HBO's Bryant Gumbel Addresses Use Of N-Word Among Athletes

HBO's Bryant Gumbel in his closing commentary on HBO's "Real Sports" last night said, "Between the NFL's locker room flap in Miami and the tweets of the NBA's Matt Barnes, the use of the n-word seems to be on everyone's lips these days. So for jocks of all colors I'd like to offer a few guidelines or personal truths gleaned from over 40 years in locker rooms and 65 years of being black."

Gumbel: "No matter what color you are, no one else can give you a pass to say the word. Not once, not ever. ... Using the n-word says a lot about you and none of it is good. It just advertises your ignorance. ... Pronouncing it with an 'a' after the double-g in the word because you're with your boys makes you no more with it than the clown that pronounces it with the 'er'" ("Real Sports," HBO, 11/19).