Kerr regrets swearing at referee: 'I just hung my head in shame'

Away from the court, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is cooler than a polar bear's toenail, but for a former player whose career featured stops playing alongside Michael Jordan on the Bulls and with the early-2000s "Jail Blazers," Kerr's fiery side can rear its head from time to time.

That was the case Thursday night, when cameras caught an enraged Kerr liberally deploying one of the seven words you can't say on TV. Kerr, ever the diplomat, was appropriately contrite about the situation.

"I mean, it was all over the internet," Kerr told reporters, shaking his head. "I just hung my head in shame. I am very passionate and intense, but I can't use that kind of wording. I would never say that to anybody in a normal setting. It's just awful. And I saw that and said, 'My God, what's the matter with me.'"

"What I said the other night was inexcusable and I can't use that kind of language," Kerr added.

One reporter suggested that Kerr's former coach, Gregg Popovich, may have influenced Kerr's colorful demeanor on the sidelines. As it happens, Kerr's Warriors were facing Popovich's Spurs - and Popovich was ejected from the game in the fourth quarter for his own swearing incident.

"That's where I learned (how to swear)," Kerr joked. "I blamed Pop afterward: 'You're the one who taught me that stuff, Pop.' I think he might've said something similar when he got tossed."