responsibility to the player who reacted to his abuse of authority. Wake up man! Rondo was pissed off at you because you targeted him for ejection. That has nothing to do with your sexual orientation. You really think Rondo was trying to humiliate you for being gay? Maybe that's because you brought some prior bias against Rondo into this game - a bias which caused you to overreact and throw him out of the game before he even said anything. Maybe it was his close relationship with Doc Rivers? The basketball related issue here as far as I'm concerned is Bill Kennedy's ability to fairly call the game. If he's carrying some kind of personal vendetta which affects his ability to remain impartial that is a matter worthy of investigation. And that relates only to Bill Kennedy the referee, not any other category of human being he may choose to identify with. (I'd argue the NBA should be more concerned with Bill Kennedy the referee than Bill Kennedy the gay man, but I suppose advertising represents the vast majority of their profit margin so it's naive to think what happens on the court takes precedent).
But you can forget any honest attempt to answer that question now. The 'G' word has been broached so now all attention is going to go there. The commissioner issues a statement of support, Vlade Divac issues a statement of support. The fairness of the call is irrelevant now because we supposedly need to set an example for the kids? Forgive me while I find a trash can to vomit into. Zero kids on zero basketball courts are going to be moved by these statements to eliminate that word from their vocabularies. It's just an excuse for moralists to cluck their tongues, point fingers. and pat themselves on the back. I'm happy for Bill Kennedy that he feels he can set a positive example but the timing of this feels crass and opportunistic and unnecessarily vindictive. There's a positive way to send that message without packaging a convenient villain. This is exactly the kind of lowest common denominator reporting that led to Rondo being labeled as a team cancer and the worst signing of the off-season in the first place. People believe what they want to believe. The truth is rarely that cut and dry.
You know what else? I get very offended when people call me white boy. I don't identify anybody on the basis of their race and hate when people do it to me. That's not publicly accecpted as an ethnic slur but to me it feels belittling and ignorant. I'm so many other things which I choose to be, why single me out for categorization in the most meaningless way possible? In fact, I'd rather be called pretty much anything else, even the word Rondo used. I'm not expecting a public apology or a parade any time soon nor do I feel that I need one. I only point it out because it's completely arbitrary that certain words draw the ire of public opinion and others don't. The only way you change people's opinions is through empathy and shared experience. Like a lot of people my age I used to be ignorant in my use of the word gay as a generic pejorative. In certain areas that particular slang usage is as common as the word 'cool'. Kids don't think about what words mean, they just say them cause other kids are saying them. Talking to friends made me understand why they found it offensive and I made the decision to change -- not because some cultural arbiter told me it was the "right thing to do" but because I recognize the humanity in other people and the importance of treating all people with respect. The political correctness dog and pony show, on the other hand, accomplishes nothing. I'm sickened that our culture still puts people in a situation where they feel that they need to hide their sexuality for employment purposes and equally sickened that the kangaroo court of public opinion leaps to convict and vilify without consideration for context or provocation. I refuse to play along.