Jemele on Larry Johnson

[Mizzougrad96]

Fenian,

You're such a studio gangster... ;D

 

[Double Down]

I point out for the record that the easiest way for a black columnist to get applause from the board is to criticize a black athlete.

A very good point, or at least one that I've been mulling posting myself for awhile now.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

No.
Johnny Roselli as a studio gangster.

 

[D-3 Fan]

I point out for the record that the easiest way for a black columnist to get applause from the board is to criticize a black athlete. (See, "Whitlock, Jason.") This column isn't any better -- or worse -- than her previous work, but, suddently, she "gets it."

Fen, I get what you are saying. It's fashionable now for black columnist to rip black athletes. I'll ask this as a general question: have this practice been used before, say 20-30 years ago? I don't think I have read anything in the past from a black columnist calling out his/her own for conduct unbecoming an individual (being stupid, hypocritical, or dumb).

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

See also:
Sowell, Thomas.
(Occasionally) Crouch, Stanley.
Murdock, Deroy.
Not often in sports, though, if only because, 30 years ago, there weren't a whole lot of black columnists.

 

[cougargirl]

Enlightening column, save for the "e-mails/race card in the cryogenic chamber" bit. (Was that really necessary? It didn't serve any true purpose in the story.)

"Studio gangster" needs to become part of the lexicon. Fast. I'll forever credit that term to Jemele's Larry Johnson column.

 

[RokSki]

"studio gangster"

I fully agree with D-3 here. This is the best phrase I've heard in a long time. Outstanding, Les.

Now, we have found a term that we can place on Chris Webber.

And a perfect application of the term by D-3. Who better than "my studio gangster ass would be in jail if not for that witness dying in my perjury case," wanna-be gangster Webber to use the term on. Great work, fellas.

This country has a real problem with its enormously large "Eminem from the 'burbs" young male population. I'm not sure what the fascination is with 'street cred,' but its certainly doing a lot of real damage to young men's (and the women who associate with them) lives. This has been one of the chief reasons I sided with Whitlock against Scoop, et. al. Stop glorifying the gangter crap and you'll end up with fewer Larry Johnsons, Chris Webbers, and Jason ("You don't have to go nowhere, homeboy!") Williamses.

On Hill's overall article, however, I can't really comment. For some odd reason, my will to read Page 2's columns has seen a consistent decline since before Hill arrived there. I just can't bring myself to give the WWL many click-throughs these days. But it sounds like it was good. Good for her, sincerely.

 

[Lester Bangs]

I point out for the record that the easiest way for a black columnist to get applause from the board is to criticize a black athlete. (See, "Whitlock, Jason.") This column isn't any better -- or worse -- than her previous work, but, suddently, she "gets it."

Bull****. Saying this is no better than the piece she wrote on NBA groupies is total nonsense. Sorry, some columns are better than others and this one is better than that one.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Bull**** back at you.
It is no better argued -- or written -- than that one was.
The topic is more serious, I grant you.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

What's funniest about the Studio Gangster term is how many members of the media is applies to...

 

[zeke12]

Fenian --

I don't think the writing is any better, but the reasoning has improved greatly.

 

[RokSki]

I point out for the record that the easiest way for a black columnist to get applause from the board is to criticize a black athlete. (See, "Whitlock, Jason.") This column isn't any better -- or worse -- than her previous work, but, suddently, she "gets it."

Bull****. Saying this is no better than the piece she wrote on NBA groupies is total nonsense. Sorry, some columns are better than others and this one is better than that one.

Again, I can't compare the two Hill columns not having read the one on Larry Johnson, but the NBA groupies column was utter trash. Brutal. A symptom of the 'stripperization' of America. Anything would be better than that odorous glorification of someone nicknamed 'Superhead,' and the brush-aside of adultery, etc. If I'm Allen Iverson's wife, that article would've put me through the roof.

Scoop never wrote a column that bad. Whitlock wrote something about 'Superhead' once, too, but at least he tried to take a critical look at her. Hill's 'Superhead' piece read to me like a frivolous, worthless Maureen Dowd fluff piece which just happened to have as its subject NBA groupies.

 

[RokSki]

What's funniest about the Studio Gangster term is how many members of the media is applies to...

*Boo - yah!*

 

[D-3 Fan]

See also:
Sowell, Thomas.
(Occasionally) Crouch, Stanley.
Murdock, Deroy.
Not often in sports, though, if only because, 30 years ago, there weren't a whole lot of black columnists.

I'm little too young to remember those guys (I'm 30), though Sewell I've a few times when my paper carried his columns and I never got to read Crouch. He was never in my hometown paper. Pitts is someone I've read from time to time but the more I have read him over the past year, I like his writings.

I didn't think about the fact that there wasn't many columnists then. That tells you how much us little peons know about the history of the business, other than the glorified versions we read and watch on t.v..

A good friend of mine suggested I should write since I normally can spell out what I think on a non-SportsJournalists.com sports message board. I told him no way. I didn't major in journalism, never had a job in journalism, and it would be an insult to all journalists if some idiot publisher decides to stick a pen in my hand and tell me to write a major column as a no-experience hack. I enjoy writing on my free time, but I appreciate reading the pros better.

 

[BigRed]

I thought it was a good, strong column.

By the way, if I were a coach and a player said the following to me ...

"We like to go out. We like to have fun, but then you have to worry about the guy around the corner with the gun. You've got to worry about this girl on the block. You've got to worry about your parents, your homeboys taking advantage of you. So many things you have to worry about being a young, black athlete.

... I would say, "Hey, I got your back. If that is your problem, we are gonna give you an 8 p.m. curfew and guard the door to your room to make sure you aren't tempted to get shot, hassled by baby mamas or mistreated by mooching friends."

And no young, white athlete ever has to worry about the girl on the block, his parents or friends trying to take advantage of him.

He just have to worry about the trailer trash bimbo across the tracks and his gravy-training parents who wants to live through him and his successes.


Alma, you made some valid and worthy comments. The only thing is that she was focused on the sports story at hand. I don't think ESPN is interested in having her write about the historical context of African-Americans and the well-documented conditions they have gone through. They want entertainment, not a history lesson.

But we already knew that about the WWL!

BigRed, was it that bad to see? No one wonder why her pic isn't on Page 2 yet. Just wondering....

I wasn't commenting on Jemele's looks, necessarily. Female sports reporters have enough hoops to jump through without anonymous people like me commenting about their figures or "hotness."
I just figured between Jemele, Screamin 'A and Rob Parker together, I was going to hear a lot more bojangling and baby-mama talk than I cared to at that point in my evening, quite frankly!

 

[Lester Bangs]

Bull**** back at you.
It is no better argued -- or written -- than that one was.
The topic is more serious, I grant you.

Dunno ... I guess I consider providing actual insight as opposed to simply throwing out a bunch of bull**** about what it's like to suck the dicks of famous people struck me as a higher form of the profession. You say tomato ...

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

She had the cohones to call one of the best players in the NFL a Studio Gangsta and then backed it up about as well as she could.
Damn good column -- and this coming from a Chiefs fanboy looser.

 

[Alma]

Lester,

Oh, I think insightful is reading that KC Star piece on Larry Johnson at the beginning of the year - the one that opens with him becoming a permanent houseguest of his white next door neighbors - and realizing there's something more to the issue than race-baiting and growing up.

Again, I must impress that I judge based the content of the words, not who wrote it or what money deal they've got. The piece is well-written and, in my opinion, shallow, an indictment I could spread to a lot of sportswriters.

 

[spnited]

Serious question:

Do we really need a Jemele Hill thread every damn week?
Sorry, but she's just not that big a deal.

Nothing wrong with that column, nothing great either. But if it weren't posted here, I sure wouldn't have gone to Page 2 looking for it.

 

[Ace]

Serious question:

Do we really need a Jemele Hill thread every damn week?
Sorry, but she's just not that big a deal.

Nothing wrong with that column, nothing great either. But if it weren't posted here, I sure wouldn't have gone to Page 2 looking for it.

I think we need it for no other reason than if we don't have it, the moderators need to use up their delete thread powers for 2006 to make sure they get enough for next year.