Jemele apologizes

[Tom Petty]

i wish someone would have hired me to be a columnist before i knew how to write a column. talk about a great training ground.

 

[armageddon]

Agreed Mustang. I've heard the same things from ESPN bosses. I've heard her speak and, despite youth and relative inexperience, she is very level-headed and aware of her ummm.... unique place in the business. She made a horrid analogy here, but she's generally provocative, and the greatest sin she could commit in the eyes of ESPN would be to be boring.

Look at the ESPN roster of columnists if you get a chance. Now look at Yahoo, NBC Sports, CBS Sportsline... Hard to argue a minority's path is paved with gold.

I'm glad someone up there doesn't fit the mold, even if she's not perfect. And hopefully she grows from this.

Agree with this completely.
As for some of this other crap ... I joined this board a long time before I started posting regularly on it. One of my reservations was that it seemed there were a whole bunch of people here with low-profile jobs who were falling all over themselves to anonymously throw stones at people who have the jobs they think THEY should have.
I came to feel I was being too harsh with that. But sometimes, it still applies. Yeah, she made a poor comparison. Let's stone her in the town square.

Low-profile job?

Sorry, but the fact that I'm not a Page 2 columnist for ESPN should not disqualify me from pointing out flaws in the work of Hill or anyone else at any other publication.

Nor should anyone automatically assume, which happens far too often, that the criticism is born from jealousy.

Christ. There are thousands of journalists who, for a variety of reasons, are happy with their "low-profile" jobs and don't view working for ESPN as the zenith of their profession.

But back on point.

Did you have these same reservations when people were offering criticism of folks like Albom, Lupica and others?

 

[Stoney]

She has talent and hard work in her corner; and she just so happens to be African American.

And, of course, the latter has absolutely nothing to do with that slot she occupies on ESPN.com. Most likely ESPN wasn't even aware of it when they put her there. Yessirree, no connection whatsoever.

 

[hondo]

She has talent and hard work in her corner; and she just so happens to be African American.

How about this: take 10 of her columns at random. Make print-outs with no byline or column sig. Have 4-5 people read them. I'm sure their conclusion will be: mediocre at best.


And, of course, the latter has absolutely nothing to do with that slot she occupies on ESPN.com. Most likely ESPN wasn't even aware of it when they put her there. Yessirree, no connection whatsoever.

 

[Double Down]

If I was sitting with Jemele in a bar and she said this, I'd shrug my shoulders and sip my beer as a few awkward seconds passed. It was dumb, but sometimes I say dumb things too. Sometimes creative people have their brains short out and write or say something foolish.

What I don't really understand is how an editor reads this and says: Looks good. I think if I were an editor, my rule on Hitler references would be "If you ain't as funny as Mel Brooks, it's probably not the best idea."

 

[Stone Cane]

Where the hell is all this "talent" I keep hearing about with Hill?

It's always, "She's talented but used bad judgment." Or, "She's talented but needs a good editor." Or, "She's talented but that column was really bad."

Let's face it. She's just terrible.

And being terrible along with atrocious judgment is not a good combination.

 

[mustangj17]

Where the hell is all this "talent" I keep hearing about with Hill?

It's always, "She's talented but used bad judgment." Or, "She's talented but needs a good editor." Or, "She's talented but that column was really bad."

Let's face it. She's just terrible.

And being terrible along with atrocious judgment is not a good combination.

She jumped pretty quickly to the Freep, and ESPN, so a lot of other people must be very mistaken.

 

[outofplace]

Where the hell is all this "talent" I keep hearing about with Hill?

It's always, "She's talented but used bad judgment." Or, "She's talented but needs a good editor." Or, "She's talented but that column was really bad."

Let's face it. She's just terrible.

And being terrible along with atrocious judgment is not a good combination.

She jumped pretty quickly to the Freep, and ESPN, so a lot of other people must be very mistaken.

Or perhaps other factors helped move her along.

I'm not one of the people saying she is terrible. I don't think she is. I don't think anybody with any sense is saying she got where she is purely based on her race and gender.

But combining what I have read with her lapses in judgement....well, I don't think it is unreasonable to suggest that being a minority and a woman helped her along just a little.

And Double_Down, my standard for what I will say to somebody I am having a drink with in a bar is a tad lower than what I will put in print and I'm sure yours is, too. She should know better, especially given her own written comments about sensitivity.

 

[mustangj17]

I'll agree certain factors may have helped, but you have to be able to know what you're doing along with those factors. It's not like they hired someone from the Podunk Press with no experience.

 

[armageddon]

I'll agree certain factors may have helped, but you have to be able to know what you're doing along with those factors. It's not like they hired someone from the Podunk Press with no experience.

Ah, no you don't.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3382818
click, print and read

Also read this.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3385579

 

[PCLoadLetter]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_06_17_ESPN_com_apologizes_for_C_s-Hitler_reference_/srvc=home&position=recent

Didn't see this yet. If it's a DP, so sorry.

This constant use of the Hitler comparison, from Jemele Hill to daily.kos, has got to stop. And why in the hell would she hate the Celtics? Weren't they the first NBA team to break the color barrier? If not, they certainly were the first major sports professional franchise to hire a black coach. And, as has been pointed out in blogs, the current members of the team are pretty much stand-up guys. Not like they went on trial for rape or anything (coughKobecough).

Not to nitpick... but Kobe Bryant never went on trial for rape.

 

[shockey]

Who's Jenele?

my bad. sincere apologies to jemele for misspelling her name.

no apology, though, for believing she has gone much further than her talent merits to this point.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

i, too, understand that jemele has supporters on this board. that said, she sucks and has a huge forum for only two reasons, imo: the color of her skin and gender.

might she find a mature voice some day? sure, it's possible. back in the day, the late mike mcalary was a too-young sports hack at the n.y. daily news. he lost his job when the afternoon news bit the dust after a year, went to upstate new york and returned to n.y. a couple of years later a totally rinvented writer. he eventually became an award-winning news columnist.

but learning at such a high-profile position is tough, 'cause there's little motivation to work at improving. jemele's already a star doing the hackjob she's doing, so why bother?

Game. Set. Match.

While we ALL make mistakes, aren't you supposed to get most of those out of the way before joining an organization with ESPN's supposed reputation, not after the fact?

 

[SockPuppet]

ESPN was called the Noah's Ark but I think it's more We Are The World. Other than their college FB writers (I read their stuff all the time) my sense is that they try to hire in bulk. If Sam's Club had a section of writers, ESPN would fill its cart there every day.
ESPN.com is too big; it's bound to screw up some hires. Jemele was picked off the vine long before she was ripe.

 

[mitch cumstein]

If Jemelle was a Jew she could have instead gone with "Rooting for the Celtics is like saying the KKK is simply misunderstood..."

This is the most juvenile column I think I've ever read, and I'm including the judging I did for a state high school newspaper contest.

 

[mitch cumstein]

Calling Hitler a "victim" is tasteless.

It's also Jemele... who the pipeline says is not far away from getting teed up on a national stage by another columnist.

Yes! Just what readers want! Another columnists war!

Before those shots are fired, this is just for the record, for clarification's sake: Hill did not call Hitler a victim, either in the original version, or in the edited one.

She wrote that ?Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim. It?s like hoping Gorbachev would get to the blinking red button before Reagan.?

Big difference. In fact, she really is contending there that Hitler wasn't a victim.

No, actually she's saying that people who root for the Celtics are comparable to Nazi sympathizers, which is, well, something pretty dumb to put in a column, don't you think?

 

[Bullwinkle]

You don't know the wold's. Very persnickety.

I am the morning deejay, at ...

You don't know the wold's. Very persnickety.

I am the morning deejay, at ...

Totally forgot about that song. Thank you so much! Just downloaded it.

 

[slappy4428]

Calling Hitler a "victim" is tasteless.

It's also Jemele... who the pipeline says is not far away from getting teed up on a national stage by another columnist.

Yes! Just what readers want! Another columnists war!

Nope. This one won't be pretty. Especially on this board.

 

[slappy4428]

Notwithstanding the fact that the Hitler reference was a turd, is it possible for her to write something dopey without the inevitable connect-the-dots with her race and gender?

Seems there are plenty of really crappy columns out there, and rarely does the criticism lead to 'Whaddaya expect? Aging white guy!'

Sid? 21. 21? Sid.