Mark Whicker, what were you thinking?

Holy shit, does Whicker need to shut the fuck up.

 

I can see where he is coming from. He just does not see this column from the perspective of his critics.

He wasn't trying to be mean or tasteless.

It's kind of like wearing shorts and a T-shirt to a dinner party. You are comfortable and everything is covered. So why is everyone giving you dirty looks?

 

I get the feeling he thinks this is a big Internet conspiracy against him.

 

If he gets fired or suspended or even told he needs to use some of his vacation and lay low, it will be because he never got why people are horrified at this column. All of his apologies have been, "Hey, sorry you're offended, but I'm not in the wrong."

 

1991? For fuck's sake, guys.

 

No, it's this that's an example of how he's making an ass out of himself. From the AOL link above:

Update: Whicker has published an apology. He also e-mailed me after this post was published, saying, "Thanks for ripping me. I'm really happy I devoted part of this very hectic day responding to someone who had as little interest in my viewpoint as the crazies out there."

That is what he wrote to someone who asked for his side before writing about it. Whicker sure does need to STFU.

 

He wrote an awful column. But it wasn't malicious. I don't think you should get fired for that. It was just genuinely, awfully, cringe-worthy bad.

But if he doesn't see what's wrong with the column, well, you're gonna have to consider letting him go.

 

He really does think a mob of "crazies" is out to get him. When will he understand that believing the column was in horrifically poor taste does not make you the journalistic equivalent of a birther?

 

Sirs, Madames,

It would be hard to accept if he were a shock jock. Some on here are gawding him up like he's Jim Murray. No one who could be five-star could on the day of his worst hang-over imagine that this would pass. That he's still not getting it ... I dunno, is Michael Moore behind the camera with him? Is it Joaquin Phoenix and we're all being conned? It would come as a relief.

o-<

 

I'm starting to get a weird disconnect here. The people on here who know the guy seem to universally agree that he's a great guy, but then you read these interviews ...

 

And unless you genuinely recognized your error, sincerely and regretfully, you probably would not be invited back.

 

He should be fired?

For this column?

Give me a break. The concept wasn't that bad. His mistake was only looking at being out of touch for 18 years and not realizing the full impact and implications of why she was.

He obviously should have. But in the myopic world that sports writing can be, I can see how he might just see the time span and forget the suffering.

It was stupid. It was a mistake. He apologized. He's going to be very careful for a long time to come.

It wasn't an intentional jab at the girl/now woman. He was thinking about all that he would have missed if he had been locked away for 18 years.

And I'm betting that some of his readers who are piling on, now, have a grudge from a past column that was spot-on.