ANOTHER SAD DAY
Knicks voice Mike Breen chokes up remembering Kobe and Bill Gallo
Knicks play-by-play man Mike Breen nearly broke down during his broadcast of Sunday night’s game against the Nets, hours after the death of Kobe Bryant. “On my way into the arena I thought of Bill Gallo,” Breen said as the Knicks and Nets took the court for tip-off. “Gallo was the legendary sports cartoonist (for the Daily News) and when Thurman Munson passed away, the next day he had an unbelievably touching cartoon. It was his two characters that he had, Basement Bertha and Yuchie and the cartoon read, Basement Bertha saying, ‘No, Yuchie, I just don’t feel like playing ball today.’ And she was crying. And that’s the way I think a lot of us feel here tonight. Just don’t feel like broadcasting. I know a lot of players, excuse me, just don’t feel like playing. It’s just a sad, sad day.”
A reproduction of Bill Gallo’s cartoon from 1979 is above.
WASHINGTON POST WRITER SUSPENDED
Shortly after Bryant was killed Sunday, Washington Post political reporter Felicia Sonmez tweeted a link to a 2016 Daily Beast story about the time Bryant was charged with raping a 19-year-old in
Colorado. By Sunday night, the Post had suspended Sonmez and she had deleted her tweets about Bryant.
“National political reporter Felicia Sonmez was placed on administrative leave while The Post reviews whether tweets about the death of Kobe Bryant violated The Post newsroom’s social media policy,” managing editor Tracy Grant said in a statement. “The tweets displayed poor judgment that undermined the work of her colleagues.“
Sonmez’s first tweet was just a Daily Beast headline — “Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser’s Story, and the Half-Confession” — and a link to the story. After receiving heavy criticism, Sonmez followed up with at least three more tweets.
The first two read: “Well, THAT WAS eye-opening. To the 10,000 people (literally) who have commented and emailed me with abuse and death threats, please take a moment and read the story — which was written 3+ years ago, and not by me.”
She followed those with screenshots of her email inbox. Journalist Matthew Keys reported Monday that the email screenshot is actually what got Sonmez suspended. “Her managers don’t care about the Daily Beast tweet,” a Post source told Keys. “But there’s a concern that the screen shot might create some legal issues and could violate Twitter’s terms.”
IVERSON REMEMBERS
Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant’s fellow draft class legend, put out a statement about the famous Laker’s death Monday.
“The only 2 words that ring in my head — devastated and heartbroken … His generosity and respect for the game is something that I witnessed first-hand every time we stepped on the dance floor to compete.”
After a road game for Iverson’s 76ers at Bryant’s Lakers, the two rookies went to dinner.
“I’m going to the club,” Iverson told Bryant. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to the gym,” Bryant responded.
“That is who he always was, a true student of the game of basketball and also the game of life,” Iverson wrote Monday. “He prepared relentlessly.”