October 5, 2017

How bad was it for Cam Newton to say "It's funny to hear a female talk about routes"?



The female reporter (who covers the Panthers for The Charlotte Observer) was not charmed:



The NYT says:
The Panthers’ spokesman, Steven Drummond, addressed the episode in a statement Wednesday evening. “I have spoken with Jourdan and Cam and I know they had a conversation where he expressed regret for using those words,” he said in the statement. “We strive as a department to make the environment for media comfortable for everyone covering the team.” Rodrigue’s comments, however, made it appear that Newton’s expressing regret did not include an actual apology.
You might find it relevant that in his last game, Newton "rais[ed] his left fist after a touchdown, echoing a gesture made famous by civil rights activists in the 1960s":
“It was to signify black power,” Newton told reporters after the game, “but more important, I pray every night for God to give me a pinnacle to give people hope.”
Watching the video, I thought Newton looked cute and probably believed that he was being attractively flirty, but that underscores the sexism of not crediting the woman with having professional status as a journalist. How can he be ignorant of the problems facing women trying to make it in sports journalism?

But part of me wants to say it was her pronunciation of the word "routes"— not like "roots" but rhyming with "outs"— and that made him smile and then mock her pronunciation, which feels to me more like the kind of camaraderie that might go on between men, in which case it it's not sexist, but inclusive.

How bad was it for Cam Newton to say "It's funny to hear a female talk about routes"?
 
pollcode.com free polls

160 comments:

rcocean said...

Flirt? I missed that entirely.

Women, can't live without them, can't understand them.

rhhardin said...

He probably meant pretty girl.

Sid Rosenberg reports there's a bar in Queens where a fat woman can break down every play for you but nobody cares. She's not eye candy.

Know your demographics.

rcocean said...

At least he thinks women have a sense of humor.

Ralph L said...

What do routes have to do with football?

Newton struck me as a giant-headed jerk in the 2015 season, but I've never heard him speak. Sorry about the injuries, but I was glad he and the team were a bust last year, and I live in NC and went to college in Mecklenburg County (some of us in the Triad look down on Charlotte, and the Triangle scorns the rest of the state).

First Tenor said...

He lost an endorsement over it (Danone), so it's pretty bad.

djv.sbrl said...

Rhyming with "outs" is how I've always heard people in and around football pronounce it. They say "pass r-out", not a "pass r-oot"

Riley said...

Sexist, but so what? Does that make it hate speech or something?

Kate said...

No wonder the girly yogurt company dumped him as their spokesman. Yikes.

n.n said...

A clear case of sex diversity on its face. However, there is a strain of diversity lurking beneath, where the boys are welcoming the girls into their clubhouse. Unfortunately, the progress of sex diversity has prejudiced awareness and reduced tolerance, leaving boys and girls bitterly reaching for each other's throats.

Ralph L said...

She should man up and suck it up. There's no (public) griping in football.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I saw one of her defenders said "she has been covering the team for a year so she surely knows what routes are". As if, a whole f-ing year should inoculate anyone from being teased, mocked, criticized or lambasted for lacking knowledge.

Liberals are such pussies and many of them really are 27 year old know-nothings [God, I am agreeing with the know-nothing Ben Rhodes].

Gordon Scott said...

"How can he be ignorant of the problems facing women trying to make it in sports journalism?"

The horror.

Nonapod said...

Wasn't there some studies that suggest that on average men have a better sense of spacial orientation and women have a better recall for environmental details? Or am I being sexist?

AlbertAnonymous said...

Interesting how some are jumping all over her and defending Cam and the twitterverse can't figure out who's allied with who anymore. He's black, she's a woman, which "voice" do I follow Michelle Obama?

Also people searching twitter feed histories to crucify them for anything they ever tweeted or retweeted or liked that anyone anywhere may have found offensive.

Ugh.

2 kinds of people in the world...

rehajm said...

Paralysis.

John Christopher said...

Plainly sexist. Bad.

Especially, because "reporter" would have worked just as well. There is a lot of eye-rolling at these press conferences when some buffet-eater tries to sound like the second coming of Lombardi with their questions.



Hagar said...

"... the problems facing women trying to make it in sports journalism?"

Like the problems facing men trying to make it in home decor?

Quelle horreur! indeed.

sparrow said...

I recall I study like that where men and women were each made to sit in an office to wait in turn alone for a specified time. Then the test was write done all of the details you remember about the room and items in it. Women way outperformed the men. The was also a location test given after being blindfolded etc where men outperformed the women by orienting correctly back to the starting point.

rehajm said...

The best thing to do at a football press conference is to imagine how Bill Belichick would answer the question, then say that...

MAJMike said...

Why should I care about the opinions of some over-paid douche playing children's games?

n.n said...

This is such a nothing issue, which should have been settled by adults without national fanfare, emotional distress, and legalistic threats.

n.n said...

Boys chase girls chase boys. A quick rap on the nose should end the chase, causing only momentary distress to the participants.

Anonymous said...

Per the Urban dictionary:

Route
A female who is a hoe..
Someone who sleeps around usually a girl
Yo, I'm bout to go over this routes house so I could hit.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=route

robother said...

Gonna take a season of genuflections at Anthem time to pay for this PC sin.

Leslie Graves said...

I'm feeling unusually decrepit and out-of-it, since I don't quite get either how it was flirtation OR sexism. I am not Laslo.

Ralph L said...

If she's the only Observer reporter covering the home team, the paper is foolish to assign someone who's never played the game and apparently doesn't have any rapport with the QB.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Good for him. Ridiculous of her. Another thumbtack in the NFL's coffin.

n.n said...

His flirt was routed halfway through the a sudden and catastrophic misinterpretation caused by use of the unofficial urban dictionary.

Beaver7216 said...

Yeah, lighten up, people, and show a little tolerance and diversity. Agree with the last paragraph that he simply thought it sounded funny (perhaps due to "roots" type thing) and since he involuntarily smiled he decided to be open and honest and say that he thought it was funny. Is it better to be repressed, secretive, or inscrutable?

TheThinMan said...

What's really funny is a guy indoors wearing a snow hat, a la the South Park kids.

SDaly said...

The idea that the subject of media coverage has any obligation to make the reporter feel comfortable is ridiculous.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
AimHighHitLow said...

Finally....Althouse presents the full clip and does not cut it off after the offending sound bite. Newton's opening comment was sexist given the context, but he gave her a serious, substantive response to her question. So slap on the wrist and don't do it again.

rehajm said...

...a guy indoors wearing a snow hat...

In North Carolina that hat is called a toboggan. Much to the dismay of northern people...

MayBee said...

In football, "routes" always rhymes with "outs".

This is just another example of how everything has to become a big thing.

buwaya said...

She's a reporter.
Her profession is to write a story, to record whatever is interesting about her subject.
Not to "feel".

But that is of course old-fashioned.

Mark O said...

For certain, he thought she was a cute little thing.
In fairness, he's been hit in the head a great deal.

Chuck said...

I just think it is a pity that Devin Funchess' physicality -- the basis for the question -- is being overlooked in all of this.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ea/72/cc/ea72cc178189809b4fcc0d20311bf4fb.jpg

buwaya said...

"The idea that the subject of media coverage has any obligation to make the reporter feel comfortable is ridiculous."

Correct. She is, professionally, an intelligent recording device.

Ralph L said...

In North Carolina that hat is called a toboggan.
We called them beanies.

I suspect he brought up the urban dictionary meaning with her afterwards. "I spoke with him after and it was worse. I chose not to share...."

Ray - SoCal said...

Until the urban dictionary meaning was explained, I thought it was sexist.

The challenge with telling jokes, is it's easy to mess up and offend.

CJinPA said...

Per the Urban dictionary:Route A female who is a hoe..

Interesting.

What we have here is a failure to communicate in a manner that does not evoke the Secret Language of the Urbans.

stevew said...

He chose his words, all of them, so as to deliver a dismissive comment. Doing so was childish and unprofessional. But childish and unprofessional is not new to Cam Newton - just watch his press conference following their Superbowl loss of a couple years ago.

-sw

eric said...

This sort of nonsense is why women shouldn't be involved.

Way too sensitive.

bleh said...

It's funny how the Internet struck back and found offensive tweets of hers from a few years ago. No one is safe. Social media invites us to be loose and fun-loving, but you must resist the temptation! Only G-rated, vanilla comments are okay.

Ralph L said...

Until the urban dictionary meaning was explained, I thought it was sexist.
So it was just crude and ill-natured.
At least he didn't say "you" instead of female.


Left Bank of the Charles said...

Probably suffering from a head injury. Dannon yogurt has pulled his sponsorship deal. It's sexist to find that funny.

n.n said...

Interception of flirt. Loss of possession. Unauthorized use of tribal dialect. 10 yard penalty.

Jim at said...

Cam Newton deserves everything he's got coming to him.

Just go back and look at his post-Super Bowl press conference. Go back and read some of his racist statements throughout his NFL career.

Heck. Look at him jump AWAY from the football he fumbled and cost his team the game.

Give it to him good and hard. He's earned it.

DKWalser said...

It was a cultural rather than a sexual thing. The word 'route', in Newton's everyday language has a meaning that makes it ironic to hear a women use the word. (The word is used to refer to an especially promiscuous women.) So, he wasn't being sexist in assuming that she didn't understand what a pass route is or why well designed and run routes are important in a passing offense. He was simply struck by the irony of a women using a term that is disrespectful of women. He knew what she meant, but he found her unintended meaning funny.

By the way, I answered the poll with the last option. Not because I don't think Althouse doesn't know how to construct a 'scientific' poll, but because none of the other options fit.

John Nowak said...

I want to live in a world where the only repercussions to that were some contemptuous eye rolling, and perhaps the comment, "Dude, really?"

Jason said...

A few years ago, I wouldn't have given a rat's ass. He's a young man, and young people sometimes say dumb things. Big deal. he's a football player. Let him play football.

Then libtards deliberately targeted and destroyed James Damore, Matt Taylor the rocket scientist with the girlies on on his shirt, James Summers and Tim Hunt. The list goes on.




WisRich said...

How about this option:

Why am I being made to care?

(hat tip Eric Erickson)

Biff said...

He was wrong to make the "female" remark from both a gender perspective and from a workplace perspective. No "ifs" or "ands," but maybe there is a "but" to consider. The "but" involves context and consequence.

Probably 99% of the time he hears about "routes," it's from a gravel-voice coach or a 270 pound player. I can imagine how a 28 year old star athlete who almost certainly has spent the last decade or more in an adulatory bubble (especially involving interactions with females) could be caught off-guard by a petite reporter's use of the term.

Note that he actually took her role as a reporter seriously enough to give her question a serious, professional answer after the "female" remark. If he truly were the troglodyte he is portrayed as being, I don't think he would have done so. Beyond the headline, there was more respect there than many might recognize.

Sure, a certain sexism was betrayed by the interaction, and I don't want to excuse that, but, in context, I don't think the guy should be crucified for it. I guess the question I have is "what punishment fits this crime?"

What I fear is that instead of walking away with the lesson, "I made a mistake, I need to be more professional, and I need to think about how my words can affect people," he will walk away with a much cruder lesson, one that helps neither him nor the women around him.

Ken B said...

He's expressing surprise that a woman should know about or be interested in some technical aspect of the game, and seems pleased. Is it common for women to display that kind of interest in the techniques of football? Do you think the women he talks to ask about the technical aspects of the game as often as often as the guys he talks to?

Dude1394 said...

SHE is setting back womens right with her clueless and sensitive attitude. Who the HELL wants to be around a whiner like that?

HT said...

He's just one of the world's biggest babies. I read a comment to the effect of since after the comment he did not get a laugh, he went ahead and gave a serious answer.

It's 2017. There have been female football reporters for decades now. I don't know if he's a troglo...or not, but the man has still not quite grown up yet. I can almost guarantee that he has female relatives and high school classmates who know just as much about football as he does.

If it rubs you the wrong way man, keep it to yourself, you look a fool.

Dude1394 said...

Well that's one more nail in the coffin of male-female relations.

No wonder so many guys are going gay, who needs it.

donald said...

The absolute biggest jackass I've ever came upon on a football field in 30 years of officiating.

I believe I've mentioned this before.

Dude1394 said...

Pick a sentence from an interview, put it on a pedestal and get Dr. Althouse to actually think it is some sort of cosmic problem. Instead of listening to the rest of the interview.

I'm glad that legal opinions are at least given a thorough reading before condemnation sets in.

Dude1394 said...

" Blogger eric said...

This sort of nonsense is why women shouldn't be involved.

Way too sensitive."

As the democrat party keeps teaching us, only do business, vote for, do commerce with your own tribe.

The democrat party, the party teaching everyone to hate.

Bob Loblaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Give him a break. Cam is from an elite African American family from the top of the educational and political/Church food chain in Atlanta. That is a tradition that goes back 100 + years and has done well with money and power, and have earned respect. They had money and power while GOP guys long before the Dems announced they were the new anointed leaders.

Cam's problems come from seeing himself as an Aristocrat from an Aristocracy...and he is one. Being a Super Star QB in football is a small part of him.

Bob Loblaw said...

According to the Progressive Stack, black trumps female. She needs to check her privilege and stop oppressing him.

Bill Crawford said...

I sell software that, among other things, does "routing" for landscapers. Folks in New England say "rooting" and "roots"; most (all?) the rest of the country say, "rowting" and "rowtes"

donald said...

He stole from his team mates at Florida.

JaimeRoberto said...

Given the stupid questions reporters ask I can see why Marshawn Lynch avoids the media.

Hunter said...

Etienne said...
and the fucking hat was pure gay.

Perhaps you've never seen Cam on the days he decides to wear culottes.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

While this whole thing is stupid and she's being an oversensitive snowflake, I can't feel too bad for any NFL player right now.

Live by the PC sword, die by the PC sword.

I'm sure he'll be out groveling soon. Can't lose that endorsement money.

Birches said...

Anyone read the Harvey Weinstein take down in the NYT? Let's all stop pretending that Fox News was an outlier for sexual harassment.

Amadeus 48 said...

Harvey just stepped on his own dick and then said Donald Trump is the real villain.
You don't know whether to laugh or to cry at such a pathetic and obvious attempt to say "Squirrel!!!"
Sad.

rcocean said...

"Anyone read the Harvey Weinstein take down in the NYT?"

Yeah. I thought he was gay.

Guess not.

Nonapod said...

I was unfamiliar with the urban slang (and I'm usually relatively familiar with that sort of thing, I must just be aging faster than I believe). Honestly though, at the very worst this is in mildly bad taste, hardly worth clutching pearls over. Meanwhile we've got Harvey Weinstein asking starlets and young assistants for naked massages.

BarrySanders20 said...

Whle you can get your kicks on R-oot 66, football players run r-outs.

Interesting development on the urban dictionary meaning. As a non-native speaker of ebonics, I was unaware of the now likely reason Cam was amused. Language is hard.

rcocean said...

Is Weinstein a communist or rape a 13 y/o girl 20 years ago?

If so, Hollywood might forgive him.

Owen said...

Is this a thing? Really? Does it really, truly matter to you or to anyone whether this woman has taken offense over the way some guy says a word?

"First World Problem" doesn't begin to describe your difficulties out here.

rcocean said...

BTW, it looks like UK Prime Minister Edward Heath was a bit of pedophile and like to pay for sex with young boys, and do a little raping on the side.

Makes Cam Newton faux pas seem a little boring.

AllenS said...

A view most black athletes agree with.

rhhardin said...

It's breast awareness month anyway.

Jim at said...

In addition, this is the world you've created, leftists.

A seemingly innocuous comment has been taken to full-boil SEXISM!!! and a minority athlete is being raked over the coals for it.

This is what you've created. Enjoy the suck.

Rumpletweezer said...

This has been a pretty good time for me because I've never given a damn about professional sports.

PB said...

I look forward to his inevitable perp-walk.

D 2 said...

Its bad enough someone might suggest reporters should all kneel in protest for interviews, until this country is no longer sexist.

Yancey Ward said...

Althouse wrote:

"but that underscores the sexism of not crediting the woman with having professional status as a journalist."

In my opinion, Newton's real mistake is treating any of the sportswriters as professionals. Journalism today is dogshit, and sports journalism is the stinkiest of the dogshit.

Lucien said...

Next question should have been:
"Following up, Mr. Newton, what do you thinks of people who say it's "funny" to see a black man playing Quarterback in the NFL?"

Trumpit said...

Woman news reporters should come armed with a cream pie to a news conference. That jock needed a pie in the face for his sexist remark. Next time, he will be more careful when he speaks so condescendingly to a hardworking reporter.

Skyler said...

All the choices in the poll require me to assume that his opinion is invalid. It is funny for a woman to be discussing routes as though she knew what she was talking about. Just as it would be funny for a man to be telling a woman how to breast feed.

walter said...

She used the N word 4 years ago.
They have entered a grievance/identity feedback loop.

Kevin said...

Rhyming with "outs" is how I've always heard people in and around football pronounce it. They say "pass r-out", not a "pass r-oot"

Is she Canadian? That would explain a lot.

Kevin said...

As for the poll, I was under the impression that only the woman in the conversation can determine if something is sexist and there is no court of appeal should the man choose to object to her characterization.

OTOH, the man is black so IBM's Watson is probably working to determine who is the more aggrieved party.

Yancey Ward said...

"Is she Canadian?"

Possibly, she is awkwardly feminine.

rcocean said...

Its pass "rout"
But its "root" 66

Why? I don't know.

BillieBob Thorton said...

There's football? I thought it was protest season for millionaire thugs.

Achilles said...

Press vs. douche.

R-oot for injuries.

rcocean said...

Honestly, sports reporters are the biggest clowns in the world. Someone called them the Toy Department of Journalism.

In the old days, before we had 24 hour cable and youtube, they served a useful purpose - they told us what happened during the game. Today, they just waste everyone's time asking stupid questions before and after the game. Oh, and pushing their dumbo left-wing agenda.

Why do ANY of these reporters need to be in locker room? Imagine "Entertainment Reporters" barging into a Broadway star's dressing room demanding he answer questions about his performance. "Why did pause after "to be or to be"? "How did you feel after the first act" "Will you take on Macbeth next week"?

Quaestor said...

Quaestor agrees with Yancy Ward. Professionalism in journalism is hardly credible, no matter what the sex of the journalist. What counts is background. If the journalist is a retired NFL quarterback, then sprinkling the questions with tactical argot could be greeted as sincere and well-founded. Nevertheless, such a question is poor journalism. Who is the journalist's audience? That's a vital question which a reporter must constantly ask himself — let's call them reporters or on-air personalities since "journalist" is a word so often on the lips of psychopathic liars like Dan Rather and Lawrence O'Donnell — otherwise, he is liable to misinform or confound. Is a retired quarterback cum newspaper sports reporter writing for other retired quarterbacks? No. Therefore it is far better to not use such a word.

Furthermore, any "journalist" risks being taken for a poseur by the subject of the interview when technical jargon is used in the conversation. Imagine someone asking a famous driver about manifold pressure — "Well, Lisa, as you know, I prefer 15 millibars over ambient, but our team mechanics think I'm crazy..."

Newton is a pretty bright guy, and he recognized immediately that Jourdan Rodrigue had picked up a term and decided to use it in a question in a jejune attempt to solicit unearned respect. His mistake was to call her on it. Instead, he should have come back with an answer laced with even more obscure jargon.

Jourdan Rodrigue was trying to punch far above her weight. Newton instantly recognized her pretense. Now she's embarrassed and has used the threadbare "sexism" ploy to distract from her inadequacies.

Quaestor said...

How bad was it for Cam Newton to say "It's funny to hear a female talk about routes"? Plainly sexist.

Then hurrah! for sexism. It's the second most useless word in American English, and the less we hear if it the better for all concerned, especially women.

Sebastian said...

Granted, he was an asshole before this. But --

"that underscores the sexism of not crediting the woman with having professional status as a journalist." His finding her comment funny does not discredit her professional status. His saying it shows gender awareness: having heard routes from murky men all his life, here is possibly the first female who tries to talk him about it. That registers as funny: going against expectations, upsetting the normal order just slightly.

"How can he be ignorant of the problems facing women trying to make it in sports journalism?" They are not his problems. Why should he care? (Of course, in these PC times, progs will make him care). It's not his job.

Any male basketball reporter has been treated worse by Pop than this snowflake.

But this is an instructive episode. Normally, race trumps gender, here the female pulls the trump card. Why? We need a theory.


Darrell said...

The Urban Dictionary idiots mean "root." It's Australian for shag.

Darrell said...

These things don't come up if you have stopped watching NFL football, like you were supposed to do.

walter said...

Blogger rcocean said...
Why do ANY of these reporters need to be in locker room?
--
Hell if I know..given how terribly insightful the typical comment there is.
But in all fairness, we should have men in the women's beach volleyball locker rooms.

Hari said...

I think he was pushing back not on her use of the word "routes" but on her suggestion that the receiver seemed to "be enjoying the physicality" of running his routes, and to her question of whether Cam "enjoyed" observing this level of physicality.

Her question strikes me as sexist, racist, and perhaps homophobic. She basically asked him whether he enjoys seeing rough contact on the field. I think he was a gentleman to give her the benefit of the doubt and attribute it to her obvious lack of understanding of what it is to play football football the way the men in the NFL play it.

Michael K said...

Jourdan Rodrigue was trying to punch far above her weight. Newton instantly recognized her pretense. Now she's embarrassed and has used the threadbare "sexism" ploy to distract from her inadequacies.

I kind of agree but it was white privilege for him to call her on it.

Tank said...

Wow, they made me feel sympathy toward that a hole.

A nothing burger.

Doug said...

I carry no brief for whiny female "sports journalists", but Newton has been an embarrassment since he got kicked out of University of Florida for stealing a laptop.

Bay Area Guy said...

Here come the gender enforcement police! Women can talk about football, too, dammit.

Ah, shaddup and make me a pork chop.

This isn't a big deal, and I love women who love sports.

But, the Left has been real good at burrowing mines all over the place, with the hope that a straight white male or rich black athlete step on one and go "Kaboom!"

Now, if these idiots would simply stand respectfully for the Flag I'd be more aggressive in defending them......

Chuck said...

Will this get Cam Newton back in the good graces of Rush Limbaugh? Rush was surely disgusted by the black power salute. But Rush must love this sort of "feminazi" pushback. Must be hard for Rush to pick sides sometimes.

Swede said...

Chuck, you ignorant slut.

As somebody pointed out in another thread: when Iraq and Iran are at war, America wins.

n.n said...

This seems to be less of a [binary] sex or gender spectrum issue, and more of a means to an end that can be exploited by female chauvinists and social justice adventurists, and the neo-National Democratic Party.

FullMoon said...

Not nearly as bad as titty twister Chuck threatening to punish Greta van Sustern in order to "show her how it feels"

traditionalguy said...

NB : Cam Newton is about 10% African American heritage. He is a very well educated man. And he is a super star QB whose first year as a freshman in college took a also ran team and made them undefeated and winners of the National Championship. And he has top rate social skills. His only offense was being an open friendly man unafraid of seeing a woman as a woman...quelle Horreur.

Achilles said...

Chuck said...
Will this get Cam Newton back in the good graces of Rush Limbaugh? Rush was surely disgusted by the black power salute. But Rush must love this sort of "feminazi" pushback. Must be hard for Rush to pick sides sometimes.

He talked about it this morning. He had no difficulty dealing with the issue.

But he is a lot smarter than you are so there is that.

Ann Althouse said...

"Will this get Cam Newton back in the good graces of Rush Limbaugh? Rush was surely disgusted by the black power salute. But Rush must love this sort of "feminazi" pushback. Must be hard for Rush to pick sides sometimes."

I'm going to go look now, but before I do let me say that I don't think Rush finds it hard to pick sides. He has rhetorical strategies that work, and he makes me feel that it's easy for him. He observes liberals and explains how they are thinking and it's full of weird twists and turns and hypocrisy and he laughs at all that.

Here. It's a very long segment. I'm going to listen to it on the podcast and maybe I'll do another post.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"She used the N word 4 years ago.
They have entered a grievance/identity feedback loop."

Laughably, yes. She's being savaged on social media for her racism. What a wonderful world.

Matt said...

"I wonder what that woman thinks about football" said no man, ever.

One my earliest realizations that our society is f'd up was when they started letting lady sports reporters into locker rooms with naked dudes running around. Not appropriate.

Gahrie said...

And he has top rate social skills.

Scam Newton ...really?

Then why does he pout on the sidelines when he's losing and act like a drunken frat boy when he's winning?

gg6 said...

I haven't seen or read the entire context but on the basis of the "it's funny..." quote, alone... I pretty much agree with him, it IS 'funny'...not 'funny 'ha ha' but 'funny unusual'
Maybe I need to hear his sneering voice or something...but. by itself, what exactly is so awful or outrageous about about that?!
In the midst of all the other stuff flying around it's pathetic BS to try and make something of this.
If we didn't already have racial 'antagonisms, we sure as hell are working hard at trying to create them....

JackWayne said...

This entire post is complete bullshit. Shame on you Althouse! Here is the complete quote: ““I know you take a lot of pride in seeing your receivers play well. Devin Funchess has seemed to really embrace the physicality of his routes and getting those extra yards. Does that give you a little bit of enjoyment to see him kind of truck sticking people out there?” I had to look up truck sticking. She is completely talking shit here. If you want to post, get it right!

Francisco D said...

I am looking forward to the day when we stop obsessing about what some semi-educated rich young jock has to say about anything other than their sport.

I am also looking forward to the day when Sgt. Schultz, our resident LLR election judge comes out of the closet and admits he's a John Podesta buttboy.

Fernandinande said...

Francisco D said...
I am looking forward to the day when we stop obsessing about what some semi-educated rich young jock has to say about anything


Ask me how!

Larvell said...

My first reaction was, "I bet we'll find our why he was laughing by checking Urban Dictionary." And then I see that I was right, and somebody beat me to it.

Mountain Maven said...

I thought blacks were at the too of the grievance pile. Even cast iron jerks like Newton.

rcocean said...

"My first reaction was, "I bet we'll find our why he was laughing by checking Urban Dictionary." And then I see that I was right, and somebody beat me to it."

Blacks and Whites, two communities separated by a common language.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Woke black pro athletes don't get a pass (ha!) for casual flirty sexism now?! Oh excuse me, I thought this was 'merica!

chickelit said...

Feminists going hard on Cam is consistent with how they treat white males.

If they go soft on Cam, they should regret how they treat white males.

I envision them going hard. It's the manly thing to do.

Ralph L said...

embrace the physicality of his routes

If she knew the Urban Dic meaning, she got what she deserved. No wonder he snickered.

Unknown said...

She has since had to apologize for some racist tweets. She expects forgiveness for being a racist but isn't offering any for a little chauvinism.

Women cover sports and learn the jargon, but they don't understand male interaction. And then they're shocked to find out the athletes hold them in utter contempt.

Unknown said...

Clay Travis makes a good point about the sports media totally buying Michael Bennett's lying about racist cops, but crucifying Newton for being a little patronizing.

donald said...

I believe that it was Cam's freshman year when he stole his team mates laptop at Florida.

His dad extorted $200,000.00 from Auburn to get him to sign there for his only Heisman year.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Yep.
Bennett lies about cops, makes false accusations of racism: yawn.
Dozens of players take a knee and do their best to show a lack of respect for a civic ritual in order to promote their own (controversial) political beliefs: praise, cheers.
Insult a woman in a stupid, sexist way? This shall not stand!

HoodlumDoodlum said...

If Cam comes out as trans then all is forgiven.
As a former Tiger-Eagle it should come easy...

walter said...

Blame the slip on CTE

Static Ping said...

You will be judged by your own standards. If you want to go with BLM and "black power" and use that to blatantly disrespect the country and the majority of the fans, you are not going to get slack for perceived slights. Hypersensitive begets hypersensitive.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Cam is a jerk - but for other reasons.

This is just uptight PC nonsense. If girls are so strong, why do they wilt so easily?

walter said...

"I spoke with him after and it was worse. I chose not to share, because I have an actual job to do today.."
--
Yep..but has enough time to plant the "What did he say that was worse?" seed.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Cam supports Kaepernick.

Losers.

Bob R said...

My impression is that this is just flat-out hazing. If she went after him one-on-one afterwards as she said, I'd bet that would be points in her favor in the locker room. Taking it to social media (which is absolutely her right) is probably taking those points and lots of others away. Being right and unemployed is not what I call satisfying. Althouse is right that it is harder for women, but male snowflakes don't last long in that business either. If she had torn Cam a new one one-on-one and left it alone, she's have a much brighter future than she does now.

Bad Lieutenant said...

I didn't check to see if there was any foolery on Urban Dictionary but it does list both routes and truck stick as sexual euphemisms.

Bad Lieutenant said...

In her defense, while any man would find the question inane if not disturbing, it may be just the sort of thing that soap opera women lap up and they think this sort of tripe is another chance to get the femme audience.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Maybe they'll take Althouse's hint about "costumes."

holdfast said...

"Folks in New England say "rooting" and "roots"; most (all?) the rest of the country say, "rowting" and "rowtes""

So despite their nasally whine, New Englanders actually speak real English?

The whole root/rowt thing has always bothered me. Rout is when you cause the enemy to flee before you, not the path you took to get there.

Anonymous said...

It's impossible to know whether his comment is sexist unless and until you understand why he found it funny. And he hasn't chosen (or hasn't been allowed) to explain that.

I was casting about, trying to make sense of it, and I thought of "root" as a synonym for "penis." That would be funny -- a little -- but not sexist.

If "route" really means "skank," then it's mildly funny, and still not sexist. However, Urban Dictionary is far from reliable in this respect.

If he means it's funny because women don't understand football and don't know how to use football lingo, then okay, that's way sexist. But I wouldn't just assume that's what he means.

Bay Area Guy said...

Cam tried to mentally grab her by the pussy.....

Anonymous said...

If you enter a locker room, you can expect hazing -you will get it early and often. Ms. Rodriguez failed to recognize that Cam was respecting her by hazing her. Jourdan's only chance to cut it was to give as good as she got. Post hoc sanctimony sounds lame. Lighten up lady! It is supposed to be entertainment.

wholelottasplainin said...

Sack him! Destroy him! Destroy his entire team!

After all, he had the temerity to make a semi-rude joke involving a femme!!! A femme who makes crude racial jokes herself--but then again she's a protected class, so it's OK.

Do these bitches, these utterly unarmed bitches, understand that if they keep pushing this shit they will find themselves on the losing side of a civil war???



wholelottasplainin said...


holdfast said:

So despite their nasally whine, New Englanders actually speak real English?

*************

Has it ever occurred to you that English as it was spoken back in the 18th cent. had a nasally whine, which lingers today among the people of New England?

Derp.

lonetown said...

Being a woman she was unable to sense his call for comradery. A man would have known he was making fun of routes. Had she picked up on it, it would have made for a better interview.

A professional journalist would have taken it the correct way no matter what and not have gotten defensive and offended. What would Keith Olberman have done?

Brookzene said...

He made a good apology. Ready for some football.

rhhardin said...

This is just uptight PC nonsense. If girls are so strong, why do they wilt so easily?

They don't wilt. They're taking an opportunity. Fit the narrative.

rhhardin said...

Women sports reporters are eye candy.

Ugly women need not apply, no matter how much they know about breaking down plays.

Nor any of the uncountable guys who would be better than the pretty girl.

It all rests on narrative. Everything conforms to narrative.

rhhardin said...

Narrative is a source of political power.

rhhardin said...

Narrative = things you must say are true.

Scott M said...

It's plainly sexist for the female reporter to denigrate football, and thereby all men who have played it or enjoy it, by purposefully mispronouncing such a fundamental aspect of the game, she's ironically calling all of us idiots.

I mean, she's a professional sports reporter working on one of the biggest sports I this country, and therefore obviously know the correct pronunciation.

Brookzene said...

Nor any of the uncountable guys who would be better than the pretty girl.

I know, you really need some kind of higher STEM degree to understand football and interview the players.

Face it, the women are pretty AND they're as smart as the guys (probably smarter). True enough though, some guys don't like being reminded of that.

Tank said...

OK, Newton apologized to the racist reporter.

I withdraw my sympathy. I feel better now not having to feel sorry for him (he's a jerk).

Fritz said...

On the outrage scale of 0-10, this rates about 0.01.

Rick said...

Wow, turns out the "victim" dropped the N word on twitter. I think she's going to wish she hadn't escalated this outside the press conference.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4955704/Cam-Newton-reporter-apologizes-racist-tweets-sent.html

readering said...

If he was thinking about routes in the urban slang sexual meaning of the word, then he was really a moron (to borrow a bureaucratic term).

DHunter said...

My thoughts about what he said? So what? The reporter and the leftist sports media ought to get over it.

Kirk Parker said...

buwaya,

Well, a recording device anyway.



rhh,

Every month is breast awareness month.