Be honest: The only reason you remember Mahmoud Abdul Rauf — that's Chris Jackson, for those who knew him back in Mississippi — is because he was the guy who didn't stand for the national anthem back in 1995. Some people were not entirely pleased with his act of defiance.

Carlos Delgado believed the U.S. invasion of Iraq was the "stupidest war ever," and he chose to stage a personal protest and not stand when God Bless America played in the seventh inning at ballparks. Yankees fans weren't so accepting of his decision, and on one occasion, when he lined out in the top of the seventh, New Yorkers started their "U-S-A!" chants. Patriotism at its finest.

All it takes for ESPN to cover to finally give some press to the Manhattanville women's basketball team is a player turning her back to the American flag during the national anthem. She faced the other way for her "quiet, private expression to herself of her own thoughts, her own ideas and moral judgment." The uproar wasn't as silent.

Allen Iverson's charity flag football game. (Yep.) National anthem begins to blare. Josh Howard: "Star Spangled Banner's going on right now. I don't celebrate that shit, because I'm black."

From all accounts, Carl Lewis is a perfectly patriotic gentleman. He won 10 medals, nine of them gold, for the Red, White and Blue, and after all of those times he ascended the Olympic podium, he listened to Francis Scott Key's magnum opus. Chances are, he even memorized it. If only he could have hit the notes at a 1993 NBA game. His rendition is slightly offensive, and entirely enjoyable. Who said schadenfreude was German?

Mark Cuban kept Howard's discipline in-house and said that his organization "would deal with it" but didn't get real specific. Howard also had that little anti-National Anthem dust-up in September that also brought him some unflattering notoriety. The Mavericks forward offered up a few more choice quotes recently — not about weed or flags this time — but something even more potentially embarrassing — his favorite skin care products. :

• "Nobody likes dry lips. To keep mine kissable, I use Aveeno Essential Moisture Lip Conditioner"

• "To keep my cheeks kissable, too, I opt for Aloe Soothing Day Cream."

• "After running the court, it's always nice to have a foot massage, then a little maintenance with Farmhouse Fresh Foot Scrubs in Sugared Maple. This stuff smells so good."

Dude....STOP.

I wonder if this interview will get Howard kicked off of the "Big City Rydaz" home page. I guess he can still be a "Big City Ryda" and use Farmhouse Foot Scrubs in Sugared Maple.

*****

Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Sorry for the light posting day. More tomorrow.

Dallas Mavericks Josh Howard Shares His Favorite Skin Products [Dallas Morning News]

“I’d like to say that I’m truly and really am sorry for everything that’s happened in the last five months,” Howard said in a statement before taking questions from reporters on the first day of Mavericks training camp. “This is not the way I carry myself, not how I want to be portrayed. I’m sorry to everybody I’ve offended. I’m upset with myself and the way I’ve acted.”

That is one gob-smacker of an apology, eh? Andrew Giuliani, the ball's in your court.

Elsewhere in the magical, exotic world of regret:

• Sorry if you haven't received your apology email. Every time I approach the end of the list I f*** up again. — Hochuli

• Sorry we accidentally won. — North Carolina State women;s volleyball team

• The Cubs start their playoff run Wednesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And guess what, Steve Bartman? We're ready to forgive. — Cubs fans

• Sorry for all the thieving. — Bank robber

• Sorry for all the yellow. — Pittsburgh Steelers

• Sorry it only took one loss for us to become insufferable whiners again. — Patriots fans

• Sorry I made you waste your $10.50. — Eagle Eye

Mavs' Howard Apologizes For Last 5 Months [NBCSports]

I wanted to thank all of you who took the time to email me with your comments on how best to deal with Josh. They were so good, I thought I would share a few of them with everyone. Including the email addresses of those who were bold enough to use real email addresses.

Josh realizes his comments were wrong, he understands why people are upset. He knows he has made a mistake, has apologized and will work with us . Beyond that, its a private issue.

What about the people who gave me the following advice ?

From: Donald Joy Add Address to Contacts
To: mark.cuban@dallasmavs.com
Date: 09/18/2008 09:20 AM
Subject: Howard’s(and the rest of them) anti-American, thuggish remarks/attitude
These black criminals that you people coddle and cultivate are the reason why I no longer watch/follow professional sports. Sickening.

It gets much, much worse, as you can see. Wow. It's not surprising that racist sentiments still exist in our country; we knew that. It's just kind of a shock to be reminded that some people are so proud of it.

Thanks For The Advice On Josh [Blog Maverick]

"That said, we will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp," Cuban said Tuesday. "I have explained to him that cellphone cameras are not your friend and that what you think you said on camera is never what people will hear when it shows up on YouTube or TV.

"There is only one universal response that works: 'Both teams played hard.' "

Except when Don Nelson is involved. Then you sue him.

Dallas Mavericks' Josh Howard disrespects national anthem [Dallas Morning-News]

Cuban to Josh Howard: Cellphone cameras are not your friends [Ball Don't Lie]

From You Been Blinded:

"The Star Spangled Banner's going on right now and I don't celebrate that shit. I'm black."

Then Howard says something else about Barack Obama that I can't quite make out, and the camera mercifully pans away, leaving us to wonder, um, couldn't you have just said 'Hi, mom?'

Video: Josh Howard Doesn't Celebrate The National Anthem [You Been Blinded]

Even if Howard is passing out birthday party invites right as his team is about to be eliminated, and generally playing poorly in the playoffs, we're not sure what weed has to do with it.

But that's all just a (not really) high-minded way to justify this gambling opportunity to bet on which NBA player will admit to weed use next. The favorite, perhaps not surprisingly, is Rasheed Wallace. But there's no worse bet than LeBron James at 40-1. Not a chance.

Sports Gambling Just Got Insanely Awesome [FanIQ]

Dominating the headlines this Saturday is the shocking (shocking!) admission by the Mavericks' Josh Howard that he, like every one in the NBA who isn't J.J. Reddick, smokes trees in the off-season. Also: baseball players take steroids and politicians cheat on their spouses.

"Most of the players in the league use marijuana and I have and do partake in smoking weed in the offseason sometimes," Howard told The Michael Irvin Show on the local ESPN affiliate. "I mean, that's my personal choice and my personal opinion, but I don't think that's stopping me from doing my job."

Irvin then laughed and called him a lightweight.

Yes, marijuana is one of them there controlled substances so the league and Mark Cuban have wrung their hands until they're rubbed raw about meting out symbolic punishment. Not that DUIs are a problem or anything, Melo.

As long as weed is illegal there has to be disproportionate punishment for even daring to speak its name. That's why you have to be subtle about it, Josh, like Clipse and Pharrell. See, they make you think "Gangta Lean" is really about some hot chick. But there's a secret message you get only if you're superattentive like me: it's about weed!

Oh girl ya taste is
Sweet like mornin' dew
I would go crazy girl
If I couldn't have none of you

Hell yeah. She sounds HOTT!

I said ya from Jamaica
Straight outta my Mercedes trunk

Well, uh, now I'm kind of hoping it's not a girl, to be perfectly honest. The message here is be subtle. Or try drinking in your free time. No one loses their job for that!

After Miami's thrilling win over the Mavs last night, the story clearly breaks down into three: Dwyane Wade's genius, Howard's apparently phantom (to us, anyway) time out and the (also phantom, to us) foul call on Wade that led to the clinching free throws. We're at 3-2 in the series, and the final events might end up being what we all remember from the series. (Though we hope not.)

Meanwhile ... right now, this second, Mark Cuban has certainly written a blog entry that's full of a good $200,000 fine worth of bile, and he's sitting there, wondering if it's worth it to post it, whether to push the publish button ...

Heat 101, Mavs 100 [The Basketball Jones]

We don't know how we missed this the other evening, but apparently, with seconds left and the Mavericks all set to celebrate, coach Avery Johnson ran down the bench to make a substitution. In all his excitement and hurry, he appears to have pulled a Reggie Evans on Josh Howard.

We feel so bad for Howard here. It's an outstanding moment, taking down the defending champs on the road, so much sweat and hard work, hey, look, it's coach, yeah coach, we did it, we —- arrrrrrrrr ....

Cup Check [Sportech]