by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–On Monday Golden State Warriors co-owner emailed his players that he will have to learn how to speak different languages because of the team’s international background. Gruber wrote “I’m taking Rosetta Stone to learn Hungarian, Serbian, Australian, Swahili, and Hoodish, this year but it’s nice.”

Gruber corrected himself once it was pointed out to him that using the term “Hoodish” is a racially derogatory term in the text that he used it in his next email he backtracked and said he meant to say “Yiddish” although there are no Jewish players on the Warriors making his backtracking difficult for some to accept. Warriors media relations manager Raymond Ridder sent out an email to the press notifying them that the team extends congratulations to all 30 teams who have 101 players from 37 different countries.

Ridder said a third of the team roster consisted of Warrior players Andrew Bogut, Leandro Barbosa, Festus Ezeli, Ognjen Kuzmic, and Nemanja Nedovic. Gruber retracked by telling the media it was a email faux pas and “someone brought to my attention that an email I responded to earlier contains the word ‘hoodish’ which I don’t think is even a word, and certainly is not the one I intended to use. I intended to type Yiddish. Either my mobile phone autocorrected or it was typed wrong. In any event I regret if anyone was unintendedly offended.” wrote Gruber.

Gruber is Chairman of Mandalay Entertainment Group and he bought into the Warriors ownership group becoming co-owner with Joe Lacob in 2010 paying an NBA record $450 million for an NBA a franchise. Gruber is a minority owner with former L.A. Laker Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

None of the players are saying that they are offended by Gruber’s use of the word “Hoodish” in needing to learn the language or if they believed him or not that he meant to use the word “Yiddish” even though there is no Yiddish speaking players on the Warriors.

Warriors star Stephen Curry said that Gruber’s intentions were harmless, “I know Peter, I know him personally, I talk to him, doesn’t sound like something he would say. To me it sounds like an honest mistake. I’ve read a couple emails from him and he has a little quirkiness about how he types. Hearing how his reaction to when he found out what happened sounds genuine, kind of got to assess the situation for his character and who he is and that’s how I’m going about it.” said Curry

Recently some NBA front office people were forced to quit over racial remarks, Bruce Levinson of the Atlanta Hawks sent out an email saying black fans scared away white fans at Atlanta Hawks home games “and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base” Levinson was forced to sell his controlling interest because of his remarks. Levinson’s General Manager Danny Ferry responded saying while reading a scouting report that Luol Deng who now plays for the Miami Heat “has little African in him”. Ferry has since stepped down and has left the Hawks indefinitely.

Then there is Donald Sterling former Los Angeles Clippers owner who was forced to sell the Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer when he was recorded by his friend V Stiviano making racial remarks and discriminatory racist remarks about Stiviano bringing black friends to Clippers games. Sterling was banned from the NBA for life and had to sell the team for $2 billion.

Jerry Feitelberg covers Golden State Warriors basketball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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