The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    Sports Reporter Fired by ESPN for Racist Comments

    By rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/24/2015 - 7:12pm |

    Colin Cowherd was a sports radio host for ESPN. He was headed out the door to take a job with Fox Sports. The exit was hastened when Cowherd on Thursday questioned how complicated the sport of baseball could be given that a third of the players were from the Dominican Republic. Colin Cowherd took to the airwaves on Friday to address the complaints that came in response to his comments. Attempting to clear up the controversy, Cowherd noted that the Dominican Republic was not noted for its world class academic abilities. According to Cowherd, baseball is mostly instincts. No real talent is required to manage a team and only muscles are needed to play the game.

    In his "apology", Cowherd noted that he probably should not have mentioned a specific country and just said baseball has players from countries with economic and educational hardships. He then noted that the Dominican Republic ranks 122 out of 144 countries in primary level education.

    Cowherd noted that he wasn't taking a "shot" at Dominicans, he was just stating fact.he also noted that he was not saying that there were no intelligent, educated people in the Dominican Republic, he just cringed at the data.

    ESPN Radio found the comments offensive and suggested that Colin Cowherd, who had a contract expiring at the end of the year, take an early exit. Cowherd's last day was Friday. He (Actually only a week earlier than planned). Cowherd should feel at home at Fox.

     

     

    Comments

    The link

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/colin-cowherd-dominican-republic_55b...?


    by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/24/2015 - 11:26pm

    Cowherd should maybe go back to the original profession of his people. From back in simpler times.

    Herding cows.


    by Q (not verified) on Sat, 07/25/2015 - 3:07pm

    I hereby render unto Q the Dayly Line of the Day Award for this here Dagblog site, given to all of him from all of me!

    And I thought 'Dick' was bad. hahahaha


    by Richard Day on Sat, 07/25/2015 - 4:02pm

    Oh for chrissakes Q - we're talking about jocks. Have the pod people got you too? I knew all the rules for baseball at 7. Yes, one of the most impoverished uneducated countries in the world supplies much of our baseball talent - brain skills or simply fast muscular guys with good perception? Does baseball really require a PhD or Nobel to play because some baseball player says you gotta be smart these days to play? Babe Ruth played with a six-pack, who was the pitcher that threw a no-hitter on acid?. What's next, golf? Boxing? Grape-picking? Modeling? Ditch digging? Shake machine? And even if we laugh about the number of congenital idiots in Newfoundland or West virginia are we also being "racist" or just stereotypically regionalist? Dominican Republic's now churning out a lot of engineers and doctors? 50% of the country lives on $4 a day. Guess I don't know what passes for racism these days. #FauxOutrage

    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 12:02am

    I knew you would show up. hahahahah

    Babe Ruth liked six packs but no LSD.

    I read that at wiki somewhere.

    No steroids either.

    I was thinking about Ocean's comment.

    I mean I watch golf (whilst I view films on Hulu) and that means I am an idiot if it were not for Hulu. hahahahah The sound is turned off and I watch important stuff like Stitchers. hahashah

    By the way, my food allowance is around four bucks a day, and if I put that figure at two bucks a day, I could stand up and watch my feet.

    The Twins got so many players from Cuba in the olden days. the fact is that MLB gets so many players from the Caribbean and from Mexico and from South American Nations that blaming it all on Dominicans is idiocy.

    What the hell was the question again?

    But coming to some conclusion that baseball is simple.

    Who is on third and who is up to bat and where are the infield and how does one place the outfield and what is the ball/strike count and....

    Baseball is complicated.

    And I like it.

    As long as the Twins have a chance at a wild card shot.


    by Richard Day on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 12:33am

    What's next? girls in baseball! And that'll be the end of the game cause girls can't play.

     

     

     


    by ocean-kat on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 12:44am

    That's a fake Gatorade ad -http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2240239/Ballgirl... But Dock Ellis did claim he threw a no-hitter on acid. And for the record, Dominicans make up about 10% MLB, 25% of farm clubs. Basically the Dominican Republic is one huge cheap farm club, outside the costly draft system, with every team in the majors with a club down there. Another free trade offshore model.

    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 1:49am

    There is no faux outrage. The same racism that suggests Dominicans are stupid is why blacks were barred from skilled positions like middle linebacker and quarterback in football. A skilled white halfback was smart and took advantage of holes in the defense. A black half back was just athletic or instinctive. Blacks could not be baseball managers or football coaches. It was a racist policy. More than 20 years after successful quarterbacks had populated the NFL., Rush Limbaugh opined that Donovan McNabb was considered a successful quarterback solely because the NFL needed to have a black quarterback succeed. It was a racist position and Limbaugh was fired from his ESPN sorts casting job. People ran out to see "Moneyball" to praise how some white guys used statistics to win against the accepted odds. The bottom line is that blacks were barred from lucrative team positions and coaching jobs because racism was/is the condition of the day.

    Here is a different take on intelligence baseball, including a Dominican.

    http://www.totalprosports.com/2011/09/16/9-smartest-players-in-major-lea...

    The ESPN radio host focused on Dominicans because he could. One of the reasons racists can survive is that a get number of people do not challenge it when they see it. Cowherd is no different than Limbaugh. The firing of both by ESPN was justified. 

    It is easy to stand on the sidelines yelling faux outrage when you are not in the targeted group. If what Cowherd display is acceptable, there should be no complains when a region of the United States is characterized as a bunch of subhuman, ignorant, racist hicks.

     


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 7:15am

    It's not a different take - it says you don't have to be smart to play baseball but there are a few smart guys. Duh. "The world of professional sports is probably the one place in life where being smart won’t help you get ahead. Just ask the 9 baseball players listed here. They’re probably the smartest guys in Major League Baseball, and I bet every one of them will tell you that their intelligence has more often been a hindrance than a help." So there's a smart Dominican on this list (obviously not Sammy Sosa) - that proves what exactly? Poor Dominican Republic - they thought they were Cambridge? My guess is there's more #FauxOutrage in the US than in Santo Domingo. These folks are happy to have an out, like escaping the Bronx in past generations. http://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciajessop/2013/03/19/the-secrets-behind-t...

    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 8:22am

    A private company fired Cowherd and Limbaugh. The company had the right to fire the men for comments they considered racist. Customers of the company expressed their displeasure with the comments made by on-air talent. In the past, their would have been no way for minority voices to set the terms for what was considered racist. That was the past. Now targeted minority groups can express their displeasure on what they consider racist. Some still long for the good old days with the whites-only standard. Those days are gone.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 8:51am

    Whatever - baseball is not complex (except for making and avoiding steroid detection), you don't have to be a genius to play, Dominicans have an awful educational system (or participation at least - "Only 50% of the students who enter the first grade in the Dominican Republic reach to complete just four years, 22% complete the eight year elementary cycle and only 10% finish secondary schooling, figures which place Dominican Republic among the countries with the highes school dropout rates."). Sorry the truth hurts, though it probably hurts less if you're a pro Dominican player making a major league salary (thoug some players say it's tough to live on $6.5 mill a year - go figger). 

    That's enough for me.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 9:19am

    The bottom line is the whites no longer have the monopoly on deciding what is racist. People have the free speech right to state their feelings others can push back. Those who don't understand racism can learn from what goes on around them. Al Jolson's blackface wasn't offensive and then it was. Times change.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 10:29am

    You seem to be feeling your oats since you got that flag down and chanted that old guy off stage. But lecturing others on racism doesn't mean your view is necessarily right,and even if you do turn out right it doesn't mean you actually achieve something useful. Best not to think you're driving before you're behind the steering wheel - bus might just take off without you or worse even run you over. All this quoting Mlk you'd think there'd be more appreciation for the traits that made him special. But all I see are people who think they're owed something with no appreciation for other's position. Mlk sought understanding, common ground and larger justice. Jesse Jackson sought a Rainbow Coalition. This year's model just thinks it's owed something, wants adoration of its righteousness, a vanity built on blog-likes. Without a heart, a heart big enough for all, you ain't shit. So lecture on - you can define racism or any other term whatever arbitrary way you want as your battering ram to success and try to run over those sympathetic and willing to listen and help. Good luck with that strategy.

    by Anonymous pp (not verified) on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 3:18pm

    I emailed Michael about the TOS warning. We're cool. I knew what I was doing and risking and respect his position.

    Most people seem to think Cowherd crossed the line. So it does seem to be working. Some people seem to a have a problem with previously marginalized groups having power to call halt to some racist nonsense. 

    UCLA Law students who protest a racist professor are following in the footsteps of Martin Luther King. The administration did make changes. King spoke out about whites who stood by ignoring racism. MLK Jr was not a cuddly teddy bear who would tell Dominicans not to protest being called stupid. There were people who thought MLK was overstepping by protesting. It seems that people like those who said that King asked for things blacks had not earned are still around.

    Conservatives have adopted as cuddly teddy bear version of MLK as their new mascot. Glenn beck is having a King rally in Alabama. It is hilarious how people try to twist MLK. Jesse Jackson agreed with me the the racist Confederate flag needed to come down. You should stay up with the times.

    http://www.democracynow.org/2015/6/26/rev_jesse_jackson_take_down_the

     

     


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 4:39pm

    Is your argument that Martin Luther King Jr would have told the UCLA Law students to remain silent?


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/26/2015 - 4:49pm

    Cowherd reeks of white privilege. The only way he can rationalize that baseball was a game for mental deficients is because Dominicans are playing the game. He gave whites a pass. That is racism 101.

    The racist ULCA law professor does not feel blacks belong in the school. When he grades papers, he grades knowing that no black student could meet his standard of scholarship. The administration instructs students not to take a course from the professor. The professor gives cover to racist UCLA law students and cares little for the hostile environment he has set up at the school. Racism breeds racism in a system.

    A white person who believes Dominicans are dumb are going to be very condescending to Dominicans who hit their radar screen, that white person may be less likely to promote a Dominican because the Dominican can't be expected to handle complexity.

    A white person who believes Dominicans are mentally deficient is going to have a hard time working for a Dominican boss. The white person will be certain that they are better qualified than the Dominican, despite the fact that the white person may possess Dylan Roof level intelligence.


    by rmrd0000 on Mon, 07/27/2015 - 8:18am

    Jose Bautista wrote a great response, I thought, about how the Dominicans ballplayers are actually trained and educated. Can't find the link, but it goes into the factory system used to develop them. 

    Also, I donno. I'm tired of the world of Cowherds. Anytime a sports dingus insults people for not being smart, well... you know... that's like a triple low, for me. #1. It's sports. #2. The talkers aren't that smart. #3. They wanna then insult the guys who can actually play?

    I don't think so. 

    I'd rather see these clowns digging ditches.

     

     


    by q (not verified) on Mon, 07/27/2015 - 9:02am

    Profession sports, like religion, is one of those institutions that the world would be better off if more people ignored.


    by ocean-kat on Sat, 07/25/2015 - 3:18pm