NBA News: Bulls Noah fined 50Gs
So on the eve of game 4 of the Eastern Conference final between the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat, Bulls center Joakim Noah is going to find his wallet $50,000 lighter. The league fined the Bulls enigmatic center 50 grand for uttering a ant-gay slur at a fan in the first quarter of game 3 Sunday night in Miami. Miffed that he was in early foul trouble and had to take a seat, in full view of the television cameras Noah turned and went into a curse ridden rant at the fan sitting behind the Bulls bench. After the game 3 loss Noah admitted to what he did and apologized for engaging the fan in such a manner. He also acknowledged that he expected to be punished, but what the punishment would be he didn't know. Yesterday word came out that Noah had a sit down with NBA officials to discuss the matter and soon after the fine was served. Joakim took his punishment like a man.....
“I made a mistake, learned from it and move on,” Noah said. “That’s about it.”
Everyone has tried to compare this to the incident back in April where Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant uttered a similar insult to one of the officials and was fined $100,000 by the league. What Kobe said to the official was wrong and uncalled for no matter how much he was displeased with the refs call. Its not like the official said something derogatory to Kobe to warrant a response like that. On the other hand it begs to wonder what the fan was saying to Noah to set him off like that. Trust me I'm not excusing Noah's reaction, he has been playing ball long enough that he should know by now to block all that stuff out and just let it ride. Fans have been notorious for years to go over the top with their comments and not held accountable for what they say especially in ear shot of the players. Again the players have to just tune it out and play through it, that is part of the game. Though just because a fan pays big money for their seats doesn't give them the right to demoralize their teams opponents. They have the right to boo, jeer, and berate them, but if the players are expected to adhere to some kind of decorum it should be returned in kind. I'm only assuming that this fan said something way off base, Noah hasn't acknowledged publicly what the person said to him to respond in such a way but obviously it wasn't pretty. Noah has bigger concerns right now, he and the Bulls are down 2-1 to the Heat which could be 3-1 if they don't get their act together tonight in game 4. Noah did nothing in game 3, all he did was let someone get in his head, he can ill-afford to let that happen again.......nuff said
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