Oh my God, I cannot believe this; Why is everything involving China so complicated? So, Saturday night I read something, on ESPN I think, about this:
Cool! Daryl Morey, Ben Harris, whatever, just another guy on China.
'Ceptin he wasn't just another guy on China.
He was, and is, the general manager of the Houston "Rockets" of the NBA, clearly identifying himself as such in his twitter profile.
The story I read was also about this.
"Listen ... @dmorey does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets. Our presence in Tokyo is all about the promotion of the @NBA internationally and we are NOT a political organization."
THAT was from Tilman Fertitta, the owner of the Houston "Rockets," like Morey's boss.
Which is what they did issue. Okay fine! That's a pretty good statement. But wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute, "his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA," see you're taking sides there, you're taking the side of your friends in Zhongnanhai, not your friends in Hong Kong. Why not just say it was regrettable because although Morey evidently thought he had a First Amendment right, which we all know in America means an obligation, to speak on any goddamned thing he wants to, in fact he had no such right to speak as the general manager of the "Rockets," which is a business, whose purpose is to make yuan, and he just endangered the free flow of zillions of yuan into the pocket of his BOSS, the owner of the team?...Maybe not say all of that. Distance yourselves from official-ness of it but not the content.
The league's first official statement pissed off all freedom of speech/freedom for Hong Kongers. "The World’s Wokest Sports League Bows to China," was an opinion piece yesterday in the New York Times. American politicians got involved. Every fucking politician got involved. Then Adam stepped on his dick again. The league issued a statement in Chinese on Weibo, the English translation of which is:
On Tuesday Mr Silver issued a statement saying: "The NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues."
He later told reporters in Japan that the league would not compromise its values on freedom of speech and was motivated by more than money.
Yeah! Tilman, you're good with that, right?
The NBA commissioner said he understood there would be consequences but that "we will have to live with those consequences."
Tilman?
Cool! Daryl Morey, Ben Harris, whatever, just another guy on China.
'Ceptin he wasn't just another guy on China.
He was, and is, the general manager of the Houston "Rockets" of the NBA, clearly identifying himself as such in his twitter profile.
The story I read was also about this.
"Listen ... @dmorey does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets. Our presence in Tokyo is all about the promotion of the @NBA internationally and we are NOT a political organization."
THAT was from Tilman Fertitta, the owner of the Houston "Rockets," like Morey's boss.
My instant reaction Saturday night was "Oh, that was a bird pump by Morey. Fertitta is absolutely right."
That was my instant reaction because:
That was my instant reaction because:
1) Nobody does China like the Houston "Rockets."
Houston had Yao Ming, Chinese, now head of the Chinese Basketball Association, play his entire NBA career with them. The "Rockets" do a ton of business in China.
And 2):
Fertitta was absolutely correct, Morey does NOT speak for the "Rockets" (on political matters, anyhow), Fertitta speaks for the "Rockets" on accounta he owns them.
This is not a free speech issue! If Morey had tweeted from an account not clearly identifying himself as the GM of the most Chinese team in the NBA, mazel tov to Morey! But he did send that tweet as the general manager of the "Rockets."
I anticipated Zhongnanhai going ape shit over this on accounta that's what they do. They exist to go ape shit over shit like this but I did think that Fertitta's immediate denunciation of Morey's presumptuousness and Morey taking the original tweet down and tweeting an apology would serve to calm the Chinese out of administering too severe a struggle session. I went to bed with visions of Pitt sugar plums dancing in my head and thought no more of this.
Then the league got involved. Adam Silver, Have I ever said a bad word about Adam Silver?, No. I love Adam Silver, but on this issue Adam stepped on his dick. Sunday a league spokesman issued a statement:
Then the league got involved. Adam Silver, Have I ever said a bad word about Adam Silver?, No. I love Adam Silver, but on this issue Adam stepped on his dick. Sunday a league spokesman issued a statement:
Which is what they did issue. Okay fine! That's a pretty good statement. But wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute, "his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA," see you're taking sides there, you're taking the side of your friends in Zhongnanhai, not your friends in Hong Kong. Why not just say it was regrettable because although Morey evidently thought he had a First Amendment right, which we all know in America means an obligation, to speak on any goddamned thing he wants to, in fact he had no such right to speak as the general manager of the "Rockets," which is a business, whose purpose is to make yuan, and he just endangered the free flow of zillions of yuan into the pocket of his BOSS, the owner of the team?...Maybe not say all of that. Distance yourselves from official-ness of it but not the content.
The league's first official statement pissed off all freedom of speech/freedom for Hong Kongers. "The World’s Wokest Sports League Bows to China," was an opinion piece yesterday in the New York Times. American politicians got involved. Every fucking politician got involved. Then Adam stepped on his dick again. The league issued a statement in Chinese on Weibo, the English translation of which is:
Those are different, see? Everybody saw. Everybody got even more pissed. This time, I agree with the pissers. Do NOT issue one statement for U.S. consumption and another, clearly more obsequious, to the Chinese!
Now, the Chinese went ape shit:
...state-run broadcaster CCTV and Tencent Holdings, which streams NBA games in China, said they would stop broadcasting Rockets matches.
On Sunday the CBA suspended co-operation with the team, as did Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning and the club's sponsor in China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
Now, the Chinese went ape shit:
...state-run broadcaster CCTV and Tencent Holdings, which streams NBA games in China, said they would stop broadcasting Rockets matches.
On Sunday the CBA suspended co-operation with the team, as did Chinese sportswear brand Li-Ning and the club's sponsor in China, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.
Then today...Adam, wtf?
But NBA boss Adam Silver defended Mr Morey and said the league would "support freedom of expression".
FIRST AMENDMENT! FIRST AMENDMENT!
FIRST AMENDMENT! FIRST AMENDMENT!
And:
U.S.A.! U.S.A.! N.B.A.! N.B.A.!
He later told reporters in Japan that the league would not compromise its values on freedom of speech and was motivated by more than money.
Yeah! Tilman, you're good with that, right?
The NBA commissioner said he understood there would be consequences but that "we will have to live with those consequences."
Tilman?
And:
But he recognised that "this issue might not die down so quickly".
You got that last one right, buddy. Keep in touch.
