Right before game 2 between the Spurs and Suns began, TNT's pregame coverage did a segment on Arizona's misguided SB 1070 law because Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns have voiced their opposition to it. Charles Barkley had already criticized the bill and John McCain before the game yesterday, but we didn't know how the rest of the TNT crew felt.
As their reporter, Marty Snider on the ground finished, he made sure to say that the scheduled Al Sharpton protest was going to be peaceful. Kenny Smith thought that was ridiculous.
Snider: It's important to emphasize that this is to be a very peaceful protest. There's plenty of police around the arena...
EJ: What are you shacking your head about?
Smith: I'm not here to get on Marty, but why did he emphasize safe...What's going to happen...is the Mayor going to slap somebody?
Barkley: Al Sharpton's got a jerry curl. He's got a perm...
The only people screwing it up are the politicians.
Smith: Without question.
Barkley: The governor, the interim governor I might add. JD Hayworth and John McCain. They're the ones screwing this thing up. I have to really take my hat off to Robert Sarver and his sons for taking a stand. Living in Arizona for a long time, the Hispanic community are like the fabric of the cloth. They're part of our community and anytime you try to do any type of racial profiling or racial discrimination, this is a federal, Obama..we've got to do something because these little light weight politicians in AZ don't know what they're doing.
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Webber: ..they said it a long time ago. By the time I get to Arizona," I'm not surprised. The didn't even want it to be a MLK day, when John McCain was in, so, if you follow history you know that this is part of Arizona politics.
I commend the Phoenix Suns organization and Steve Nash for speaking out and I also was glad to see that TNT didn't bury it either.
