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Will (should) Bryant Gumble be fired???

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:43 am
by j
HBO apparently has pulled the transcript of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumble” Tuesday night 2/7/06, but I found this on another message board. It is to the best of the writer’s recollection, but it’s pretty accurate (IMO) from the sound bites I’ve heard on Rush’s show. Bear in mind when you read this, that Rush Limbaugh got FIRED from ESPN for voicing an opinion about a particular player, Donavan McNabb, who he considered to be less of a star than he was being played up to be, because he was black, and in a position that has historically been a held by white players. Rush was labeled a racist, the networks were all over that story and the bashfest went on for weeks.

So…read below and decide for yourself. Do you think Gumble will get anymore than a slap on the wrist for this?? Me thinks he won’t. Well at least he has March Madness to look forward to. J

"And finally tonight the Winter Games. Count me among those that don't like 'em and won't watch 'em. In fact, I figure when Thomas Paine said, "These are the times that try men's souls", he must have been talking about the start of another Winter Olympics. Because they are so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like try not to be incredulous when someone tries to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of Blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something's not really a sport if a psuedo-athlete waits in what's called a "kiss and cry area" while some panel of subjective judges decides who won. And try to blot out all logic when announcers and sports writers pretend to care about the luge, the skeleton, the biathlon, and all those other events they don't understand and totally ignore for all but three weeks every four years. Face it, these Olympics are little more than a marketing plan to fill space and sell time during the dreary days of February. So, if only to hasten the arrival of the day they're done, and we can move on to March Madness, for God's sake, let the Games begin."

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:03 am
by gtalum
No, he shouldn't. Why should he?

FWIW, Rush shouldn't have been fired for his comments either.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:10 am
by j
gtalum wrote:No, he shouldn't. Why should he?

FWIW, Rush shouldn't have been fired for his comments either.


Well...for one reason, to even the score so to speak. If your going to look at what a white person has said and coin it as racist, it works both ways.

I say fire his butt!

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:15 am
by HurryKane
Gumble's a pompous dumb***. Has been for years. I ignore the dude.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:21 am
by gtalum
j wrote:Well...for one reason, to even the score so to speak.


If it was wrong to fire Rush for his comment, then it's wrong to fire Gumbel for his comment. To support one and not the other is hypocrisy.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:51 am
by j
Rush's comments were more a personal opinion about a particular players worth, and his elevated status (media influenced) based on race.

Gumble's remarks are way over the top and address a mass, not an individual.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 9:57 am
by Stephanie
j wrote:Rush's comments were more a personal opinion about a particular players worth, and his elevated status (media influenced) based on race.

Gumble's remarks are way over the top and address a mass, not an individual.


Rush had no business being a sports commentator. He thinks he's a know it all and proved that he wasn't. To me, Rush's comments about Donovan was a direct attack whereas Gumble's comments were stupid, but generalized. Will Gumble say the same thing during the Summer Olympics, especially for track? I think not.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:04 am
by gtalum
j wrote:Rush's comments were more a personal opinion about a particular players worth, and his elevated status (media influenced) based on race.

Gumble's remarks are way over the top and address a mass, not an individual.


You're right. If anything, Gumbel's comment was less offensive than RUsh's.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:54 am
by x-y-no
I don't understand the parallel.

Rush (as I recall it) said McNabb only had his job because he's black (i.e. that his position was a matter of racial preference). In my opinion, that's just plain wrong - McNabb is no superstar, but he's an NFL quality quarterback.

Gumble merely observed that there's a paucity of blacks in the Winter Olympics. I don't see that he was alleging this was based on any kind of racism. It's merely a fact that for whatever reason, blacks are underrepresented in winter sports.


For what it's worth, I don't think Rush should have been fired over his comment (although I didn't think he was much of a sports commentator anyway so it was no big loss). But Gumbel's comment is even more innocuous, so it's kind of silly to be demanding his dismissal over that, IMHO.

BTW, I strongly disagree with him. Personally, I find the Winter Olympics far more interesting than the Summer Olympics, or March Madness for that matter.