Jemele has a point

[sportschick]

I brought popcorn. Anybody got beer?

 

[John D. Villarreal]

I think the point was how dumb/biased the whole PED "scandals" have become, but maybe you see it differently.

Dumb and biased unless you're talking about the players' coach. That's OK.

Question?

You know it is amazing how much you can look like a genius when breaking all kinds of rules (players using PEDs, stealing signals, etc.)

Look bro,

I will say it one more time. I can't go back and forth with you ok. You want to ruin a perfectly good thread and important topics/discussions that is on you.

The last thing I will say is watching your brain/logic work is painful. Thinking you will somehow "catch me slipping" or "outthink me" is pure folly. Many an SJ ship has sunk chasing that rainbow over the cliff.

This last argument by you implied in the quotes above is about as bad as your one before that.

My advice to you. Either A.) stop worrying about and following me & be happy doing your own thing or B.) stop reacting to me, sit down and REALLY think about your arguments & logic and what the hell you are trying to say & UP YOUR GAME A LOT before you waste my time.

Again, I don't have time for stupid grade-school logic like "all cheating is bad" (oh lord, better round up all the peeps putting on xtra pine tar - lol).

Anyway, you will do what you are going to do, but you will do it without me until you come with something worthy of my time and intelligence and have a better attitude.

Thanks,

JDV

 

[Write-brained]

That's right. You're way too smart to respond to me. You stick with that.

 

[friend of a friend]

I dunno, W-b. You seem to know the difference between "your" and "you're"

 

[jakewriter82]

Her heart is in the right place? How so?

By turning this into a racial issue when it clearly isn't?

I for one have never seen myself (and refuse to be) a victim of racism. I think most problems and solutions are all in our own heads & thus control.

JDV

Apologies for changing topics...but what the hell?
Are you saying that supposed racism victims are just victims in their own heads?
Racism victims can focus on anything and it doesn't matter because there's still a large group of people out there who hate them no matter what they do. Race issues IMO can't be solved just by not focusing on them.

I don't disagree with that. However, in life you get ahead by focusing on working on things you can control. Taking full responsibility for yourself is the best way to do that. That you can control. There is racism, sure. But we also live in a country where M. Jordan, Oprah, P-Diddy, Jay-Z, Obama, Q, Parsons, Tiger Woods, The Williams, "New York", T.O., etc., etc. are kicking a@@. So, it isn't like opportunity isn't there if you go after it.

The bottom line is most of the barriers (or opportunities) in life are in your head. That is the truth. To not believe that is to limit yourself and give others MASSIVE power over you.

Think about it. Nelson Mandella, H. Tubman, F. Douglas, MLK, Gandhi all faced WAAAAAY more racism and oppression than you or I ever will. Yet, they all succeeded and changed the world.

Why can't you?

I am!

Be something great. Don't settle for less no matter who you are.

So sayeth JDV - The Super Genius

I'll give you credit, you've obviously spent some time thinking about your point. The only thing I'd add is with the exception of possibly Oprah and I guess Obama, what has M. Jordan, P-Diddy, Jay-Z, Q, Parsons, Tiger Woods, The Williams, "New York", T.O., done to stop racism?
They've succeeded in life by focusing on that which they can control and have reached great personal success.
Personal success, though, doesn't translate to a healthy society.
Notice that all those people you mention are entertainers.
Where are the successful black scientists, black authors, black doctors, black business CEOs and black politicians?
More specifically, I don't know if you watch much C-Span...but every time I see the senate proceedings, I'm amazed at how few minorities hold seats in the United States Congress.
Same goes with the supreme court. President Bush had the fortune of appointing two judges, and he gave both seats to white men!
While I'm sure white men and women are more than capable at their jobs as politicians, is it fair to minorities who seek more representation of the types of people they see in their neighborhoods?
Additionally, I'm willing to bet if you went to an urban african-american neighborhood and asked a kid how he or she plans on becoming successful, 9 times out of 10 I'd be willing to say he or she will tell you by becoming an entertainer or athlete.
You can't generalize the entire race, but you could find a representative sample.
Why do you think it's like that?
Sticking with sports, why do you think there aren't more African American team owners, or coaches, in particular college football?
Racism is still very much a problem and someone has to focus on it and how to overcome it.
There's no easy solution, and one person alone can't change the minds of millions, but by just focusing on your own lot in life and the lot of the most successful, you're ignoring the real problem of many not-as-fortunate.

 

[Write-brained]

I dunno, W-b. You seem to know the difference between "your" and "you're"

But I'm not an attorney.

 

[Shaggy]

I will agree with JDV that many of the performance-enhancing drug arguments are biased.

They're not racist, though.

 

[jgmacg]

Sorry, Ms. Hill. Bad premise badly argued.

 

[Twoback]

If you're going to throw race into this, and I'm not against that, you have to meet a standard that Jemele does not.
Saying she's heard some talk show hosts and others defending Ankiel is not good enough.
We need names, links or specific instances.
I've not heard a single person defend Ankiel. Not one. Doesn't mean no one has, but if somebody has, I'd like to know who. The reaction to Ankiel has not been as profound, but then, the average person does not know who he is.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

I take that back. In a sense, she's right.
The current outcry for Ankiel is not the same as it is for Bonds. Nor should it be. There isn't the prolonged suspicion of use. However, there is no sense of coverup that there was for Bonds, who at first didn't, then did without knowing what it actually was.
Comparing Ankiel to Vick is just ******* dumb. Defending the slaughter of animals he bred for combat and bankrolled for his entertainment isn't the same thing. And shame on you, Jemele, for comparing the two. That's pandering to the lowest common denominator -- playing the race card when it not only can't be proven, but isn't applicable. If you think that the media wouldn't be all over Ankiel for killing dogs he used for his own sport but are doing it for Vick because he's black, then you are a race-baiter.

Slappy: I don't think she would calling it pandering. She'd argue it is a legit comparison. And she'd be sincere about it. Good God.

Of course, she wouldn't.

And she's been doing a bang-up job, for months.

But this was awful ****, and one (only one, now) step backward.

Hopefully, it'll be an isolated incident.

 

[armageddon]

I take that back. In a sense, she's right.
The current outcry for Ankiel is not the same as it is for Bonds. Nor should it be. There isn't the prolonged suspicion of use. However, there is no sense of coverup that there was for Bonds, who at first didn't, then did without knowing what it actually was.
Comparing Ankiel to Vick is just ******* dumb. Defending the slaughter of animals he bred for combat and bankrolled for his entertainment isn't the same thing. And shame on you, Jemele, for comparing the two. That's pandering to the lowest common denominator -- playing the race card when it not only can't be proven, but isn't applicable. If you think that the media wouldn't be all over Ankiel for killing dogs he used for his own sport but are doing it for Vick because he's black, then you are a race-baiter.

Slappy: I don't think she would calling it pandering. She'd argue it is a legit comparison. And she'd be sincere about it. Good God.

Of course, she wouldn't.

And she's been doing a bang-up job, for months.

But this was awful ****, and one (only one, now) step backward.

Hopefully, it'll be an isolated incident.

I've followed her career. It isn't and it won't be.

 

[Chef]

Whoever this Hill lady is and jdv do have one thing in common.

Apparently, neither one know the difference between racist and biased.

 

[slappy4428]

I laughed out loud at that

 

[outofplace]

I really hope Jemele reads this and will consider all of this constructive criticism because she really missed the point on this one. And the comment trying to justify Vick supporters is beyond ridiculous. I expect better than that from her.

Comparing Bonds and Ankiel is ridiculous. Competely different backstories and completely different situations. There are way too many variables there beyond color, but she just quickly dismisses them all as if they are nothing. Why? Because they don't fit into her argument.

And Ankiel has not gotten a free pass. The story has faded fairly quickly, in part because he stopped hitting home runs. But the better comparison for Ankiel would be Gary Matthews, Jr., who faced a similar situation back before the season. This is a guy coming off a career year who got big money to play in a bigger market, yet that story faded just as quickly. Of course, other than the color of his skin and his baseball bloodlines, Matthews has more in common with Ankiel than Bonds as a player -- former prospect resurrecting his career after previous failure.

The question is whether she intentionally ignored Matthews because that story counters her argument or if she just forgot about him. Either is a fairly significant failure in this column.

Oh, and JDV...please work on your reading comprehension. Hill's main point was about race. It wasn't nearly as in line with your arguments as you think.

 

[Football_Bat]

 

[IU90]

Pete Rose committed the worst sin a professional athlete can and some fans still want him back in baseball, and the Hall of Fame.

Actually, Jamele, I think Rae Carruth trumped Pete Rose. Don't you think?

Also completely misrepresents the position of most people who think Rose should be honored in the HOF but who certainly don't think he should be allowed to manage a team ever again.

I know absolutely nobody that thinks Rose should be back in baseball and I'm surrounded by die-hard Reds fans. This column is some **** poor journalism. Based on unsupported self-serving generalizations that tend to be ...umm, wrong; lame comparison analogies between things aren't comparable; and intentionally ignoring the glaringly obvious flaws in her argument. I'd like to know why the guy who started this thread thought it was good work.

 

[hondo]

And don't forget. The reason people don't like Barry Bonds is because he's black.

That would be wrong. They hate him because he's a world-class asshole.

 

[goalmouth]

Sad to see how Page 2, which once boasted Ralph Wiley and Hunter Thompson, now settles for mental midgets such as Hill, Simmons and Scoop.

 

[93Devil]

I know it has been mentioned, but Bonds was covered for seasons at a time. He was not a two-week blip on the radar. That should account for a lot. If Glaus next season somehow makes a run at Hack Wilson's RBI record, trust me, it will be a media frenzy.

I think it is worth noting that "Race should be injected into a conversation judiciously and sometimes, slowly." was the first sentence of her column, but the first word she typed was "race." That's real "slow."

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

What the Bonds and Ankiel cases have in common is far less than what is different about them, and this column selectively focuses on the things that fit the argument the column is trying to make. It's built upon a shaky premise, so it has no foundation to support it.

You can have a strong opinion and still be fair, but you can't be unfair and have a truly strong, meaningful opinion.