Don Nelson’s next move: a paper sack
Posted on May 8th, 2007 – 11:13 AMBy Michael Rand
Thanks to Stu for the heads up on this story. From Bloomberg:
The National Basketball Association told Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson that he can’t bring beer into the postgame interview room.
“We talked to the team,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said in an e-mail. “It won’t happen anymore.”
Nelson, 66, brought a can of Bud Light into the interview room on more than one occasion during his team’s opening-round upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
After the series-clinching win on May 3, Nelson was watching the Turner Network Television broadcast while waiting to begin his press conference. Charles Barkley, a Turner analyst who had picked the Mavericks, was wearing a “We Believe” T- shirt worn by fans of the Warriors.
According to a Sports Illustrated account, Nelson raised his beer and called out, “The Chuckster,” referring to Barkley.
Warriors spokesman Raymond Ridder said the team received the league’s directive.
“The message did come down,” he said in a telephone interview from Utah, where the Warriors face the Jazz tonight in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal. … Ridder said he took the beer can from Nelson before the coach reached the interview podium.
The NBA’s directive comes about a week after St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock was killed in a car accident. St. Louis police said the 29-year-old Hancock was drunk at the time of the crash.
So what we have here is classic. Let’s unfold in three parts. 1) Tragedy happens. 2) There are reactions that seem somewhat symbolic and silly, though also understandable [see: Nelly story and Cardinals banning alcohol in the clubhouse]. 3) Gestures would seem far less silly and far more understandable if there wasn’t such hypocrisy. The Cardinals play in BUSCH STADIUM. Their empire was built on beer money. Beer ads are all over the NBA and related broadcasts [even if the drug of choice among players might be (cough) different. But the league takes a stand over something that doesn’t affect the bottom line. Same with the Cards banning beer in the clubhouse. You can’t have it both ways; it’s one or the other.
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