OT: Sports Stars and War References

Cincinnati_Kid · Post by **Cincinnati_Kid** » Wed May 19, 2004 2:33 am

and some such as there fellow professional athlete/ and REAL LIFE SOLDIER : PAT TILLMAN

never will get to home again

and every other Soldier over there do more in one day for the freedoms of the athletes to make these comments than these athletes have given back to there own communities

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed May 19, 2004 10:47 am

dbdynsty25 wrote:I just find it funny...these athletes spouting off about war and then they get to go home after that 48 min. (or whatever sport) war and lay in the cush mansions with the 55 inch plasmas...whereas the real soldiers get to go lay in a hole behind a f'n tank.

Very well said.

Out,
PK

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Wed May 19, 2004 12:20 pm

The thing about all of this is that right now, it seems to be fashionable to be outraged about something. If you're not outraged, it's like something is missing in your life. Therefore, any time anybody of stature says or does something slightly off-key, it gets pounced on because it seems like the "in" thing to do right now.

I have no problem with KG's comments. In fact, if I were a T-Wolves fan and thought that my star player's aggressiveness on the court, and whatever natural manifestations result from that, were being tempered because he was being very sensitive about Iraq, I'd wonder where his head was.

P.S. Glad to be back. I've taken a hiatus from internet stuff to deal with some other things and I haven't posted here for a few months, but it's good to be back with you guys.

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Wed May 19, 2004 2:25 pm

DB,

Back to your original question... The difference is K2 was *serious*. I think it was pretty evident that KG was speaking tongue-in-cheek, even though some may find it in poor taste.

Kevin

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed May 19, 2004 2:42 pm

KMoss:

I don't think KG was speaking tongue in cheek. I think he realized afterward that what he said was over the top.

The difference between KG and Winslow was that KG has some class and maturity, and KG wasn't speaking like a raving lunatic.

Take care,
PK

skidmark · Post by **skidmark** » Wed May 19, 2004 3:26 pm

RiverRat wrote:The thing about all of this is that right now, it seems to be fashionable to be outraged about something...

Exactly... pretty much another example of exaggerating and making an issue out of nothing to crank out some press. You can't go a season without Howie Long comparing football to roman gladiators. I'm on the lookout for the article that tells us all that Howie secretly desires to hew down crowds with rusty battle axe.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed May 19, 2004 5:39 pm

Skid:

Again, big difference comparing a sport to a blood sport that took place 2,000 years ago and to a something that's killing people now on both sides daily. KG should attend the funeral of a U.S. serviceman in a small town in the next few weeks and then think about how his nines are loaded and he's ready to "go to war."

God forbid, but if your relative died this week fighting in Iraq, you may feel a smidge differently about this.

I'm not PC, but KG showed a lack of sensibility when he opened his pie hole on this one.

Out,
PK

skidmark · Post by **skidmark** » Wed May 19, 2004 5:54 pm

I'll agree that his comments were insensitive and very telling of how detached a pro-athelete can be from reality. I do not, however, think they were newsworthy. The Howie illustration was a bad one because it points to an exaggeration of athletes actual meaning rather than the intended knock on the media for attempting to raise flags. Were they insensitive and downright stupid comments? Yes, but they could have just been let go as such rather than becoming tomorrows feature story.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Wed May 19, 2004 5:58 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I just find it funny...these athletes spouting off about war and then they get to go home after that 48 min. (or whatever sport) war and lay in the cush mansions with the 55 inch plasmas...whereas the real soldiers get to go lay in a hole behind a f'n tank.

Not only that but with KG his dogs live in an air conditioned kennel, complete with TV's. Yea I think a few years of college classes would not have been such a bad idea.

http://newsobserver.com/24hour/sports/s ... 2907c.html

The property's picturesque old horse barn has been converted into a kennel for his five Rottweilers, two pit bulls and two mastiffs.

A local ordinance required Garnett to apply for a kennel license if he wanted to have so many dogs.

"Those dogs are living better than most people," said Chris Pharo, an Orono community service officer who recently inspected Garnett's kennel. He said the place is thermostatically controlled, impeccably clean and managed by a full-time handler.

The kennel includes a television, Pharo said, so the dogs "can watch Daddy" when the Timberwolves are on TV.

Guy loves his dogs, I have no problem with that. Just thought I would add to how cushy some of these guys have it in comparison.

As for his comments they were in extremely poor taste and very poorly timed.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed May 19, 2004 6:12 pm

>>>I do not, however, think they were newsworthy.<<<

Skid:

KG's comments were made on the record with reporters present. He's the NBA MVP playing in a high-profile playoff series, not the 11th man on a team that failed to make the playoffs. American soldiers are fighting daily in Iraq.

Please explain to me how the comments aren't newsworthy. I'm not asking for a judgment of whether they were crass or not. But considering the above conditions, please tell me how KG's comments weren't newsworthy.

Take care,
PK

skidmark · Post by **skidmark** » Wed May 19, 2004 6:26 pm

pk500 wrote:KG's comments were made on the record with reporters present. He's the NBA MVP playing in a high-profile playoff series, not the 11th man on a team that failed to make the playoffs.

His comments were dumb and on record and listened to by anyone who was paying attention enough to watch them on the post game show or even as part of the game highlights on ESPN. I thought that alone is plenty of coverage and people can decide for themselves how dumb or insenstive his comments were. Instead there is a ton of bonus coverage of ESPN and several newspapers devoting segments of shows or entire articles to the comments and how insensitive they are... "Everybody, please, stop what you're doing and look at the insensitive man"

...and now were getting bonus coverage of him apologizing for being incredibly insensitive which will be followed by speculation as to whether he's sincere or just following his publicists advice.

reeche · Post by **reeche** » Wed May 19, 2004 7:32 pm

skidmark wrote:
pk500 wrote:KG's comments were made on the record with reporters present. He's the NBA MVP playing in a high-profile playoff series, not the 11th man on a team that failed to make the playoffs.
His comments were dumb and on record and listened to by anyone who was paying attention enough to watch them on the post game show or even as part of the game highlights on ESPN. I thought that alone is plenty of coverage and people can decide for themselves how dumb or insenstive his comments were. Instead there is a ton of bonus coverage of ESPN and several newspapers devoting segments of shows or entire articles to the comments and how insensitive they are... "Everybody, please, stop what you're doing and look at the insensitive man"

...and now were getting bonus coverage of him apologizing for being incredibly insensitive which will be followed by speculation as to whether he's sincere or just following his publicists advice.

EXACTLY. It gives sport reporters a chance to suddenly start writing articles about things they have no clue about and pretend they are regular reporters. Just like athletes should stick to dunking a ball or shooting a puck, sport reporters should definitely stick to reporting on said events because 90% of them are woefully incapable of writing intelligently about anything else. There was a poll asking were people offended by what KG on said on ESPN.com and it was something like 75% saying no. Average people can tell whether they are offended by something or not or something is a major story or not. They don't need "sports commentary" to tell them so. Atheletes have always said a lot of stupid stuff and always will. The difference is now you have 50 media sources reporting it like,it's the word of god and important stuff.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed May 19, 2004 9:26 pm

>>>The difference is now you have 50 media sources reporting it like,it's the word of god and important stuff.<<<

The same can be said about news, too, due to the huge amounts of talk radio and TV air space that need to be filled due to the "niche-i-fication" of news on cable and talk radio. It's not just sports.

Take care,
PK