NBA sends warning against gang signs

[tyrant]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-nflgangs&prov=ap&type=lgns
NEW YORK (AP)—The NFL is stepping up its monitoring of on-field player activities to ensure that no one is flashing the hand signals of street gangs.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that the league had hired experts to look at game tapes and identify players or team officials who might be using suspected gang signals. Violators would be warned and disciplined if the episodes recurred.
League officials said Tuesday that avoiding gang-related activities has long been stressed.
They said the scrutiny was intensified after the shooting death of Denver cornerback Darrent Williams in 2007 after Williams was involved in a dispute with known gang members. Anti-gang information is included in orientation literature and stressed in the annual mandatory league meeting for rookies.

The NFL took further notice after Paul Pierce of the NBA’s Boston Celtics was fined $25,000 in April for what the league said was a “menacing gesture” toward the Atlanta Hawks’ bench. “I 100 percent do not in any way promote gang violence or anything close to it.” Pierce said in a statement. “I am sorry if it was misinterpreted that way at Saturday’s game.”
The Times said that was the precipitating incident for the NFL.
“We were always suspicious that might be happening,” it quoted Mike Pereira, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, as saying of gang-related signals. “But the Paul Pierce thing is what brought it to light. When he was fined … that’s when we said we need to take a look at it and see if we need to be aware of it.”
Most senior NFL officials were at a league outing Tuesday and could not immediately be reached for comment.


ive never seen anything? did you?

 

[uolj]

Yeah, it was in the news at the time, but a small story.

[yt=Pierce sign]PGAPpfrf4fk[/yt]

And it's the NFL, not the NBA, looking at this issue.

 

[Superman]

Yeah, that's a gang sign. Don't care what Pierce says.

On a side note, those three games Atlanta won in that series were some great fun, weren't they? Aside from the Hornets games, I think those were my favorite games.

 

[tyrant]

thanks for the video. ive never seen it. looks like a gang sign to me.

 

[uolj]

Yeah, that's a gang sign. Don't care what Pierce says.

Just because it is a gang sign doesn't mean the intent when it was used was as a gang sign.

 

[Superman]

Just because it is a gang sign doesn't mean the intent when it was used was as a gang sign.

Why else would you throw up a gang sign? What other intent is there?

Pierce can't even plead ignorance, having grown up in Inglewood.

 

[nbrans]

You'd think a guy who was stabbed 11 times would know better.

 

[venom_7]

Pierce can't even plead ignorance, having grown up in Inglewood.

Alright thats ignorant. If he says it wasn't a gang sign, then it wasn't a gang sign.

Doesn't matter his race or where he is from. Stop with the speculation, even IF the stereotype is correct. I find that offensive.

 

[uolj]

Why else would you throw up a gang sign? What other intent is there?

Pierce can't even plead ignorance, having grown up in Inglewood.

You realize that a hand gesture can have more than one meaning, right?

 

[nbrans]

Come on, people. He flashed a hand signal that looked like a gang gesture, the NBA fined him $25,000, the NBA issues a warning about hand signals. There isn't much ambiguity here.

I mean, what do you think he was flashing, sign language for "I love the NBA?"

 

[nbrans]

Alright thats ignorant. If he says it wasn't a gang sign, then it wasn't a gang sign.

Doesn't matter his race or where he is from. Stop with the speculation, even IF the stereotype is correct. I find that offensive.

Since when has an NBA player facing a fine EVER told the truth?? And he didn't even deny that it was a gang gesture, his statement only said he was against "gang violence."

 

[uolj]

Come on, people. He flashed a hand signal that looked like a gang gesture, the NBA fined him $25,000, the NBA issues a warning about hand signals. There isn't much ambiguity here.

I mean, what do you think he was flashing, sign language for "I love the NBA?"

I'm not saying he wasn't flashing a gang sign. I wouldn't be surprised if he was. I'm just correcting the misguided notion that just because somebody makes a gesture that in some cases is used as a gang sign that it necessarily means that's how it was intended.

That exact gesture was used as an example in a different article I read on the same subject as being one that is ambiguous and that the NFL would have a hard time identifying as a definite gang symbol.

 

[SacKings384]

What a bunch of little whiners. I swear this nation is turning into sensitive little babies that can't take anything.

 

[creAtivetfh]

it looks like he's holding up "3" which would be what game it was meaning "this game means nothing"

 

[AriesMar27]

its not pierces fault that he couldnt think of anything better to use... if darius miles and qrich hadnt trademarked their hand gesture we wouldnt be having this conversation....

 

[venom_7]

Since when has an NBA player facing a fine EVER told the truth?? And he didn't even deny that it was a gang gesture, his statement only said he was against "gang violence."

He was gonna get fined no matter what he said. I agree with one of the other posters, he was holding up a 3 to signify '3 games up' or whatever. I'm from Concorde/San Pablo, does that mean any hand gesture I make is a gang sign? It doesn't matter if he is from Inglewood.

 

[venom_7]

What a bunch of little whiners. I swear this nation is turning into sensitive little babies that can't take anything.

quoted for truth

 

[Superman]

Alright thats ignorant. If he says it wasn't a gang sign, then it wasn't a gang sign.

Doesn't matter his race or where he is from. Stop with the speculation, even IF the stereotype is correct. I find that offensive.

What the hell are you talking about? Who said anything about his race?

He grew up in one of the most gang-infested cities in the country, and that has an impact on what he knows about gang signs.

The guy was jumped and got stabbed over and over again, and there were rumors that the attack could have been gang-related.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_pierce

This is NOT a stereotype. I'm not talking about anyone but Paul Pierce.

I'm from Concorde/San Pablo, does that mean any hand gesture I make is a gang sign? It doesn't matter if he is from Inglewood

No, but it does mean that if you throw up a gang sign you know probably know what you're doing. It does matter where you're from, as the things you know and are acquainted with are definitely related to where you grew up.

And just because he says it wasn't a gang sign doesn't mean it wasn't a gang sign. Does anyone believe that he would ever admit that it was? The gesture was very similar (the same, really) to the sign Pirus use. Where would he have gotten that from? Lincoln, Massachusetts?

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

And just because he says it wasn't a gang sign doesn't mean it wasn't a gang sign. Does anyone believe that he would ever admit that it was? The gesture was very similar (the same, really) to the sign Pirus use. Where would he have gotten that from? Lincoln, Massachusetts?

Supes, don't be ridiculous... He picked it up in Lincoln, Kansas...

 

[sactownfan]

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...+sign&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en-us&sa=N

 

[venom_7]

What the hell are you talking about? Who said anything about his race?

The gesture was very similar (the same, really) to the sign Pirus use. Where would he have gotten that from? Lincoln, Massachusetts?

The race thing was implied. If Christian Laettner throws that up nobody says anything. Thats a problem in itself, whether you admit it or not.

Also, if Pierce intended that to be Pirus' gang sign, he didn't do it right. Just because it resembles a gang sign doesn't mean he intended to use it as such.

 

[Superman]

The race thing was implied. If Christian Laettner throws that up nobody says anything. Thats a problem in itself, whether you admit it or not.

Also, if Pierce intended that to be Pirus' gang sign, he didn't do it right. Just because it resembles a gang sign doesn't mean he intended to use it as such.

Okay, we're going to have to back off the race topic, because you really don't know what you're talking about, and this isn't the place for that type of discussion.

And whether he intended it to be a gang sign or not (it's pretty ironic that it is a gang sign, isn't it?), it is a gang sign, and that's enough. The Crips and the Bloods have a long history of not being reasonable or logical in their behavior, and if someone in LA recognized that as a gang sign, it could have easily meant a lot of trouble for Pierce and his teammates when they came out here for the Finals.

We should stop with the devil's advocate game now. It was a gang sign, and whether he knew it or not doesn't change what it was.

 

[Spike]

I gave a student a detention for cursing in spanish. He claims he didn't know what it meant. I gave him a double for 1. doing it in the first place, and 2. not knowing what it meant. You'd think an adult would know better about number 2.

That's it, it's over, he was fined, regardless of how he felt about the situation, we move on. Understand that free speech doesn't mean you are absovled of any consequence.

 

[Superman]

Supes, don't be ridiculous... He picked it up in Lincoln, Kansas...

Right, because he and Ryan Robertson used to drive up to Lincoln Center and bang on off days...

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The race thing was implied. If Christian Laettner throws that up nobody says anything. Thats a problem in itself, whether you admit it or not.

Bolded for emphasis. You might as well have said "If Pierce were white."

You should at least have the integrity to actually wait for a white player to actually throw signs, and then not get called out for it before you cry double-standard.

 

[Jerryaki]

I gave a student a detention for cursing in spanish. He claims he didn't know what it meant. I gave him a double for 1. doing it in the first place, and 2. not knowing what it meant. You'd think an adult would know better about number 2.

we need more teachers like you.

 

[Spike]

we need more teachers like you.

I'm looking to relocate

 

[KingNoy]

looked like 3 fingers up with a circle created by pointer and thumb.

That's also an "OK" sign or an "A** Hole" sign. Lighten up I say.

 

[Semi]

I always had my suspicions with Paul.

 

[Superman]

looked like 3 fingers up with a circle created by pointer and thumb.

That's also an "OK" sign or an "A** Hole" sign. Lighten up I say.

That's not how you signify that you're saying "OK". And, if I'm not mistaken, the sign for a-hole is done with your fingers pointing up also.

But that's all beside the point. It's pretty clear from the video that he wasn't saying "OK", and while he might have possibly been saying "a-hole", it was pretty obvious to anyone who's seen that particular gang sign used what he was doing. I just showed the video to a coworker who grew up in LA, and he said the exact same thing.

I'm not saying that we throw Paul Pierce out of the League. I'm just saying that he threw up a gang sign. I also think that anyone who believes he didn't know what he was doing is either naive or just faking it.