From a NYT sports column by William C. Rhoden about the suspension of ESPN sports commentator Steven A. Smith, who said something that, oddly enough, isn't even quoted in the article. Rhoden seems to want to say something, but I don't know what it is. Maybe: You have to be careful what you say. Well, then this column is a great object lesson, because Rhoden is pussyfooting around so much I can't tell what he means to say.
Rhoden ends with:
If there is a lesson to be learned from the spate of suspensions, it’s that in our zeal to tap new markets and attract new readers, viewers and listeners, we relinquish a sliver of our conscience and our responsibility to at least try to create order out of chaos.Maybe he's chasing dollars. You know, if you actually care about creating order out of chaos, you could say something clear.
As we chase dollars, we make progressively less sense.
Curious about what Smith actually said, I found this CNN article by Marc J. Randazza, identified as "a Las Vegas-based First Amendment attorney." He says:
If you listen to his entire statement, [Smith] said nothing to suggest that Rice's now-wife, Janay, "had it coming," nor did he make any excuses for Rice's behavior. The only offense he committed was that he blathered so incoherently that he made it hard to see how he managed to get a TV show in the first place. So, if ESPN wants to take him off the air and replace him with a better commentator, I'm all for it. But I'm disgusted at the rancorous, politically correct swarm that descended upon Smith, and the spineless reaction of the management at ESPN. And once the swarm gets into "beast mode," there is no recovery....I still don't have a quote of what exactly Smith said. There's video at the link, but it's just CNN talking heads emoting about it, playing some emoting by Rush Limbaugh, then emoting about Limbaugh, whose use of the phrase "elderly feminazis" sidetracks them (which I'm sure delights Limbaugh).
Okay, here it is. Here's Steven A. Smith saying what got him suspended:
I can see why no one quotes him. It's so long, and it's long because it's so furiously hedged with disclaimers and qualifications.
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39 comments:
This is fast becoming a nation of cowards,...
At least sports is still a meritocracy. The best example we have, actually.
Political correctness will dash upon the rocks once it runs up against a real valuable player.
btw, is this a possible reason for the short Ray Rice punishment: - much longer of a suspension and he would be quite affected on Fantasy Draft boards. Follow the money?
Whoa - I understood him perfectly. And don't understand what he was fired for. He was explaining what he tells the women he knows - as though he was speaking to the women directly.
He tells them not to deliberately provoke a man to violence (which he knows women do from the women in his life). And he says society blames some men too easily because it doesn't want to do the proper forensics on what led to that point.
I don't get it,...
Oh yeah - he's black,....
He got canned for emitting greenhouse gases.
What Smith should have said was that women often are not blameless in domestic violence situations and that that sometimes, they are the ones perpetrating the violence. Hitting people is wrong and will get you in trouble, but a man still has a right to defend himself if he is physically attacked by a women.
The irony is that the world of sports reporters could be the most liberal, PC oriented place EVER. When they talk politics of any kind you're quickly into bizarro land. And, of course, the thought police are out ready to get you fired for any incorrect thought.
I like Smith. He's a character. A snazzy dresser too, you'll never see him in shorts.
He is black. The lesson is that the black race card does not work in the domestic violence arena.
Who, whom.
If talking head verbal diarrhea were a symptom of Ebola, we'd all be runnin' for the hills.
Stray observations:
1) Much as I enjoy watching sports, I could never understand the appeal of watching shows where people discuss sports. Maybe if I watched more sports than I do I'd get it.
2) There is absolutely a double standard about violence towards women vs. violence towards men. If you don't see it, consider how we would treat these incidents if the woman in question were replaced with a slightly built man--if you instigate a physical fight, by striking first, and then someone clocks you, it's hard to feel sympathy (unless the bigger person is using grossly disproportionate force--say disfiguring someone who only slapped you). But where the first hitter was a woman, people get bent out of shape in a way that they wouldn't if it were a man. There's no excuse for starting violence or grossly elevating it, regardless of the sexes involved. It isn't victim blaming to examine the relative fault of the parties.
3) I know that Randazza guy from school! Glad to see he's still practicing.
It's almost as if--in the hyper sensitive PC world of ESPN--it is so difficult to say something without offending somebody, it's almost impossible to say anything at all.
Aside: Since this incident in the elevator first became public, ESPN did their level best to bury the story. It took nearly 3 days for it to appear on ESPN.com.
ESPN was quite happy to announce the 2 game suspension and move on.
But, no. Stephen A. had to open his big mouth, which caused fellow employee Michele Beadle to open hers. Then all hell broke loose.
Smith didn't get suspended for what he said--he got suspended for drawing attention to a story ESPN didn't want to cover.
Why do people try to placate the mob?
Smith is a superstar of sports talk gossipers. But he committed blasphemy by coming close to judging immaculate women goddesses. That surprised the sports talk legalist world. Even the once free NYC men must now submit to rules that forbid fair talking about gender issues.
that women often are not blameless in domestic violence situations
You'll be standing right behind Mr. Smith in the unemployment line.
The law of self defense allows a proportional response. Gender matters not, except to the extent it informs our understanding of proportion.
He should be fired for being long-winded, confusing, and boring.
Smith was wronged. Because he was black? Meh. As if Joe Cracker wouldn't get punished for pushing back against the groupthink.
What Smith should have said was that women often are not blameless in domestic violence situations
That would have gotten him in just as much trouble. The rule is : woman good, man bad. Anything outside of that and you get attacked on social media and hounded from your job.
"who said something that, oddly enough, isn't even quoted in the article."
This is a common practice. I have seen many instances of this where some journalist or other public figure is censured, condemned or even punished for having made a "homophobic" comment - but what they actually said is not quoted, because apparently we plebes should just shut up and accept our betters' judgement as to what is or is not "homophobic" and beyond the pale to say.
He should be fired for being long-winded, confusing, and boring.
Can we fire Cracked?
I am truly surprised that the Professor wades through all of the Crack Bullshit and she is unable to understand Stevie's bullshit? To quote the Blessed One, "Whoa-I understood him perfectly."
Reminds me of Daymon Wayans as Oswald Bates or that Dyson idiot on MSNBC. We also can't forget Cornell West. Sorry Dr. Cornell West.
So if SA honestly believes that Ray Rice could have been provoked, and that his significant other could have possibly shared responsibility for the results of this incident, he gets suspended? You would think that Stephen had said that its possible that some women share responsibility for their own date rape! (The first victim of political correctness is usually the -obvious- truth.)
He got fired for that?
OK, now we know that you cannot say that women can start fights. You'll get fired.
Even if you are careful to avoid a sound bite, and even if you are black.
The lack of clarity is intentional, because a sound bite can get you fired. It's a rational response to gotcha journalism. You can't get taken out of context if you give them nothing but context. Didn't help in this case.
The older I get, the more I am turned off by sports. A major reason is jock-sniffers like Rhoden who assume they have absolute moral authority.
I don't dispute the misogyny reference. A lot of these athletes are entitled thugs, and it is truly disgusting.
I dispute the reference to racism. I always believed that sports could serve as a bridge between racial groups.
Nowadays, it is the moral preening about 'homophobia,' that has made sports commentary into anti-sports. It is impossible to retreat into the debate of the 3-4 defense versus the 4-3, when Michael Sam is thrust into my face at every opportunity.
Isn't it amazing how, in a free society, we've arrived at totalitarian restrictions of free speech without the government being the agent of repression?
You can say anything you want, until enough people hear you. The elite is censored and the lower classes are not. Isn't that a strange outcome?
I say Smith has lasted a long time and gets away with incoherent and not so PC stuff because he is black. Otherwise who cares, he's babbling with Skip Bayless.
There may reasons why some reporters do sports while others do science and technology.
What a long-winded way to say, "Don't let your mouth write a check your ass can't cash."
This is the kind of advice men give to other men. It doesn't work as well as advice a man gives to a woman.
Women are delicate little flowers that cannot be held responsible for anything that goes wrong. And you cannot question this, by the way.
A woman can do or say anything she wants to to a man, and he is expected to shut up and open his wallet.
If there is a lesson to be learned from the spate of suspensions, it’s that in our zeal to tap new markets and attract new readers, viewers and listeners, we relinquish a sliver of our conscience and our responsibility to at least try to create order out of chaos.
Uh, no, doesn't the spate of suspensions show almost the exact opposite? Doesn't it show that in your zeal to not offened the people you think are important you're happy to react swiftly against anyone who might stir up those parties (nevermind the fact that many of their groups exist only to be stirred up)? Showing that there have been more suspensions recently does not prove the quality (or whatever measure you'd like) has gotten worse, much less explain why--something like "a more knee-jerk response to possibly offending self-styled progressives" is clearly a confounding factor.
Smith is not usually dull and boring. He is the best they have.
So if he cannot go boldly where angels fear to tread, that is a bigger message to men than Sports Talk has ever been used to send.
He can grow a beard and pray. and keep his job, but he cannot umpire between men and women and hope to keep it. That is the monopoly terretory the women's guild.
Sports reporters as as bad or worse that the average toady PC drone journolist
What Smith said was the equivalent of suggesting that if you leave your car window open with your purse on the front seat in a mall parking lot, you might be in some sense responsible for getting your purse stolen.
And, of course, we now know that women outrank black men. Well, women generally, not conservative/Christian women, natch.
Anthony: I parked a beat-up Toyota Corona wagon about 50 yards from the front entrance of the downtown Oakland PD. Some git busted out a side window and stole my gym bag (contents as you might expect. Gag.) However, the thief left his pocketknife in the car, so dollar-wise I almost broke even.
Years later, my SAAB was pried open in a SF parking garage, but the thief failed to get the stereo out of the dash (despite the fact that the removal key was in the door pocket the whole time). No real damage was done, but the thief netted 0 for his effort.
Life would be a lot more comprehensible if thieves were smarter.
What's this got to do with the subject at hand? Nothing, but it's probably more edifying than all this blather about what happened to the sportscaster.
Boy am I in a sour mood today. Why's Betamax not in this thread?
The same point he makes about women I'd make about people getting arrested by cops.
The guy who died recently after being brought down by cops is a perfect example. you don't need to let it escalate to the point where cops are going to bring you down. Clearly he was resisting arrest. Clearly. YEs, the cop used the chokehold, but in the cops defense, the guy was 350 pounds and didn't want to be arrested. Theres only so many ways cops are going to bring a guy that size down.
So,there are ways to deal with cops that don't get you brought down by them and there are ways to deal with them where it's cordial.
Clyde wrote:
What Smith should have said was that women often are not blameless in domestic violence situations and that that sometimes, they are the ones perpetrating the violence.
Not only are they not blameless, very often they are the ones who do it. I know at least two buddies who dates women in the past who were violent towards them. From throwing telephones at them to outright punching them. Women are often the ones who actually do the hitting.
You can see it more clearly in lesbian relationships.
Sports reporters have been taking on airs thinking they are "real" journalists that need to educate the unwashed masses. Bob Costas lecturing us at halftime on guns is one of the all time lows in the history of sports. Combine that with the Heidi Bowl and the Elvis Presto halftime show and it would be a football craptacular worthy of song. That song will be sung by Janet Jackson. Possibly clothed. We can hope.
I too watch sports as an escape from other things, but it is getting harder to watch it without somebody trying to inject politics in it. I have stopped watching SportsCenter on ESPN for that reason. The worst part about it is they actually go out of their way to point out their “right thinking” to parody levels. That and their obsession with the Oscar Pistorius murder trial starting choking out actual sports coverage. Give me the damn score, you jackasses! Fox Sports Live on FS1 has been a surprisingly good substitute.
As to Smith, I totally understand what he meant and among sane people there is nothing offensive about it. Sadly, ESPN is not a sane place anymore. Not sure about the world yet.
Keypoint is that all analysis is indeed a criticism.
Smith's analysis of sports performers is his great skill. But he did not understand that extending his skill of analysis into proper male female relationships can NEVER happen, since it must contain a smidgen of criticizing a woman's role.
In other words, don't say "cleaning woman" to Steve Martin. (Who gets the reference?)
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