Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Don Imus Rutgers Women's basketball - Eddie Hodges
Women's basketball will forever live in the shadow of men's basketball when it comes to the amount of respect given to women's basketball programs. Women who play basketball are already more of a "tom-boy" compared to other women who do not participate in sports. So when Don Imus got on the radio and said what he said in his mind he may of felt like it was something that could be said without any repercussions. I personally believe that everything he said was very offensive and very hurtful not only to Rutgers women's basketball program but to all women basketball players. African Americans predominately make up both men's and women's basketball. Knowing that, for Don Imus to attack those women with such hurtful slang that is a disgrace to his character. Those women work hard each and everyday to be able to be successful at the game in which they play. I believe that these comments were said by Don Imus but other people around America were probably feeling the same way but Don Imus just had the courage to say it. Americans believe that we are in a post-racism society but that is not the case. There will always be people who feel a certain way against a different race but we cannot live like everything is perfect, people just have to keep all of their comments to themselves and try to stay out of the spotlight with comments like that.
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Eddie
ReplyDeleteI think saying that women's basketball will forever live in the shadow of men's basketball is an assumption that should not be made. That could be made offensive to women because it is like saying "you will never be on our level". Yeah women sports are not as big or popular as male sports and they may never be but women sports are picking up and there are more opportunities and more women doing sports than ever before. I agree with you, personally I thought what he said was not right, and I was shocked by what he said. For someone who is respected and has a lot of people who listen to him to say those things, just shows that we are not post racism. We like to think we are but we are not. I agree with you there will always be people who feel certain ways against a different race, but what would help is if the media or people in media would think about what they should say. Everything gets more blown up when people with respect and power/upper class tend to speak out and says something they should not. Don should have known better than to say those things on air as he did.
Tyler Crellin
LeBron James is presently the greatest athlete the world has to see. As Anthony said he was named the “Chosen One” in his high school days! LeBron’s hype and talent continued to rise and become larger than any other athlete until one dreadful day, the day he left Cleveland. LeBron went from possible being the greatest athlete of all time and a beloved American hero, to a cowardly child that wanted to win some championships. He had the opportunity to change a struggling city not just win a championship. Regardless of how much his character has changed since he went to Miami, LeBron James in my eyes is still a selfless little boy. I realize the “Sacrifice” LeBron made by leaving for Miami (Money wise) but that is simply irrelevant to the overall benefit of living in Miami rather than Cleveland. He left for the city of sin while his destiny was to Cleveland’s salvation.
ReplyDeleteJay Clark
Jay,
DeleteI think you meant to post this comment under a different entry. This entry was about the RUIMUS case.
Dr. Spencer
Eddie,
ReplyDeleteAs unfortunate as it is, I agree with you when you say that women’s basketball will live in the shadow of men’s basketball. However, I’m hoping that will not be something that lasts forever. For the most part, women who do compete in sports and take it seriously have a “tom-boy” connotation. It is just a part of society that if a woman wants to be athletic that she faces the stereotype that she is manly. So things like what Don Imus said, as inappropriate as they are, are something that most athletic women face. Because that is a commonly accepted stereotype, the thing that set what Imus said apart was the racial aspect. I also agree with you that because women’s basketball is predominately black, the racial slur hurt the entirety of women’s basketball. White and black women basketball players work together every day, but when something is said that brings up racial issues, it can cause problems among players. Although the racist comments were made towards the Rutgers team, it can cause negative thoughts towards those girls because of the reasons behind what was said.
Nicole Zawislan
The women basketball publicity problem starts with the media coverage that they receive little of. The reason why Eddie is saying that they will always be in the shadows is because of the media coverage. I believe that the level of play as far as competition is concerned I feel women's basketball has made a very big stride. Especially the college game, I think the college game has a step on the WNBA just because if the intensity and atmosphere of the games. Fans who attend the college game have a lot more common interest in the game than the WNBA. When the media decides to give women's basketball more attention that's when women's basketball will be able to take center stage. As far as the Don Imus comments those are more socially related rather than sport most of the time problems in society will reflect in sports.
ReplyDeleteJude
Eddie,
ReplyDeleteYour first statement is true and will never change, and I agree with your statement even though I wish men and women’s sports were the same when it comes to respect. I don’t ever see that changing in the future or sports, unfortunately. But, talking about Don Imus, I had never even heard about this until this class. It was completely shocked to hear that anyone in their right state of mind would even process something like in the head and then have the courage to say it out loud and then still say it over a nationally televised television show. If I was a Rutgers women’s basketball player, I would hesitant about playing again. If someone has this thought about me, is it likely that someone else may have the same thought as well? Yes, He apologized, but the statement he said in the first place should have clearly never been said at all.
Billy Nowak