It is rarely a good look for someone that gets paid millions upon millions of dollars to complain about their work environment. Especially when, not only are you getting paid millions and milli0ns of dollars, you’re making that money playing a game… with a ball.
Occasionally something like this happens where a professional athlete gets asked a question by the media, and though they don’t mean to say anything negative, they accidentally end up doing so. Los Angeles Clippers guard Paul George has certainly “stepped in it” with his latest “being respected at work” commentary.
George, who is an 8-time NBA all star and, like Ricky Bobby, has two first names, was asked about how fans treat professional basketball players when they are on the court. Specifically, an incident that happened in a recent Clippers game where a fan talked some trash with his teammate Russell Westbrook, and Russ took exception to it.
A reporter asked him about what happened, and where he would like to see the line drawn between players and fans, and this is how he responded:
“Honestly, it is a thin line. Obviously fans, they pay their money to come to a game, so they feel they have some sort of entitlement to that. But at the same time, nowhere else can people go to someone’s job and disrespect you at your job and it be okay.
That’s just a thin line. When people come to work, they should be respected at their job, regardless if it’s sports or any other occupation. When people come to do their job, they should at least be respected.”
Retail and food service workers would like a word… maybe teachers, police officers, customer service reps… should I go on? How about we ask the child laborers in China (who the NBA LOVES) about the “respect” they get at work.
We would all like to live in a world where everyone did their job, and everyone was nice to one another, but unfortunately, that’s not the case. I once worked in a golf course pro shop and an old man yelled at me to clean the bathroom after HE took a sh*t in the floor (horrifically true story). But hey, the customer is always right…
Respectfulness is scarce in this day and age, and people don’t want to be told how hard the “work environments” is from a guy who makes $44 million dollars a year to shoot hoops. Read the room Paul…
Again, I understand what he was trying to get at with what he said (he is right in saying that everyone should be respected), but c’mon man… nobody feels sorry for professional athletes who have to “endure” trash talk from fans.
Twitter seemed to wholeheartedly agree:
lol ok when are people gonna start cheering at normal jobs, and paying people millions?
You can’t get cheers without the chance of boos. This is clown stuff.
— Joshua Fontanilla (@joshfontanilla) November 28, 2023
Try working at a grocery store, convenience store, fast food, or janitorial jobs.
— jaysonXcrossPart2 (@DNegronomics) November 29, 2023
Tell me you have never worked in the Retail/Service industry without telling me you have never worked in the Retail/Service industrie.
— J. Brandon Powell (@JBrandonPowell) November 28, 2023
Maybe, but gimme 40mil/year and anyone can come to my work and talk shit idc
— Mike (@mnguyen810) November 28, 2023
All retail and food service workers have entered the chat.
— Erik (@AsiaEconInfo) November 28, 2023
In an interview after the game, Westbrook declined to say what the fan said to him, but admitted that, to him, it “crossed the line.”
Here’s the interaction:
And of course, this is far from his first fan interaction,… remember when he confronted a fan at halftime during the playoffs last season?
