An American journalist insults Dražen Petrović and invites a wave of criticism on social media for her clumsy statement, for which she appears to have offered no apology.
As SibenikIN writes on the 19th of December, 2018, in a short video clip about Carmelo Anthony and his legacy, American journalist Elle Duncan mentions Croatia’s basketball legend Dražen Petrović, bizarrely claiming that he found himself in the Hall of Fame despite the fact that he, at least according to her, ”didn’t leave his mark on the game” like Carmelo Anthony has. In short, Carmelo Anthony and his career were glorified in the video clip, as tportal reported.
After having listed what could be placed as Anthony’s legacy within the sport, the American journalist insults Dražen Petrović, stating that the list ”doesn’t mean much” because Dražen Petrović (which was also pronounced wrongly) is there,” before claiming that the Croatian basketball star ”didn’t leave his mark on the game” like Anthony did.
In short and without going on and on, the American ESPN journalist obviously thinks some basketball players who weren’t that great at the NBA have also still managed to find their places in the Hall of Fame.
As could be expected, shortly after the release of this video material, the style of which was intended to be amusing somehow, comments began being made in which the vast majority of readers thought that the journalist’s ”performance” was ridiculous, others stated how much of a sad state of affairs it must be for someone like her to be commenting on basketball.
This poses the question as to exactly why Croatia’s incredible Dražen Petrović, of all the possible basketball players in the Hall of Fame, can be a bad example in Duncan’s opinion? Just how the iconic Dražen Petrović, who played an enormous part in making it possible for many foreign players to get a chance in that world, could be a poor example, obviously only she knows. Does she know anything at all about Dražen’s sporting career before joining the NBA, during which he dominated the court in the then Yugoslav and the Croatian national team? Unlikely.
The American journalist’s Twitter profile, on which some extremely negative comments have been being received, is completely buried. Of course, more than 90 percent of the basketball lovers commenting ”invited” her to apologise for her mistake, but it seems she’s refusing to do so. The fact that she has offended Dražen Petrović, his family, and all those who appreciate the Mozart of basketball, clearly doesn’t phase her. Her knowledge of the fact that there is a Museum dedicated to Dražen Petrović himself in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, which has been visited by many NBA stars, as well as numerous American journalists, is probably also slim.
”It’s unbelievable and unnecessary to show such a lack of respect for Dražen Petrović. He was a fantastic basketball player who created a path for all other European basketball players in the NBA. He was tragically injured before he could give anything to the NBA. You could’ve done this without mentioning Dražen,” stated one comment.
”Only a completely ignorant person can claim that Dražen Petrović didn’t leave a mark in basketball. Dražen left his mark all over the world and achieved incredible things before he even reached the NBA. No wonder everyone thinks of ESPN as bad television when you’ve got such reporters,” reads another scathing comment.
In order to glorify someone, one doesn’t need to put another down. This is usually something learned early on in life, but that lesson obviously hasn’t reached everyone.
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