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Tuesday, May 6
Updated: May 6, 1:11 PM ET
Kidd's wife on receiving end of 'smack' talk
ESPN.com news services
Bob Ryan, a sports columnist for the Boston Globe, said on a Boston television station Sunday night that he'd "like to smack" Jason Kidd's wife, Joumana, because he believes she uses her son T.J. Kidd as a "prop." Ryan also said Joumana behaves like an "exhibitionist" because of her lust for the camera. A shocked Bob Lobel, the host of WBZ TV's Sports Final, twice asked Ryan to retract the "smack" remark and Ryan refused. Ryan told the New York Post on Monday night that he would like to take back what he said, calling it a mistake.
Ryan's remarks came two years after Kidd was arrested for striking Joumana during a domestic dispute, eventually agreeing to a plea in which he received court-ordered counseling for six months, and a year after Joumana said she felt threatened by FleetCenter fans in Boston during the Eastern Conference finals, when some fans chanted "Wife-Beater" at Kidd. The Globe said it would release an official statement on the matter later Tuesday. Ryan also works for ESPN as a regular panelist on "Around the Horn" and "The Sports Reporters" and is a regular guest on ESPN Radio.
Speaking about the harsh treatment Joumana received last year from Celtics fans during the playoffs, Ryan said on WBZ-TV Sunday night, "I got theories with this woman, this Joumana Kidd who wants to be a TV star. She wants face time on camera. The great way to get face time is to bring the cute, little precocious kid. Oh, great. I'd like to smack her." At that point, Lobel interrupted, saying, "You can't say that. What's happening here? You know what, I will give you a mulligan on that." Ryan retorted: "I'm not looking for that." Lobel persisted, saying, "You just don't want to smack her. You just don't mean to say that. Really, tell me you don't?"
"Why should I say anything different than I said all playoffs last year?" Ryan said. Told about the remarks last night, Joumana Kidd told the Post, "I feel sorry for [Ryan] but I have nothing to say bad about him or Boston. I'm not mad at him. I'm sorry I offend him." Ryan, covering Monday night's Game 1 of the Nets-Celtics playoff rematch, repeatedly said to the Post he regretted not taking back the remark right away. At the time, Ryan said he felt he would've come off as "a hypocrite."
But moments after the show, Ryan said he knew he blew it. "Driving home, I'm thinking that was bad, that was a mistake," Ryan said. "I'd like to have that back. I know the times, I know the problem. It's like saying, 'I'm going to kill you.' You don't really mean it. I regret it. It was a stupid choice of words. Stupid guy-talk. But I stand by the other points."
Ryan was not available to come on-camera Tuesday. Earlier in the WBZ interview, Ryan said of Kidd's wife, "First of all, she should stay home. Joumana Kidd, who you can almost go as far as calling her an exhibitionist herself. They use that kid as a prop. I'm so down on parents using their kids as props. "She's parading around in ridiculous outfits with Jason Kidd stuff all over it," Ryan added. "She just doesn't slink in and sit in a box, which would be fine. This irritates me."
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That is really a shame for someone to actually say that. I would've liked for him to say that in the New Jersey locker room. He would deserve what he would get.
