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PHILADELPHIA
VS.
INDIANA
MILWAUKEE
VS.
ORLANDO
MIAMI
VS.
CHARLOTTE
NEW YORK
VS.
TORONTO
SAN ANTONIO
VS.
MINNESOTA
L.A. LAKERS
VS.
PORTLAND
SACRAMENTO
VS.
PHOENIX
UTAH
VS.
DALLAS
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Ward booed early, cheered late
Associated Press
NEW YORK – Charlie Ward turned the home crowd's jarring
jeers into forgiving cheers by making his latest statement on the
court.
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| Ward |
The Knicks' guard, criticized by Jewish groups for comments in a
magazine article this weekend, was booed repeatedly early in New
York's 92-85 playoff victory over Toronto on Sunday.
The Madison Square Garden crowd let him hear it when he entered
the game as a reserve about two minutes into the second quarter,
and again the first several times he touched the ball. They even
booed when the above-court video screen showed a tape of him
kissing his wife.
"I was a bit shocked by the booing," Knicks guard Mark Jackson
said. "It's surprising when you look at how he's represented the
team and the city."
It was a completely different story down the stretch, though.
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Jewish group wants Ward
removed as literacy spokesman
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The American Jewish Congress wants Charlie Ward, a former Florida State basketball and football star, removed as the state's "Born to Read" literacy campaign spokesman
for the published comments he made about Jews.
A letter signed Monday by Paul D. Breitner and Jack Karako of
the AJC's southeast region office asked Florida Secretary of State
Katherine Harris to immediately remove all promotional posters
featuring Ward.
"Failure to act promptly," they said, "would be considered to
give credence to the comments made by Mr. Ward."
In his role as spokesman for the Florida program, Ward appears
in public service announcements with his year-old son, Caleb,
urging teen parents to read to their babies.
Ward, arguably the most popular athlete in Florida State history
and the Heisman Trophy winner in 1993, was quoted in The New York Times Magazine saying: "Jews
are stubborn. Tell me, why did they persecute Jesus unless he knew
something they didn't want to accept? They had his blood on their
hands."
Ward said in an article
published Sunday in The New York Times Magazine, that Jews are
"stubborn" and persecute members of their faith who become
Christians.
Ben McKay, chief of staff for Harris, said they had not received
a copy of the letter from the American Jewish Congress and would
not respond until they had seen its contents.
– Associated Press
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The crowd screamed support when, with under 10 minutes left,
Ward hit a long jumper – his first field goal of the game – to put
New York ahead 72-68.
And standing ovations greeted Ward when he sank a 3-pointer four
minutes later to make it 81-75, and then when he made a steal and
sank two free throws in the last 20 seconds to seal the win.
"I'm grateful that I had great team support. My teammates were
supporting me and there were also people in the crowd that were
supporting me, regardless," said Ward, who finished with nine
points and two assists. "Believe it or not, that's not the first
time I've been booed here."
Allan Houston, also quoted in the article, was jeered some
during player introductions.
"For us it was on the back burner," Houston said after scoring
a game-high 23 points Sunday.
"We didn't want it to be a distraction, and I can speak for
Charlie and everybody to say that we didn't mean anything by it and
apologize if anybody took it the wrong way."
In an article in The New York Times Magazine, Ward said Jews are
"stubborn" and persecute members of their faith who become
Christians.
The article recounts that Ward and several teammates took part
in a Bible study class before a game against Milwaukee and
questioned the author, who is Jewish, about the Old Testament,
cultural identity and dietary laws.
Ward is quoted as saying: "Jews are stubborn. Tell me, why did
they persecute Jesus unless he knew something they didn't want to
accept? They had his blood on their hands."
Houston is described as pulling out a Palm Pilot and indexing a
passage from the Bible. "Matthew 26, Verse 67. Then they spit in
Jesus' face and hit his with their fists."
The Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Congress were
among those to chastise Ward and Houston.
"What goes on off the court is off the court," Ward said.
"When I go on the court, I go out and play to the best of my
ability."
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