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From: ProjectContactAfrica
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  • tf lip service??

  • Explain it all you want! Rewrite history all you want and tell as many "healing stories" as you want. The only solution for many of us, especially myself no matter how long I had to wait, would be to put a bullet in the scumbags head. Talk about "life changing" that would be when I walked up behind him years later and gave him an "air conditioned" dome!

  • I cant feel my face

  • You think by KW putting on his calm "white guy" voice that he can just be forgiven. Sorry I don't buy that. 

  • @suspect999 it's a punch, it happens all the time, it happened 30 years ago... let it go...

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  • Listen I read a book called the punch great book really gave me a good description of this and my youtube won't play on my android which is total horseshit

  • Rudy didn't surprise him, he had plenty of time to make the decision to throw that punch.

  • LIP SERVICE WITH KERMIT 0:14

  • TNB

    

  • Rudy got knocked the fuck out!!

  • @TheChricouch Not really, he got up pretty quick.

  • hope he woke up

  • FUCK ISLAM

  • the power of media. makes the bad guy looks good and the victim looks bad. nice!

  • Some Men cant play sport without getting violent.

  • Ouch...that must've hurt, Kermit Washington's hand, I mean. LOL.

  • basic instinct...my ass!!!

  • i also think it's worth noting how often people excuse assaults and other violent behavior by recasting them as simply "mistakes." are you trying to say they didn't really mean to hit or assault their victims? "sorry man, my fist smashing your face just then was merely a mistake."

  • why are we supposed to feel bad for this guy? his actions were reprehensible and he deserves his special place in the hall of shame.

  • And to think, rudy was on pace to a hall of fame career

  • he got knocked the fuck out!!!  lol

  • @MVP07106 apparently, you got knocked the fuck out just before the video played. otherwise, you would know that in spite of having his skull bashed in, the guy got right up off the floor and walked off the court. LOL LOL LOL

  • There's always some idiot on the internet that love to bring race into matter. Race has nothing to do with what happened to Rudy. This was a poor judgment on Kermit's part, and I deeply feel sad for what happened to Rudy. It's a shame that this has happened. No one should have to go through what Rudy went through.

  • Rudy: "What did you hit me for?"

    Easy, TNB son. TNB!

  • Tomjanovich had a Hall-of-Fame caliber career before this happened. That punch put an effectively put an end to that. The most pathetic part of all this is the way Washington has tried to act as if he really didn't do anything wrong. 

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  • @Lassannn I know you're just trolling, but ass holes like you are the reason racism persists today.

  • @skewlu2 Well, then we should count on its persistence, Mr. Skewlu2. I'm not just trolling. I'm truly enjoying myself hurting as many people as I can, as much as I can. I want you to understand that if I knew where you live, I'd come into your house while you're sleeping and crush your balls with a pair of pliers.

  • @Lassannn

    You would crush his balls if you knew where he lived? Yeah, sure you would, tough guy. If you tell me your email address, I will send you my home address and I will wait for you to show up. Something tells me you won't though, because you are all talk, just like all the other wannabe badasses that post on youtube.

  • @Lassannn That's one of the funniest comments I've read in a while. If internet anonymity makes you feel secure enough to pretend to be a racist and threaten to kill people, then I at least can't deny the amount of entertainment you're providing.

    Have fun posing as a 12 year old boy playing Halo on Xbox Live... On a YouTube forum.

  • @skewlu2 What's Halo?

  • bitch azz....

  • man idk basic instinct is to punch when a guy is running up on you like that especially the guy for the other team...but kermit fucked up lol huge mistake

  • Kermit Washington is a nice guy i met him at his restaurant a few years ago

  • its unfortunate rudy got hurt so badly. But it was a violent time as they showed, and fights happened a lot. Rudy got punched and hurt..

  • This guy has been villified for so long it's ridiculous;he wasn't Jack Tatum putting Darryl Stingley in a wheelchair going after his head;he was a guy-in the middle of a fight- reacting instinctively to someone running at him- no premeditation...

  • KAREEM IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE A HATER ON KERMIT, CUZZ KERMIT OWNED HIM IN PRACTICE, WHAT A BITCH KERMIT TRIED TO HELP HIM, AND HE DIDNT EVEN BACK HIM UP,

  • I dont know if yall noticed, but I didnt see anybody else run up and try to get in his face? Id say mission accomplished. Tuff breaks for Rudy.. wrong place wrong time.

  • Running towards him...He should have tackled him not punched him in the face.

  • thats why i dont break up fights. if you do, then you get what you deserve, a jacked up face

  • Kermit fucking scumbag. Thats all I have to say.

  • LAKERS SUCK

  • i think that fight started with jabbar and kunnert when they fight each other and then rudy want separeted them, but kermit who knows what think when punches rudy but fight started with kunnert and jabbar.

  • @KLRider how the hell is Rudy at fault?!he was coming to break up the fight not escalate it&what the hell are you talking about coaches letting players come off the bench dude was ON THE COURT.Kermit was wrong&he deserved everything that came to his ass after that.maybe somebody needs to punch you in your face like that&see what you gotta say then.

  • Aw, Kermit's such a victim, isn't he? What crap.

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  • @KLRider No. It's just you. Rudy was the captain and was running to check on his teammate. How many times had this happened before? Never, and it hasn't happened since. I agree Kermit made a mistake in judgement, but that is a mistake only Kermit can make. To think that Rudy is even halfway responsible for Kermits actions is ridiculous.

  • @tretrioeciii For the record: That punch was horrific.

  • @MrBennetzen yea that punch almost killed him (rudy i mean)

  • @tretrioeciii fighting on the court during the 70s was commonplace. It wasn't unheard of for bench clearing brawls to happen.

  • @tretrioeciii Rudy, definitely, didn't deserve what happened to him, but Kermit shouldn't have gotten the backlash he did either. Had the punch not been so strong, and broke so many bones in Rudy's face, this wouldn't have been an issue.

    I was only 2 years old when this happened, so I'd only heard about it. This was the 1st time I'd even seen it.

    Seems like a decent guy, and was a decent player, it's too bad he's only known for punching Rudy T

  • @GialloHorror Totally agree, even Rudy would agree with you.

  • There's a lot of talk about race on here. Haven't we figured out by now that on the basketball court, race doesn't matter? One guy was a complete d*ck and hit another guy, that's it. Regardless of who you are, where you're from, your race, religion, s3xual preference, whatever... if you hit someone on the basketball court like Kermit Washington did, you're an asshole for your actions. End of story.

  • did he say he remembered having 'LIP SERVICE" with Kermit??

    

  • Damn. Haters everywhere! Kermit made a mistake, learned from it, and is making a difference in the world. What have you done in your life?

  • @duffy31311 Wow does your ignorance show through your comment. Hey you may have started with a good point but using your childish adjective to describe him just shows how uneducated you are. Grow up as your comment is just a reflection of your stupidity

  • @ProjectContactAfrica nigger isnt an adjective (this isnt the point of this post). Anyways, STOP trying to make Kermit seem like a morally conscious, great person. If I ruined an innocent mans life in front of millions on national TV for an uncalled for reason I would be ashamed to see the media portray myself as Kermit is shown here.

  • @ProjectContactAfrica it comes from a lifetime of watching and living with the brutality of black crime..beatings..rapes...all in a disproportional number to there population numbers.....basically showing whites the innate proclivity to violence blacks have....flat out FACT...can be backed by cold hard numbers

  • @duffy31311 u r garbage

  • @duffy31311 you're a fucken asshole you little bitch

  • @duffy31311 Ok "Duffy". Hillbilly ass

  • This is horrific! This was so infamous and horrifying that Brent Musburger was forced to play video of that Punch on The NFL Today!

  • Rudy T was a shit player. a total joke.  He should thank Kermit washington for letting us know who rudy t was.

  • @duffy31311 you're the same dick from the moore burtuzzi video...do you just go on bleacher report and take the wrong side of every argument?

  • Kermit you are a nasty, NASTY human being. I wouldn't even call u human to be honest. You are scum

  • kermit washington is a fucking punk deserves every name call every dirty look given to him

  • While I do feel for Kermit, how one action comes to define your entire life has to be tough. But to never apologize, regardless of the fact that it was a horrible mistake, makes it impossible for me to feel any sympathy for Kermit

  • He punched a guy, oh no what a bad man

  • @PTVzimbabwe That punch literally shattered his face and nearly killed him.

  • a white guy got the raw end of the deal and kermit paid for it. i wonder if its the other way around, what may have been the end result?

  • @wornoutshoes11 Yeah...if he was a white guy no one would of cared......get fucking real Dude.....

  • @mjw9363 i was keeping it real. it happen in the 70's when racism in basketball or any given sport existed. if rudy was black and kermit was white i can safely say he wont be released by the lakers and be vanished into oblivion!

  • @wornoutshoes11 Just like the NBA "kept it real" when Kobe RAPED that girl and ZERO happened to him????..mm??

  • @mjw9363 first and foremost asshole was it proven? it went to court right? therefore whatever verdict was made then its out of anyone's hand. dont be such a smart ass moron. dont compare kermit to kobe. kobe is a franchise player therefore the organization will surely back him up while kermit was just another african american dude who played for the lakers, much worst in the 70's. do u even think? might as well give me your brain if u have no intentions of using it... good for dog food!

  • @wornoutshoes11 It never went to court ASSHOLE....her name was released several times by the Clerk Of The Court breaking Colorado law and allowing her to receive NUMEROUS death threats by people like you. It was later proven the Clerk was paid by Kobe's defense team to release her name, causing her immediate dismissal. (the Clerk).of course she got paid by Kobe's team and now has a BEAUTIFUL new home. So..was OJ white!!??..cause ONLY whites get away with things, right??!

  • @mjw9363 again you made yourself a complete imbecile, comparing kermit again to OJ? really? going from kobe to OJ wont help your cause kid... it only got worst. do i really have to reiterate what im trying to imply? are u that stupid? KERMIT WAS A NOBODY!!! MORON! "only white's gets away with things"?.... you really are as ignorant as hell... RICH AND FAMOUS PEOPLE ARE THE ONE'S THAT GETS AWAY WITH EVERYTHING. WHO'S THE ASSHOLE NOW HUH?...U!!!

  • @wornoutshoes11 ahhh...still hitting the pipe this morning...numbskull...you are the one who tried to imply or really flat out said "Kermit's black and Rudy's white..wah...wah..wah..".But ya got schooled on my simple examples of blacks getting away with shit too....maybe if blacks weren't an abnormal percentage of criminals to their population numbers you might "get away" with things a little more...No????...now, I'm sure you have a hard day of video game playing while the old lady goes to work

  • @mjw9363 that's funny dude coz your examples are lame... u compared OJ and kobe to kermit??? LOL thats pathetic. again look at the time frame and the status of this athletes... they are superstars of their respective leagues and what about kermit? he's a nobody trying to make it as a basketball player in the 70's and guess what...he's black! being black and not famous is a bad combination even till now. now tell me what if kareem was the one who punched rudy huh? same result? what now genius?...

  • To those saying he didn't mean to hurt Rudy: If you've ever been in a situation where you have punched someone as hard as you can, it's ALWAYS to hurt them. There are no punches thrown with that amount of force behind them that don't mean to cause harm. In my opinion, he was a punk always getting into fights and this was just a result of him being a punk. He meant to hurt Rudy and I'm glad he got the hate that he did. Pure scum of the earth

  • @jamminturkeyj cuz you are sooo perfect and never hit someone a day in your life

  • 0:16 "I know...I remember having lip service with Kermit" - That's what Miss Piggy said.

  • A life-long grudge over being named "Kermit" by his parents. Oh the trauma. But it WAS just 1 very bad mistake. Forgiveness. Even for a guy named "Kermit".

  • You're right Kermit. Everything is still not okay, because you never felt the shame a real man would have. It was a cowardly act that you've evidently never felt remorse over. If you ever get sucker-punched like that maybe your view will change.

  • That is one hell of a punch. i give him props.

  • terrible editing, show us the punch in detail instead of cutting away and speeding up and slowing down the video at the worst times.

  • All I have to say is thank heavens Magic and Bird came along and changed the NBA back to playing basketball instead of all this fighting.

    Kermit was dead wrong for punching Rudy simply because no one had done anything to him yet. He took that enforcer shit WAY to far.

  • he looks like he doesnt even feel sorry, what a douchebag!

  • WTF is wrong with the lakers players? NO ONE stepped up for rudy and clocked his ass? What a disgrace, should have been a brawl after that. wtf I don't get that.

  • @jedichris8 stup the fuck up

  • dude a chicken is a chicken , i played when basketball was basketball

  • Kirmit

  • He almost ended kit it carrer

  • Gee... Thanks Kermit, now he had to go through 18 surgeries just to make his face in decent shape. Take some anger management.

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  • Pow, right in the kisser.

  • And another thing, for all of you inconsiderate racist assholes out there, what does it matter if he was black, I've seen plenty if white athletes do pretty scummy things along the same lines as this.

  • @GTA89420 Bill Romanowski.

  • Purely instinctual action. He saw someone out of his peripheral vision who was coming at him quickly and aggressively so he turned and swung for the fences. If I had been in his situation I more than likely would have done the same thing.

  • @GTA89420

    that you need some serius help

  • I though Kermit was a frog, not a black sucker punch throwing thug?

  • Oh my god!!! That was horrible!!!!

  • KERMIT WASHINGTON IS A F`N THUG.........

  • Amazing he could get up and walk away after that. His face was fractured like a jigsaw puzzle and he could taste his spinal fluid. A lot of people would probably be 6 feet under after something like that.

  • Never understimate the power of punch.

  • Let the races be reversed in this action and see if Al and Jesse don't get involved. You can Spike Lee, Cornell West, Tavis Smiley, The Congressional Black Caucus, everyone at BET, MSNBC, Cybthia Tucker, Eugene Robinson, Screamin' A. Smith ad neaseum infinitum.........

  • 1:57 BAM

  • If any of us punched a guy in the face at our job we would have ended up in jail. It's called assault. It's a shame and it doesn't matter what color Washington is.

  • I believe Kermit knows he made the wrong decision in the heat of the moment and that if he could turn back time, he would not make that same decision again. But, he is still resentful that his career was ruined and defined by that moment. For that he will never just apologize and his bitterness will erroneously continue to lead him believe he is above making things right. That is the yarn that continues to spin his tragic story.

  • Kermit sounds like a nice guy in this interview. But, he definitely wasn't just defending himself. Anyone that believes that is in a dream world.

  • damn that punch was crazy od aint even funny tho

  • i don't know what kareem was thinking, but usually when you try to grab two guys fighting and want to stop the fight you usually grab the guy on YOUR team, not the guy on the opposing team...

  • FREAKING NIGGER CAN'T HELP HIS FELONEOUS WAYS. THEY ARE SAVAGE BEASTS AND NEED TO BE RE-INSLAVED. tHAT'S THE ONLY WAY THEY WILL WORK OPR BPAY THEM WITH FAT UGLY WHITE WOMEN.

  • @thincow12 For all those who think he acted that was because he's a "nigger", one work "HOCKEY!" There are a bunch of blacks fighting in there, rightt? SMH

  • @edr1882 I meant "word"

  • @edr1882 not a hockey fan but this wasn't fighting, it was hitting a guy who was no more then a peacemaker.

  • what a jackass

  • Kermit and jabber can die and go to hell

  • typical black behavior

  • HE NEVER APOLOGIZED. WHAT A PILE OF CRAP.....Who cares about the rest of your life.

  • @Wilddr805 Who is giving thumbs up to this faggot? You have to admire Kermit for apologizing to Rudy AWAY from the cameras - which was the best way to go about it. He didn't have to do it in-front of the cameras which would only serve to make his apology seem self-serving. Kermit paid his dues, he should be left alone. Every man deserves a 2nd chance, and as far as I can tell, he has done extremely well on that 2nd chance.

  • @Einhander49 dont worry who gives thumbs up

  • what it looked like to me is that Rudy was coming to grab Kunnert and pull him away from Kermit and Kareem. If i saw someone running like that toward a fight, i would have reacted the same way. I do not believe that Kermit meant to hurt Rudy T. it was instinctive and your instinct kicks in before reason, but i DO believe that Kermit should, at the very least, apologize to Rudy because after his reconstruction surgery, he never played the same way.

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  • Kermit Washington should have gotten a life ban from basketball . Jabbar wasnt there to stop the fight he was holding Kevin Kunnert so that Kermit can punch him . Jabbar was a troublemaker and a bad man .

  • @garioldwin nah jabbar got them seperated

  • AND look at kermits demeanor after the punch. he just walks away. there is no intention to "kill" rudy t

    I, just as much as all of you, wish this hadn't happened. But it's just one of those things. You HAVE to be able to recognize the situation. If not, you probably haven't played sports

  • @GWHEATCUBS16 I played college football...a far more violent sport than basketball...and I don't recall punching anyone for any reason.

    This was a punk move by Kermit Washington. Any other conclusion is the result of willful blinders.

  • it is a JOKE that people blame kermit for this because he saw him coming for TWO SECONDS. TWO SECONDS! its not anyones fault. not rudys (of course), but not kermits either. its just an unfortunate situation. Whoever blames kermit because he had "two seconds" to see rudy t's true intentions is biased. There is no question about it. If you had two seconds with someone RUNNING at you, you would defend yourself too. If not, youre stupid. period.

  • Glad to see such well-thought-out intelligent commentary

    Warms my heart

    999 out of 1000, Rudy would've been knocked out, maybe lose a tooth

    When you almost die, everything looks worse

    Kermit overreacted, and deserved what he got

    

  • Unfortunate, but things happen.

  • How come you never find anything about the time Kareem busted Kent Benson in the face for playing Defense?

  • kermit is an asshole and so is jabbar

  • Kermit Washington has lied so much about this incident. He CLEARLY could have held back. He totally meant to do what he did. The only thing he is sorry for is what has happened to him as a result of it since.

  • I often wondered why no one punched Rudy T while he was coach of the Rockets.

  • That was pretty chickenshit right there yo.Kermit is one of the reason why people in general hate niggas they don't know how to act and behave themselves.

  • @CROCKASACK u fucking faggot///////

  • the guy was in the middle of a fight and saw a guy running up behind him.its hard to process the situation in like 1.19 seconds.its not like he went ron artest and went up in the crowd and started assaulting fans

  • Kermit Washington may have made a mistake in judegment by fracturing and breaking Rudy Tomjanovich's face on December 9, 1977.

  • To this day Kermit Washington believes he was the unfair target of racism in the responses people had to his wicked punch. What a jerk. All he had to do was take responsibility for nearly killing a guy and say "I'm sorry for what I've done" and leave it at that. Instead, he has tried to blame the fight before the punch, to blame racism, etc. That's really lame. Without a genuine apology he deserves no "redemption." Why should he seek what he doesn't give himself?

  • @joeblow166

    Look at some one of the comments here and you think that race does not play a part in this. Rudy came running in the middle of a fight. Washington did not know if he was going to attack him or what. There are tons of worse thing done in Hockey all the time. But there is not where near the outrage.

  • cause and effect

  • and yes we know that rudy was just trying to calm the situation down now, but stop acting like if you were in kermits shoes that you would have read his mind AS IT WAS HAPPENING. its very easy to act like it was obvoius what rudys intentions were now that its been established.

  • its amazing how the severity of the injury completely changed everyone's opinion. truth is, he thought he was acting in self defense. it was a mistake on washingtons part, but even rudy has the common sense not to hold a grudge so people need to stop hating on they guy for a punch. mature a little bit, if the man who got hurt from this punch realized the true situation, forgave kermit washington and realized the misunderstanding/why it happened, then you should be able to as well.

  • @GWHEATCUBS16 Excellent point GWHEATCUBS16!

  • Kermit Washington was a lowlife. I dont care what he's done since. This was not the first time he had done something like this. He should have been banned from the NBA for life. I dont feel sorry for him one bit. He almost KILLED Rudy T, who was NOT even fighting during the incident.

  • Basketball's Dave Schultz of his time!

  • You are an ideal idiot---he was NOT defending himself---Rudy was coming to see what was going on---he was NOT attacking Washington.......it was a thuggish thing to do!!!!

  • I agree 100%

  • @statman99 how did Kermit know thats? rudy was running fast.kareem was there he didn't see it.

  • @statman99 give him a break, basic instinct. i woulda done the same shit.

  • @statman99 Stfu thugs didn't even exist back then ya racist prick, in the middle of a scuffle if you saw someone running in your parif vision what would you do, ball up like the pussy you are or hit them before they hit you?

    Oh and just for the record it's the black athletes that took the NBA to the next level and got it to the level it is today

  • @LordIceman it's the whites that allowed them. 

  • @statman99 don't run towards a man that still has an adrenaline rush from a fight. common sense. wrong place wrong time.

  • @swissbeats2k - No, he wasn't defending himself. Washington himself admitted the same later. He was pissed cuz of what Kunnert had done, and wanted to hit someone. It also goes back to him being attacked from behind as a kid, and a fight from the previous year. Tomjanovich had ZERO reputation as a brawler. Guys regularly came to breakup fights or take up for their teammates, but that doesn't mean they want to start swinging punches.

  • @swissbeats2k - Rudy was going to see about Kunnert. Washington wasn't even involved in the fray by that time. It was Kareem holding Kunnert. So how is that "defending" yourself? Rudy wasn't exactly in attack mode with his hands crossed to protect himself. And the punch actually dislodged his skull and could have killed him. Are you going to say now the only reason it was a "big deal" was that he could've died. "Oh it was just a potential homicide. That's all."

  • So what happend to him after the game?

  • funny how this is the highlight of his carreer.

  • What a thug!

  • so y did he punch him???

  • Story goes that Rudy Tomjanovich was going over to Kermit Washington to break it up and keep him from going after Kevin Kunnert, Rudy's teammate. Kermit, whose back was turned, thought that Rudy was running up to punch him, so he turned around to protect himself and punched out Rudy in the process.

  • You also have to remember that, during the previous season, Washington did get jumped from behind during a fight with the Buffalo Braves' John Shumate. And from that point on, Washington was wary about opposing players coming up behind him in a fight.

  • @threeby8887: Thanks, man. That explains a lot about what led to this unfortunate situation.

  • @Sarkis24

    Gee I wonder why.  Maybe because Rudy was coming towards kermit about to throw a punch. Rudy instigated at least twice that night and his punk ass got knocked out.

  • just seen this on "gold days purple night" they didn't show the punch .

  • i know i was all let down! it pissed me off!

  • READ BIL:L SIMMONS BOOK ON BASKETBALL> GREAT book 2009

  • reading it now

  • Enforcers in basketball? It's not hockey, I'm lifelong Lakers fan and what Washington did was brutal. Rudy T didn't have his fists ready to throw. It changed both their careers.