Tuesday · July 08 2003
Dusty Baker (the Chicago Cubs manager) said:
It's easier for most Latin guys and it's easier for most minority people because most of us come from heat. You don't find too many brothers in New Hampshire and Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Right?and he stands by his words.We were brought over here for the heat, right? Isn't that history? Weren't we brought over because we could take the heat?
Your skin color is more conducive to heat than it is to the lighter-skinned people. I don't see brothers running around burnt. That's a fact. I'm not making this up. I'm not seeing some brothers walking around with some white stuff on their ears and noses.
Personally, I don't care if he's scientifically right or wrong. As a society spoonfed by the media, we need to stop attaching gravity to what professional athletes (baseball managers are just semi-retired athletes in my view) say. The Cubs story that actually mattered yesterday was that Corey Patterson is out for the year with a knee injury. The best young position player on your team is done for the season and all the local sports media cares about is off hand remarks on a topic that has nothing to do with the success or demise of the team.
Oh, but it's so juicy. Now we can talk all afternoon about racism and make off color remarks because this is all in jest of Dusty. Look how forward thinking we are for sports radio hosts. Dan McNeil, you're an idiot. Get off your damn pulpit and talk about what you think you know -- sports. Listeners do not tune to your show to listen to you spout about the politics of race.
Would Dusty be in bigger trouble if he were white? Certainly, but why do we attach any importance to his thoughts on the topic? Sports interviews are inane. Political interviews are inane. Why? Because if anyone ever says what they're thinking and not what they're supposed to say, they get nailed to the wall for it by the national media who thinks that we're all so offended and the free speaker must atone for his words.
In all the hoopla yesterday, I did not hear (and I've yet to hear) one listener call in and say how truly offended they were by Baker's comments. But that's always the case. We're told what is offensive. Oh, isn't that horrible? Yes, it doesn't relate to me at all, but I'm so offended for those who should be offended.
If my opinion on this is offensive to you, let me know. I'll amend all future entries to say, "I'm giving 110%, taking it one day at a time and doing whatever I can to help the ballclub." Wouldn't that be interesting?
Regarding your last part, you need to talk in the 3rd person, so really you would say:
"Jason Keglovitz is giving 110%, taking it one day at a time and doing whatever Jason can to help the ballclub."
And you may want to add: "It's just PRACTICE. Practice. It's just PRACTICE."
The news out here has been running the Kobe Bryant 'alleged sexual assault' story a bit too much. So I'm watching Channel 7 news (NBC affiliate) the other night, and first off: it's the LEAD story. Like nothing more important is happening in the Denver metro area. Secondly, they have a reporter all the way out in Vail/Eagle/whatever and spend like 5 minutes covering it (showing the hospital where he had his knee surgery, the gated resort, etc.) and they include news coverage about the town ('10 years ago, this town didn't even have a stoplight', etc). Thirdly, AFTER the report (that took up 1/5 of their news time) they showed a poll. The poll question: Does the media spend too much time covering celebrity incidents (such as the kobe bryant one)? People overwhelmingly voted YES.
Knowing this prior to their report, they still dedicated almost 20% of their newscast to it. This is a bit of a tangent from your post & point, but felt it was relevant enough under the 'celebrity/athlete: what they do & say are more important' umbrella.
It's just PRACTICE, man, just practice. I mean it's just practice. You know? practice? It's just practice. Aw man, it's practice. (Allen Iverson when asked why he wasn't trying harder in practice). That was one of the funniest press conferences I have ever seen. He said the word 'practice' at least 50 times in the span of 100 words and I'm not exaggerating. Up there with Lee Elia, Ditka, and Marv Levy tirades, though Lee Elia's is the best of all time. Nobody has ever publicly abused the f word more than in that interview.