Blame It on the Media

DeShawn Stevenson made a "a menacing gesture" during the first quarter of the Wizards' 100-97 loss to the Cavaliers on Sunday, and now he has shell out $25,000.

But it's not Stevenson's fault, fans say. The media made him do it.

Anonymous: The media is largely to blame for all this mess. Deshawn made the "overrated" comment a month ago but the media brought it back to life when the playoffs started and would not let it die. Gil's blog comments did not help, either....and the Wiz fans shouting "overrated" was simply idiotic. If no words had been said (or re-reported) in the beginning, we could have simply played basketball and had a GREAT chance to win this series. But no...it became a HUGE MESS and now our season is OVER. Truly sad and so unnecessary.

McBride: I agree. . . If ever there was a case where the media had an impact on the outcome of a sporting event it was in this series. The combination of reporters hungry for controversy and an immature team (Wiz) resulted in hugely emotional games, and we're seeing that Cleveland is the more composed team in those situations.

Sure, blame the media. But if you're going to do that, don't forget to call out the referees. And definitely don't forget about the eight-year-old Cavs fan in the third row who was making faces and hurt Stevenson's feelings. That's why Stevenson lashed out.

Ashburn: Wait, hold up. Didnt Damon Jones do the slash throat move back in DC when we played the Cavs in March? Remember right after that game DS called Bron overrated. Does anyone remember this? It was towards the end of the game. I was wondering if he got fined for that.

Anonymous: In referencing Damon Jones' throat slashing gesture, the league rule clearly states: "No one in the NBA shall do the throat slash gesture, unless they play for the Cavaliers."

Ah, there we go. It's settled: Stevenson has only himself to blame.

By Lindsay Applebaum |  April 29, 2008; 2:02 PM ET  | Category:  Rants , Wizards
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