Can we talk about Imus like adults?

[Willie-Butch]

Well said, Mizzou

 

[Mizzougrad96]

If anyone watched the Rutgers presser and thought it was a measured, intelligent response, they certainly weren't watching the same presser I was.

The first 15 minutes was Stringer trying to convince anyone who would listen that her team was good at basketball. Who said they weren't?

The players had a few intelligent things to say, but you could tell a large chunk of what they said was what they were told to say. I was waiting for ONE player to step up and say, "Hey, it was stupid and insulting, but it's not going to affect my life." Just one. I guess that was too much to ask.

One player, I can't remember which one, said the team's meeting with Imus would be "critical to the state of New Jersey." Are you serious?

My opinion of Stringer went down several notches after that presser... I felt embarrassed for her and I felt embarrassed for the players, for all the wrong reasons...

 

[Willie-Butch]

I do have a power, actually. The power of common sense.

 

[Willie-Butch]

I agree, Mizzou. I didn't know much about Stringer until the Final Four, when I heard nothing but praise. She wiped that out with about 30 minutes of verbal diarrhea.

 

[spnited]

Once again, MIzzou, you are misstating what Stringer said.
She did not equate Imus' comments with her daughter being diagnosed with meningitis or her husband's death.
What she said was the first two times she went to the Final Four, she went with pain in her heart because of those tragedies. This year, she went in light-hearted and happy, enjoyed the experience immensely, and now feels it has been damaged by Imus' comments.

And, again, this issued lingered for a week with the Rutgers people saying nothing while being hounded by the media. For them to have a presser to respond is NOT C. Vivian Stringer milking this to get publicity for her program.
You are so far off-base here it isn't even funny.

 

[Ace]

OK, I'll play on the other field for a while.
If they had done nothing, said nothing, how would the situation have changed for the better, besides making white people feel more comfortable again? How did Gwen Ifill's silence a few years back when they called her the "cleaning lady" make things better? How did Clarence Page's "dignified" request that Imus take a pledge against this stuff as a reaction to the Ifill comments work out in the long run?
And, of course, these young women had to be "told" what to say because....well.. because why?
I can guess, but I won't.

To me, if the team wanted to respond, fine, but they are doing more to help Imus atone than by ignoring him.

But if that's what they want to do, more power to them.

Reminds me of Fuzzy Zoeller's racist/inappropriate comment at the Masters years ago. Tiger Woods left Fuzzy hanging and twisting in the wind -- which was the worst thing he could have done to Fuzzy.

 

[playthrough]

Do you think if Imus had spit on Tennessee, Pat Summitt would have taken more than 15 seconds to grind Imus into dryer lint and cast him aside?

Not casting any other judgments on anything (OK, Imus is an idiot, I'll say that), but I just wondered how it may have been handled elsewhere.

 

[boots]

I agree, Mizzou. I didn't know much about Stringer until the Final Four, when I heard nothing but praise. She wiped that out with about 30 minutes of verbal diarrhea.

I've been acquainted with C. Vivian for the better part of three decades. She is a lady in every sense of the word.
By the way, here is another columnist who makes some sense about this mess. Here is the link.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173350671406

 

[nobody_important]

-Al Sharpton's previous crusades on rap music... (and I am not a Sharpton fan)

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2005-03-25-sharpton-rap-music_x.htm

-A well-organized protest at a black women's college against an appearance by rapper Nelly, forcing him to cancel

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2004-04-23-spelman-protest-rappers_x.htm

-Oprah Winfrey's decision to keep rappers off her show drawing the ire of the artists.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,26334,1198966,00.html

Other examples of protests led by blacks against the sexist nature of hip-hop lyrics have been mentioned... but I guess those weren't newsworthy enough to gain national attention.

All black people do not listen to rap and hip-hop. Black people have every right to speak out against what Imus said without hearing the "rappers do it too" argument.

Should there be more dialogue in the black community about misogyny in rap music? Definitely. But it's been happening for more than a decade. A little research and attention to the news would show that.

 

[Ace]

I wonder what the reaction would have been if Imus and friends and just called the team a bunch of scary bull dykes? Would there even had been a suspension or any outcry?

Yes. If my daughter was on that team and that forker called them that, I'd be in Astoria faster than Grant went through Richmond.

I don't think Grant went through Richmond very quickly at all -- to be honest with you.

Yeah it took nearly the entire war for Richmond to fall.

Maybe boots should have said "He'd be in Astoria faster than Grant went through a whiskey bottle."

Now, now, Doc. I read Grant's Memoirs and I don't recall him ever mentioning tipping the bottle. He does fall of horses a few times -- but who hasn't?

(BTW, anyone with an interest in history, civil war or presidents should read the book)

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Do you think if Imus had spit on Tennessee, Pat Summitt would have taken more than 15 seconds to grind Imus into dryer lint and cast him aside?

Not casting any other judgments on anything (OK, Imus is an idiot, I'll say that), but I just wondered how it may have been handled elsewhere.

Outstanding point... With Summit, the issue would have been dead in 30 seconds...

 

[Dignan]

The Rutgers administration spent a considerable amount of time at the start of the presser praising the players and telling everyone how intelligent they were. Maybe the AD and Prez didn't think they were intelligent enough to answer the question for themselves. And that's sad.

Good point. That in itself could be construed as a little racist. "Look how well-spoken they are ..."