FanPost

For anyone who would like to Email NBA.com about Reggie and Kenny's disrespectful remarks.

Kenny and Reggie's disrespectful remarks about Rudy wearing the Martin jersey as a tribute really ticked me off. I'm no NBA historian, but even I knew Martin was the first Spanish player ever to play in the NBA, and one of the first international players to play as well. It wasn't just that they didn't know who he was, that would have been fine, as you can't fault someone for ignorance. It was the way in which they mocked the tribute, and falied to recognize Rudy's profound and touching statement. I decided to write an e-mail to the nba to voice my complaint, to probably no avail...but if all B Edgers decided to write an email, all several thousand of us, maybe, just maybe TNT would run a story about Martin's impact to Spanish and international players everywhere. If anyone would like to email the NBA about this here is the link. On TNT's website it says if you would like to say something to the NBA broadcast team there is a just a link to the NBA.com website, so I think this is probably the best avenue of communication.

Here it is.

http://www.nba.com/email_us/contact_us.html

Also, here is Reggie's email address as well thanks to pxilpooshr. reggiesmailbag@turner.com

Here is the email I wrote if anyone is lazy and just wants to copy it.

I would like to voice my serious disturbance with the broadcast team of Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller during Rudy Fernandez's portion of the dunk contest. Rudy wore a tribute jersey to Fernando Martin, the first Spanish ( and one of the first international ) player ever to play in the NBA. When he donned the jersey, Reggie and Kenny not only didn't know who he was, they mispronounced his name, made fun of the tribute, and were very disrespectful to the Spanish nationality as a whole. Fernando Martin paved the way for not just Spanish basketball players, but all international players, before tragically dying in a car accident in 89. His story is a very inspiring one, one that was mocked, and completely disrespected by the broadcast team. I previously thought Reggie and Kenny were class acts, but clearly they are not, if they fail to recognize the great accomplishment Martin made at the expense of racist, insensitive jokes. If the NBA is truly trying to branch out to international audiences, perhaps they should insist their announcers be more respectful to the legacy of pioneers like Fernando Martin. Rudy Fernandez tried to make a profound statement, and I think it was lost to a lot of viewers thanks to Kenny and Reggie. I personally think they should address this issue on air somehow, perhaps not by means of a public apology, but maybe tell the story of Martin and the inspiration he gave to international players everywhere.