Sports and politics seem to be interlocked these days. Today I give you Mike Lupica's column on the Rutgers basketball / Don Imus contraversy. Lupica is, in my mind, the best sportswriter in this country and it is pieces like this that prove it. On Saturday, we'll start our countdown to the NFL Draft.
Their face of grace outshines vile insult
by Mike Lupica
Out of the thoughtless terrible comment that started it all, out of all the rhetoric of these past few days about Don Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team, even out of the general lousiness that so often dominates the airwaves these days, here were the women of that Rutgers team rising above it all yesterday.
They were not mean, they were not vengeful, they did not look to knock Imus dead in the public square. They wanted us to see exactly who had been insulted and how. This they did with great style. Even on television, it was thrilling to witness.
They were hurt by what Imus said on radio and television last Wednesday. So were their families and their friends and so was their school. Their coach, C. Vivian Stringer, was profoundly wounded, and profoundly offended. All the women who spoke yesterday spoke eloquently about how they were blindsided by this controversy, one that began the morning after they concluded their Cinderella run to the NCAA finals against Tennessee.
"We haven't done anything to deserve this," said Essence Carson, a basketball player and straight-A student and piano player and the star of this day.
Before that, Essence Carson talked about what Imus had said about her and her teammates, and about everything that has happened since.
"It has stolen a moment of pure grace from us," she said.
The moment of pure grace was Essence Carson of Paterson, N.J., who said at one point, "Before the student comes the daughter."
In so many ways, all ways, this young woman with such a wonderful name had gone to the essence of the whole matter in that moment. By saying what he said, Don Imus had not just insulted women in this fashion, he had insulted a bunch of wonderful kids. He hadn't gone after Al Gore or Dick Cheney this time, but people's daughters.
And still Essence Carson was better than the whole thing. We put her face and name on this finally. We did the same with Heather Zurich. And Kia Vaughn of the Bronx, who brought as much common sense as anybody to the occasion when she finally said, "This takes away from things we should be doing."
The kid was talking about going to class.
Stringer spoke passionately and powerfully yesterday before her players did, described those players as "young ladies [who] are the best this nation has to offer. ... God's representatives in every sense of the word." Stringer talked about her team's run to the Final Four in Cleveland, all the way to that last game against favored Tennessee, and then Stringer said, "And they came back to THIS."
The players were the victims. If they had decided not to meet with Don Imus, as he had requested, no one would have faulted them. But they did choose to meet with him. It doesn't mean they excuse what he said. It means they are fair.
Am I in any way defending what he said because he is my friend? Nobody is defending what he said about these young women, starting with Don Imus himself.
But do I think he is a racist? I do not. Do I think he should be fired for what he said? I do not. I have never believed in the media death penalty in cases like this. Rush Limbaugh is sure no friend of mine, but three years ago I wrote that it was dead wrong that he be forced to resign from ESPN because he said the media were going easy on Donovan McNabb because McNabb is black.
Imus is not Limbaugh, of course. Even when the subject is race, these cases are all different. Imus is not Al Campanis, who lost a proud baseball life because he went on "Nightline" and said blacks lacked the "necessities" to be baseball managers. Imus is not Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder, who lost his television career by saying blacks were bred to be better athletes, as if Margaret Mead had made those remarks instead of some bookmaker.
I hated when Ann Coulter called John Edwards a "faggot," and when she went out of her way to insult the widows of Sept. 11, but would never suggest she can't write books or columns. If the worst thing you do in public life becomes the last thing, then how did the Rev. Jesse Jackson survive "Hymietown" and how did the Rev. Al Sharpton survive Tawana Brawley?
Sharpton says he hates the hateful language of rap music, language about women and everything else. Does he think that the rappers should just be boycotted, or should they never be allowed to make another record?
We spent days listening to the debate about a proper punishment for Imus. But we needed to hear from the women of Rutgers basketball. There they were yesterday, asking where we go from here. "I would like to get [Imus] to get to know us," Kia Vaughn of the Bronx said.
We all got to know them yesterday. One week after the season of their lives for the women of Rutgers basketball, it turns out none of us knew how good they really were.
#2 Al in WI said . . .I think people will get a different view on Imus when they discover he has entered therapy. Check out the details on my blog "Necessary Therapy"
April 11, 2007
#3 Starbuck said . . .Not to break up the race politics debate but the Bears Schedule hs been released today:
Week 1
Bears
at Chargers
Week 2Chiefs
at Bears
Week 3Cowboys
at Bears
Week 4Bears
at Lions
Week 5Bears
at Packers
Week 6Vikings
at Bears
Week 7Bears
at Eagles
Week 8Lions
at Bears
Week 10Bears
at Raiders
Week 11Bears
at Seahawks
Week 12Broncos
at Bears
Week 13Giants
at Bears
Week 14Bears
at Redskins
Week 15Bears
at Vikings
Week 16Packers
at Bears
Week 17Saints
at Bears
April 11, 2007
#4 Ally britt said . . .Imus is an old fart whose caustic comments finally caught up with him. This episode will be a black eye on his boring, but nonetheless, long career, including his admission to the radio hall of fame.
On a lighter note, the Bears schedule is out. I predict the Bears will be 10 and 6 next year. Losses: at San Diego, Cowboys at home, at Packers, at Eagles, at Seahawks, at Redskins
April 11, 2007
#5 Megan said . . .I wanted the tennese to win
April 11, 2007
#6 mullah cimoc said . . .Imus is done, he needs to retire. There is no use for some one who insists on prepetuating racism and sexism in this day and age. We are trying to move beyond that personna in our country. We are not doing very well with that, but he is certainly not helping. I think it's time we really crack down on this type of thing and discourage it as much as possible by making him one big example. These young women are not JUST atheletes. They are SMART atheletes. The kind of smarts it takes to get into Rutgers in the first place. Pre-Law, Pre-Med, musicians and the like.
Time for Mr Imus to retire into obscurity.
That's all I have to say about that.April 11, 2007
#7 Z said . . .Mullah Cimoc say ameriki not free now. benjamin franklin him so sad if see amerika.
truth: them have tattoos and knappy hair and in waziristan any the woman have tattoo is ho. fo show.
Did not english ancestor subdue king at runnymeade for make truth a defense at law.
so control the usa media by masters in tel aviv acting through monopolists and FCC bureaucracy, keep all ameriki so stupid for killing the muslim and the torture.
for this aemriki be punish. all him land go to the aztec and maya. him woman be slut taking the LBT (low back tattoo)
during this time him daughter the goverment making her take the shot for destroy the sexual organs. him so tame him not even fight. him like the woman and the homosexual. him not to fight for him own daughter, this not real man.amerika need google: mighty wurlitzer +cia
education for understand control media of usa nazi regime.
April 12, 2007
#8 Z said . . .This man has a long history of these type of derogatory and bigoted remarks (usually at politicians who we are more desensitized to accepting such things being said about them) but he is a huge moneymaker so I guess they have let it slide until now. Finally he has screwed up striking out at a group of ladies that with their poise and character are building a surge of backlash against him that may result in the one thing that may actually get him fired; losing enough sponsors and therefore revenue to make it worth firing him so his employer can save face and get these sponsors back. Hopefully it does.
April 12, 2007
#9 Megan said . . .Imus got fired today. He did not just make a bad joke and I agree that, "no one should use the public airwaves to transmit racial or sexual degradation. We cannot afford a precedent established that the airways can commercialize and mainstream sexism and racism". The problem still remains lodged deep within society's mindset but when you slip this bad there should be consequences. I never found him very intelligent or interesting anyway. CBS will have big problems replacing that revenue but I won't lose sleep about that either. Back to football.
April 13, 2007
#10 B J said . . .Buh, Bye
April 13, 2007
#11 WindyCityPackerFan said . . .HI, I HOPE THIS REACH THE WOMEN AT RUTGERS. AS I SAT HERE AND WENT OVER THE HURTFUL THINGS THAT WAS SAID AND STILL IS SAID ABOUT YOU. I HURT AND I CRY. IT BRINGS BACK SAD MEMORIES OF HOW I AM TREATED AND NOT ACCEPTED AS A BLACK WOMAN/A WOMAN. THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE THIS WORK FOR YOU AND OTHERS TO A DEGREE, IS TO ASK FOR IMUS TO GO BACK TO HIS SOW WITH A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE AND DEMANDED TIME SPENT WITH THE TEAM. ALSO OTHER GROUPS OF US. SOMETIMES JUST DISMISSING A PERSON IS NOT ENOUGH. WE NEED TO CONNECT AND TEACH PEOPLE SO THEY CAN CARRY ON TO OTHERS WHO THINK THE SAME WAY. IMUS IS STILL A BIG NAME, AND HIS ASSOCIATION WITH OTHER POWERFUL CONNECTIONS CAN HELP CAUSE LIKE THIS AND THROUGH THAT GOD SMILES ON HIM AND THE TEAM. PLEASE CONSIDER THE YOU RUTGERS GIRLS AND GREAT LUCK AND BLESSINGS IN THE FUTURE...
April 14, 2007
When are the 'powers that be' (see- Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton) going to go after the musical artists that use far more deragatory comments than Imus in each and every one of their songs?
Don't the rap artists of today have a larger influence on the young African-American community than Don Imus? I don't recall the last time I say ANYBODY boppin' to the beat of Imus blastin' on the boom box.
And they chastized Bill Cosby.
April 16, 2007
Here at DaBearsBlog, you are free to kill us or the Bears as you so wish. You are not free, however, to be an asshole. So if you spew racism or ill-meaning foul language (cursing about football is just fine) or anything of that ilk, your comments ain't gonna last long, jerk.