Shame on you, Phil Mushnick. In taking issue with the Brooklyn Nets' new uniform colors of black and white, the New York Post columnist thought he was being clever or provocative by suggesting that part-owner Jay-Z give the team the full hip hop treatment and change the name to "N-----s."

Here's what Mushnick wrote:

As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots — what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new “urban” home — why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment? Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N------s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B----hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!
“I guess I won’t need my color TV anymore now that the Nets will be wearing black and white,’’ writes reader John Lynch. And reader David Distefano now wonders what’s left for the Nets to choose as “their alternate third-uniform to sell during nationally televised games.”

How did this make it past the Post's editorial standards? Certainly columnists have more leeway than a regular reporter, but that doesn't mean you should be offensive.

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 (Photos: Jason Kempin/Getty Images; Courtesy The Brooklyn Nets)