April 11, 2007
Seeing racism when you hear it
I have to confess that when I saw the Rutgers' women's basketball team having a news conference on the television I left on for the dog because there were workmen here, I didn't know what had happened. I didn't know who Imus was, or what was said, or why it merited a news conference. So I poked around a bit, and found the "apology" and still didn't know what had been said. Today I had the time to go through the stack of newpaper sections that have been collecting these past few weeks, and I learned what had been said.
Holy Mother of God. What the Fuck is going on here?
MSNBC "suspends" this jerks program for a couple of weeks. Big deal. He won't even notice. But now that I get what happened, I sure as hell notice. It's not enough. If MSNBC had any integrity at all, and clearly they don't, they would just simply drop him. For good. Who needs crap like this cluttering up the airways anyway? MSNBC has a better image to uphold, and certainly better options for their airspace/time.
So I'm reading this entry from Becky today, and I followed the link to C. Vivian Stringer's comments published in the NYTimes, and I got mad. Teary? Yes. But also just downright mad.
I've tried for the last two years to teach undergraduate writers at my institution under course outcomes and syllabi that emphasize "diversity" only to be met with rolled eyes and Pollyana-esque platitudes about how racism doesn't exist in our country anymore. I can even imagine some of those students talking about this incident and saying that the mere fact that these black women got to college "proves" there is no racism left to deal with.
To which I can now reply, with some venom, "bullshit, and this is why." It's one thing to get racist e-mail messages on a family list (I have to say I am more than somewhat disappointed to be related to these people, but it sure explains a lot of my earlier life), but it is quite another in this day and time for anyone to accept this kind of foulness as acceptable.
I'm saving the articles about this incident. It sickens me that these people not only exist in the world but that they exist in levels of public broadcasting. I support the First Amendment to the Constitution, but I don't for a moment confuse a freedom with a license to harm.
I've had two women basketball players as students in my time here at Syracuse. These young women are multiple times the individuals this racist "personality" is. He should be removed from the airwaves. No apology can make up for placing those words into the public ear.
I'd say "shame" on him, and his syndicator, and MSNBC, but, of course, it wouldn't do any good, because if they had the sense of decency that makes shame effective, this incident wouldn't have happened.
To the women at Rutgers: Stand proud. Stand together. Stand above this idiot and those who follow him.
Posted by cageyer at 04:01 PM | Comments (1)
March 10, 2006
Who's the Blonde Stranger?
Can you believe this? Syracuse just beat Georgetown, a day after taking down UConn (the #1 team in the country) in overtime, making it the first time any team has come back from winning in overtime to winning their game the next day (in the Big East tournament, that is) and the first time a team has come back from a 15 point half-time deficit to win in Big East history. And that "overrated" player McNamara? It's all his doing. His scoring, his grit, his determination, his encouragement, occasionally his scowling at other players, but mostly his sheer full presence on that court. A-mazing. In-credible. Other superlatives that others will say better than I can here.
You know how the cameras always pan to Gerry's parents in the crowd? You know you there's always this one younger blonde woman next to Gerry's mom in the shot that no one ever talks about? Who is she? Who is that blonde stranger?
What an incredible night!
Posted by cageyer at 09:14 PM | Comments (1)
January 23, 2006
Steelers v. Seahawks (that's right - Seahawks)
For a long-time Seattle girl who can't get past calling Seattle home, yesterday's playoff games were amazing. I figured Pittsburgh could get past Denver (though there was this small part of me that thought it would be delicious to have old AFC rivals Seattle and Denver be THE main event). Everyone I talked to (well, okay, it wasn't that many) figured Carolina would go out to the Emerald City and stomp on Seattle. Wow. Not even. Seattle played strong, they played aggressively, and they played to win. It worked. For the first time in the franchise's 30 year history, they not only made it to the championship game, they are going to the Super Bowl.
This is significant to me in more ways than just having the home team finally make the big game. I was in the all-state marching band that played the night the Kingdome opened. I was there when the same Kingdome was imploded as outdated and too poor a facility to field a winning team.
I was there when Jim Zorn was the young quarterback steering the expansion team with such notables as Steve Largent and Steve Raible at his side. Largent became a U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma. Raible is now the evening new anchor on a local Seattle station. Last night I was amazed to see that Zorn was the quarterback coach of the champion team, looking not all that much older for the 30 years that have passed.
I was there when Dave Krieg was a walk-on quarterback with some quirky abilities that helped rejuvenate the team, at least for awhile, and was there for the painful loss to Oakland early in the playoff season. I was there when the Nordstrom family decided football wasn't in line with their expansion interests and sold the team to flaky, egotistical California real estate developer Ken Behring, who damn near ruined the team forever, particularly with that circus stunt unautorized move to Los Angeles to try and grab the franchise there when the Rams bolted. I was there, and relieved beyond measure when the NFL actually made them move back. I was there when Behring decided to take his marbles and go back home.
I was there when Paul Allen stepped up and bought the team, keeping them firmly attached to their Seattle home, and acknowledging the support of the Seattle fan base, who were always present and always vocal, even when the team was losing season upon season. Last night I watched Paul Allen salute those fans by hoisting #12 up the flagpole, a strong salute to those whose voices made the Kingdome, and now QWest field, one of the loudest, least friendly venues for any visiting team.
I was there when the voters said "no, we won't build you a new stadium" and when the state worked a deal and built one anyway. I was there when Mike Holmgren became the head coach. I was there when the Seahawks played at Husky Stadium for a season, and the fans ripped new quarterback Matt Hasselback constantly, taunting him, insulting him, generally behaving badly at high volume. But by the time time that same coach Holmgren and that same quarterback Hasselback took the team to victory, it wasn't really my team anymore. Too much had changed - the names, the venue, the conference. So I'm not really counting myself part of the #12.
But it is awfully nice to see the home team finally make the big one. It surely is.
Update: Be sure to check out Leah's description of actually BEING THERE over on penn.
Posted by cageyer at 09:54 AM | Comments (2)
November 05, 2005
Miami vs. VTech, or Why I Remember Husky Stadium
So, after a very long month of letting the Bear Paw entry just sit, it's time to make a less poignant entry about something more accessible.
I'm watching Miama at Virginia Tech on ESPN. I have no personal relationship to either team. But I have dear friends who are lately from VT, from Blacksburg, and it happens that this game is also the #5 team at the #3 team in the country, and the two top defenses in the country. It's a hard-hitting game with a very participatory crowd of 65,000+ who know how to be quiet when it's their ball and VERY loud when it isn't.
Why does this all touch me? Because ESPN was kind enough to actually let cameras and sounds come up from the field in the pre-game activities - to let me hear the noise and feel the energy, and for that few minutes I was a Husky again, sitting two rows behind the band in the middle of the student section, just about the 50 yard line in a stadium that holds 70,000, in a Rose Bowl winning season. That energy, that same energy the commentator said had the hair on the back of his neck standing up - that's what I love about college football. I could feel it just hearing that crowd.
Only college. Only outdoors. I miss it.
Posted by cageyer at 08:36 PM | Comments (1)
March 27, 2005
Bracketology
Let's just say that bracketology isn't my game. I lost the whole Austin region shortly after the first round, lost most of the others by the sweet sixteen, and after yesterday, lost my bid for some kind of unique finish when Louisville beat West Virginia. Who could believe the comeback of the Illini last night? They get extra credit for being all but beaten and keeping the fighting attitude needed to turn it around. I have them picked to go to the final, but so does everyone else, of course. But I also had them loosing that game to Syracuse. oops.
Ah, well. As our friends Searles and Weinberger say: learning happens, and when things go wrong, different learning happen.
yup.
Posted by cageyer at 07:21 AM | Comments (0)