Miss Hill really outdid herself this time..thanks ESPN..thanks for the gift...

[old_tony]

Disclosure: I am Caucasian.

Having said that, the column stunk.

Then your opinion is meaningless.



This just in: NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT RACE. And people who can't see outside that prism are as racist as the people they condemn.

Then tell Jemele the same thing. If everything is not about race, she's the one that needs to be told this, not me. My byline isn't on that poor effort.

She's still a work in progress as a columnist, moreso than many others ESPN and most of the other big boys employ. In addition to a poorly constructed argument and lack of quotes and other background supporting her cause, she then whips out the race card too quickly.

If you wish to bash me because I didn't write a long analysis on why that column stunk, fine. But if you're claiming I'm racist, we're going to have a serious problem.

Sam, I may be wrong, but based on how I read it, I think Arnold's second comment was directed at Ms. Hill and not you.

EDIT: Upon review, I see pallister also has pointed that out. Nice job, pally. :D

 

[ArnoldBabar]

Disclosure: I am Caucasian.

Having said that, the column stunk.

Then your opinion is meaningless.



This just in: NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT RACE. And people who can't see outside that prism are as racist as the people they condemn.

Then tell Jemele the same thing. If everything is not about race, she's the one that needs to be told this, not me. My byline isn't on that poor effort.

She's still a work in progress as a columnist, moreso than many others ESPN and most of the other big boys employ. In addition to a poorly constructed argument and lack of quotes and other background supporting her cause, she then whips out the race card too quickly.

If you wish to bash me because I didn't write a long analysis on why that column stunk, fine. But if you're claiming I'm racist, we're going to have a serious problem.

Sam, I may be wrong, but based on how I read it, I think Arnold's second comment was directed at Ms. Hill and not you.

EDIT: Upon review, I see pallister also has pointed that out. Nice job, pally. :D

You are both correct. I eschew the blue font, but erred in not using it there. Sorry, Sam.

 

[Lester Bangs]

Re: Miss Hill really outdid herself this time..thanks ESPN..thanks for the gift.

I am not suggesting Hill has produced a column of great import, just that she makes some solid points about the black community's deeper attachment to the NBA and its players and thus an emotional investment in their successes/failures. I don't think she's suggesting white people are not/cannot be as interested/invested. I also don't happen to think she is making this all about race, but instead making an observation about how race plays into our sports allegiances. I don't get the feeling here that she is trying to be revolutionary but instead that she's offering a perspective readers might not previously have considered. She wrote a column. It wasn't bad. I don't get the fuss.

 

[bostonbred]

She wrote a column. It wasn't bad. I don't get the fuss.

Because everything she writes seems to be about race.

The vast majority of people just do not care. It's beyond stale.

 

[Lester Bangs]

I do not disagree. She's a one-trick pony and it's not even a good trick. I guess I try to judge each piece on its own merit.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

AB, thanks for the clarification. It's all good.

Pall and OT, good work by both of you. Thanks for stepping in.

 

[beardpuller]

She wrote a column. It wasn't bad. I don't get the fuss.

Because everything she writes seems to be about race.

The vast majority of people just do not care. It's beyond stale.

My view: There is nothing wrong with this column.
Maybe the vast majority of WHITE people don't care. And if you don't care, then don't read it.
That was all I was going to say, but what the heck: Who appointed you as the spokesman for the vast majority of people?

 

[armageddon]

She wrote a column. It wasn't bad. I don't get the fuss.

Because everything she writes seems to be about race.

The vast majority of people just do not care. It's beyond stale.

My view: There is nothing wrong with this column.
Maybe the vast majority of WHITE people don't care. And if you don't care, then don't read it.
That was all I was going to say, but what the heck: Who appointed you as the spokesman for the vast majority of people?

Perhaps the same individual who appointed Hill to speak for the entire black community?

I'm white, therefore I've sinned.

I want the US to win the Gold because it's my country. I hate Krzyzewski and I still want the US to win Gold.

The team could be made up of all white stiffs and coached by John Wooden I wouldn't feel any more pride than I will with this Gold.

 

[D-Backs Hack]

And the genuine feeling that Bolt is the sensation of the Olympics is merely white guilt ::)

Really? Bolt's THE sensation of the Olympics?

Michael Phelps has something to say about that. Or have you forgotten abotu his exploits so soon?

I go with Bolt.

He literally was electrifying.

Phelps gave me the feel of dominance in one of his races. And, at best, he tied at the end of another. And he was wearing the Harry Potter magic suit, so his setting any World Record is bogus to me. Swimming was an embarrassment this Olympics because of those suits and how they totally wiped the slate in a single Games.

Bolt.

Bolt gets my vote, too.

Don't penalize him because he doesn't compete in as many events.

If it was possible to lap the field in those sprints, he did it.

I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread started on this very topic.

 

[pressmurphy]

I'd say the '04 players took a beating in the court of public opinion for a month or two, but has Hill paid one iota of attention to the way Larry Brown has been savaged since for his awful work with the Athens team?

I'm pretty sure that at this point even Brown's family refers to him as "the dip**** coach."

 

[slappy4428]

The entire team is black? I didn't notice, nor did I care. We'll know we've really come along in race relations when nobody cares that a team is all white, all black or whatever. Now that it's been pointed out that the team is all black, it does make me smile thinking how upset bigots must be by this.

I enjoy classy performances at the Olympics and don't care if the athlete is American or not. I certainly couldn't care less how much pigment they have in their skin.

I didn't notice either. They were NBA players and I stopped caring -- whether it's Kobe Bryant of Manute Giobuleee or Uwe Blab for that matter...

 

[zeke12]

I've had about all of your Uwe Blab bashing I'm going to take, slap.

 

[Thirsty And Vacant]

I think the column is OK, not great, and certainly not as brutal as some of y'all make it out to be.

I can definitely see where some of Ms. Hill's African-American friends would see a racial aspect, right or wrong, in the reaction to the 04 Olympic debacle and a hope for a better result this year.

Blithely dismissing such concerns by stating "race doesn't matter anymore," is misguided.

 

[bostonbred]

She wrote a column. It wasn't bad. I don't get the fuss.

Because everything she writes seems to be about race.

The vast majority of people just do not care. It's beyond stale.

My view: There is nothing wrong with this column.
Maybe the vast majority of WHITE people don't care. And if you don't care, then don't read it.
That was all I was going to say, but what the heck: Who appointed you as the spokesman for the vast majority of people?

It's my opinion that the vast majority of people don't care about Hill's constant race ramblings. I think so many articles hitting on the same subject hurts her credibility. Enough is enough already.

 

[gingerbread]

Re: Miss Hill really outdid herself this time..thanks ESPN..thanks for the gift.

Harvey Araton doesn't mention race, but through adept reporting and writing he makes notable points about what was wrong with the 2004 team.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/sports/olympics/20araton.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


Michael Redd was pressed for time, being that practice with the Bucks in Milwaukee had run long. He had an appointment in Chicago, and refused to be late.

He hustled into the car, onto the Interstate heading south and was soon stepping inside Jerry Colangelo’s hotel suite, carrying a long garment bag.

“Will you excuse me a minute?” he said.

Colangelo waved him off. “You don’t have to change,” he said.

“I’d really like to,” Redd said.

Within minutes, his standard sweats discarded, Redd was suited up in the manner of a young Wall Street applicant.

“I did it out of respect for USA Basketball and I did it out of respect for Jerry,” Redd said Monday night in a private moment at the Olympic basketball venue. “I wanted to treat it like a job interview. I wanted to be on this team.”

In time, Redd’s dress code of honor became Colangelo’s go-to metaphor as he explained why the United States was no longer dressing down for Olympic men’s basketball, no longer treating the Games solely as a quadrennial marketing convention of overpriced basketball shoes.

 

[Boom_70]

Hill has fast become William Rhoden light.

 

[beardpuller]

She wrote a column. It wasn't bad. I don't get the fuss.

Because everything she writes seems to be about race.

The vast majority of people just do not care. It's beyond stale.

My view: There is nothing wrong with this column.
Maybe the vast majority of WHITE people don't care. And if you don't care, then don't read it.
That was all I was going to say, but what the heck: Who appointed you as the spokesman for the vast majority of people?

It's my opinion that the vast majority of people don't care about Hill's constant race ramblings. I think so many articles hitting on the same subject hurts her credibility. Enough is enough already.

Well, I dsiagree with your premise. I would assume that ESPN wants her to write about race, and that African-American readers of ESPN.com probably find this column reasonably relevant to their concerns.

 

[pallister]

So she's paid to be a one-trick pony?

 

[beardpuller]

Exactly. The kind of work you do here for free.

 

[zeke12]

Exactly. The kind of work you do here for free.

Like Jermaine Dye unloading on a hanging curve, right there.