Bill Simmons Leaving ESPN

[mhi]

As long as Zach Lowe is still doing his thing, I don't care.

The ESPN platform grew his audience x10000 from when he was at SI. Am sure that even if Simmons takes guys with him, they'll be equal talent to fill the shoes.

 

[Surge]

As much as I don't want to defend anything @Anglefan has to say....

Lots of folks get offended by the term "race card." I personally hate the fucking term, but I'm not "offended" by it.

Just FYI, it is a very charged phrase that is so overused that it dilutes issues relating to race. "Playing the race card" has a very negative connotation, and generally would mean a person is saying there is racial inequity where there isn't. It's unfortunately used as a catch-all dog whistle phrase to get folks to roll their eyes and walk away rather than listening to grievances.

I understand that if that is what you think the phrase means, you should be offended. But I don't think most people feel that it means there is "racial inequality where there isn't."

To me, and Urban Dictionary.com, playing the _____ card simply means to "call someone racist, even if they aren't, just to get away with something."

An example is in the movie "This is 40" where the dad has been mooching of his sons family and the wife calls him out on it. The dad says that her real problem is that she hates Jews, even though it is obviously not the issue.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QoJof7IAs



Anyway, don't want to derail the thread. But since I was the one who brought the phrase in here, I'd say something.

Carry on, no offense meant.

 

[bjunior]

simmons is a joke, well pretty much like half of the board here


on 1:01:20 his prediction about david blatt pretty much sums up his knowledge about basketball

 

[randymoss1881]

"One ESPNer points us to Simmons’s appearance on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday morning. (He took to the show to talk about Ballghazi.) Here’s the clip in question. On its face, nothing he said was too offensive, though he did take a couple shots at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, saying the handling of the scandal was “pathetic” and that Goodell lacked the “testicular fortitude to do anything until he gauges public reaction.” Not even wrong! Speaking about Ballghazi on another network, however, may have been a final, final, final straw."

Guess you don't fuck with Roger Goodell, huh?

That scumbag Goodell is doing the same thing with Brady and morons are falling for it.

Simmons was the only respectable thing lift on espn

 

[gourimoko]

I understand that if that is what you think the phrase means, you should be offended. But I don't think most people feel that it means there is "racial inequality where there isn't."

To me, and Urban Dictionary.com, playing the _____ card simply means to "call someone racist, even if they aren't, just to get away with something."

An example is in the movie "This is 40" where the dad has been mooching of his sons family and the wife calls him out on it. The dad says that her real problem is that she hates Jews, even though it is obviously not the issue.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QoJof7IAs



Anyway, don't want to derail the thread. But since I was the one who brought the phrase in here, I'd say something.

Carry on, no offense meant.

This is exactly why I don't take offense, because I know that most folks in common usage don't generally mean to be offensive. But with that, I do understand @Anglefan 's point, and honestly, this is a commonly brought up topic in political circles.

If you go and take a look at instances when the term is used in the media, the most usual instance is where someone is dismissing another person's grievance as yet-another case of nonexistent racism.

"Playing the race card" is akin to crying wolf, or yelling the sky is falling.. In fact, going back to Aesop's original story, the moral that is meant to be conveyed is described thusly:

The moral stated at the end of the Greek version is, "this shows how liars are rewarded: even if they tell the truth, no one believes them". It echoes a statement attributed to Aristotle by Diogenes Laërtius in his The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, where the sage was asked what those who tell lies gain by it and he answered "that when they speak truth they are not believed".[3]William Caxton similarly closes his version with the remark that "men bileve not lyghtly hym whiche is knowen for a lyer"

This is why the phraseology is so useful to those with agendas meant to perpetuate intolerance and the status quo. The trigger phrase "race card" causes an immediate reaction of disbelief, disregard, and disdain; not anything to do with racial animosity, but simply because good people dislike liars.

It's a trick, a play on words and meaning. A way to make you think something that you might not otherwise if allowed to fully evaluate the facts at hand.

Again, sorry to get further off-topic.

 

[blank964]

I've always felt like Simmons was that guy in high school you'd talk about sports with because he was in most of your classes. He'd come up with some good ideas here and there but a lot of times he comes up with really fucking dumb ideas. Even with that I think it's hard to argue the positive impact he's had for ESPN.

As far as Whitlock...ugh. I've really never seen the appeal of him. I guess I never had much respect for him after he publicly ripped Scoop Jackson back about ten years ago for being too hip hopish or black or whatever. He just came off as some asshole who would say stuff like "the Patriots and Colts win because they don't have an over abundance of black players" (I honestly think this was a column he had on Fox Sports). Plus he criticized Stu for his hip hop delivery on MNF back in 2007 and then praises him for the same delivery after his passing.

 

[The Oi]

If Whitlock was a white, roided up CEO of a fake sport, he'd be Vince McMahon.

Skip Bayless would too.

 

[Sebastian]

This is what happens when you call the NFL out.

Hate the Boston fuck, but he took some righteous stances against that cunt Roger Goodell. He deserves better.

 

[Kevin Ollie]

As far as Whitlock...ugh. I've really never seen the appeal of him. I guess I never had much respect for him after he publicly ripped Scoop Jackson back about ten years ago for being too hip hopish or black or whatever. He just came off as some asshole who would say stuff like "the Patriots and Colts win because they don't have an over abundance of black players" (I honestly think this was a column he had on Fox Sports). Plus he criticized Stu for his hip hop delivery on MNF back in 2007 and then praises him for the same delivery after his passing.

Yeah, this has always been my impression of Whitlock. The guy sounds like Bill Cosby going on and on about sagging pants or cornrows. To me he's always going to be the guy that wrote:

"Imus isn't the real bad guy. Thank you, Don Imus. You've given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem. … Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it's 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred."

 

[The Oi]

Yeah, this has always been my impression of Whitlock. The guy sounds like Bill Cosby going on and on about sagging pants or cornrows. To me he's always going to be the guy that wrote:

"Imus isn't the real bad guy. Thank you, Don Imus. You've given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem. … Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it's 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred."

What's wrong with that quote?

 

[blank964]

As a black man I didn't have a problem with what Cosby said in his poundcake speech. I think the Imus situation was one where you can't go back and blame black people or hip hop because no one put him up to calling out college athletes hoes. These weren't hoodrats fighting on World Starr or ghetto moms getting praised for slapping the shit out her son during riots.

It's a tough tightrope I walk because with some of these cases I feel like I can defend certain things (Trayvon shouldn't been shot down) but others I can't defend the victim 100%.

 

[Kevin Ollie]

What's wrong with that quote?

The part that bugs me is the "protest like it's 1965" comment. It implies that we've left behind structural racism, that any struggle is "wallowing in victimhood" as opposed to genuine effort against oppression. Maybe I'm getting it wrong, but, to me, it's this strange combination of "you kids get off my lawn" and the Model Minority Myth.

But, I could be way off. I'm probably just too much of a bleeding-heart left-wing weirdo.

 

[shoes22]

What's wrong with that quote?

Because it reeks of pompousness and self-importance.
There are more effective ways of getting a message across than the diatribes Whitlock are so fond of.

 

[Otsego Mar]

simmons is a joke, well pretty much like half of the board here


on 1:01:20 his prediction about david blatt pretty much sums up his knowledge about basketball

Shut the fuck up.

I think Simmons would be a good fit on the TNT crew.

 

[godfather]

"One ESPNer points us to Simmons’s appearance on the Dan Patrick Show yesterday morning. (He took to the show to talk about Ballghazi.) Here’s the clip in question. On its face, nothing he said was too offensive, though he did take a couple shots at NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, saying the handling of the scandal was “pathetic” and that Goodell lacked the “testicular fortitude to do anything until he gauges public reaction.” Not even wrong! Speaking about Ballghazi on another network, however, may have been a final, final, final straw."

Guess you don't fuck with Roger Goodell, huh?

ESPN is afraid to piss in Goodell's ear, given they are partnered with the NFL, and they don't want to lose Monday Night Football.

So they'll kiss his ass no matter what, and ignore the fact that Simmons might be a lot of things, but he's right, the guy is a scumbag.