The Official Thread for Joe Cowley and his Agenda.

[Dick Allen]

Nope...it doesn't work that way...

If a black employee did the same thing or a woman or any of the protected classes, and they fired them, wouldn't disparate treatment come into play?

[Dick Allen]

Woah, go out of town for a weekend and come back to this! I had to do a lot of digging to find the original story, but it's not at all surprising. The 19 year old male has always been his persona for some reason. I hope it's not genuine -- you'd think having a job at a newspaper would force him to grow up a little bit, or at least stumble upon some professionalism -- but I see no evidence to that effect.

 

So he HASN'T been suspended? That's stupid. Those were some very clearly offensive statements made using the CST moniker. There really is no debate there. I don't care if you were personally offended or not, that sort of commentary was simply inappropriate by any standard.

 

Oh well, it's only a matter of time before his besmirched reputation catches up with him and costs him his job permanently. On the whole, Chicago won't put up with his bulls*** long enough for his antics to generate a net gain for the CST. His days are numbered.

That's the thing. He'll do it again. He can't help himself.

[ScottyDo]

He probably has to do something, maybe go for some training or something, but he's very lucky. I guess this means all racists and sexists working at the ST can probably not worry about losing their job if they slip and say something at work, or if they just get pissed off and start popping off. If the ST fired them for the same thing they let Cowley get away with, they most likely will be required to pay their fired employees in full, and maybe even more.

Behavior like Cowley's is absolutely, 100% a violation of his employment contract, and cause for termination without remuneration. They just hold the mistaken belief that the "buzz" he creates is, on the whole, good for them. "Any publicity is good publicity" is a stupid oversimplification, and eventually he will implode, further making CST look like jackasses for not suspending him in the first place.

[iamshack]

If a black employee did the same thing or a woman or any of the protected classes, and they fired them, wouldn't disparate treatment come into play?

No...discrimination applies to how someone in a protected class is treated...it doesn't reach to the level of saying all employees must be treated the same as the best employee might be treated, or a particular white male might be treated...a company has every right to determine it doesn't want to fire someone...that doesn't mean they then have to adopt that same behavior for everyone.

 

Now if the Sun-Times established a pattern of treating all white males in this fashion, and meanwhile, treated all minorities or one set of minorities in a much different fashion, i.e., they terminated all black employees for tweeting the same things, then you might have something...but even that might be difficult to prove...

[knightni]

That's a more accurate subtitle, I think.

[RockRaines]

On a work related account? In a heartbeat

There wouldnt have been a discussion. It would have been, heres your agreement, heres how you violated it, theres the door.

[greg775]

See, Cowley DOES have an internet persona.

This was NOT a fireable offense.

Like I said, it's his Dice Clay impersonation/persona.

People need to quit being so naive and realize it was a game to Cowley.

Now he knows the rules. He can't do the persona anymore.

He did not deserve anything but a talking to.

 

http://www.chicagonow.com/offhanded-dribbl...the-difference/

[caulfield12]

Greg, that's ridiculous.

 

ANYONE could just say AFTER that they were "pretending" or doing satire/parody or whatever.

 

Greg walks into the office: "Well, you gotta love that Nathan Bedford Forrest guy. The KuKluxKlan has done a lot of good things in the South to protect our rights and prevent improprieties from being committed against our women."

 

OH, that's just you pretending to be racist/misogynist/bigoted. Then I guess we'll have to let it go, you can keep your job because you didn't really mean it.

 

If he walks into the Sun Times offices (which he seldom does) in painted black face and says he's just joking after pretending to talk in an exaggerated jive/slang, by your logic, nothing would or should happen to him because it's just a performance.

 

But golly, why didn't Ozzie using the same excuse work for him with MLB? Ozzie was just JOKING too, right? He really didn't believe what he was saying about Castro, he just wanted attention...

 

There's a bomb on the plane!!! Oh, just kidding. (Does Ben Stiller impression from MEET THE FOECKERS)

Edited May 2, 2012 by caulfield12

[knightni]

See, Cowley DOES have an internet persona.

This was NOT a fireable offense.

Like I said, it's his Dice Clay impersonation/persona.

People need to quit being so naive and realize it was a game to Cowley.

Now he knows the rules. He can't do the persona anymore.

He did not deserve anything but a talking to.

 

http://www.chicagonow.com/offhanded-dribbl...the-difference/

 

Joe Cowley the man isn't racist or sexist but Joe Cowley the representative for the Chicago Sun-Times (Cowley CST) on Twitter is - he's only racist and sexist when he's in an official newspaper capacity.

 

His excuse doesn't seem to make any sense.

[caulfield12]

Here's the response I received...a little bit of a surprise, but maybe not as much vitriol for Cowley in the newsroom as there was for Mariotti.

 

 

Joe is a good guy who made a mistake--and I think that's how most people see it. He felt that others were in on the joking and smack talk (pro wrestling kind of blabber) with him--a kind of club on the Internet, if you will. Now he knows. Now he will be who he is. I appreciate your concern, and I'm glad you care enough to write to the S-T about it. We're all going to try harder to be better here. All of us. Thanks much--Rick Telander

[ScottyDo]

Here's the response I received...a little bit of a surprise, but maybe not as much vitriol for Cowley in the newsroom as there was for Mariotti.

 

 

Joe is a good guy who made a mistake--and I think that's how most people see it. He felt that others were in on the joking and smack talk (pro wrestling kind of blabber) with him--a kind of club on the Internet, if you will. Now he knows. Now he will be who he is. I appreciate your concern, and I'm glad you care enough to write to the S-T about it. We're all going to try harder to be better here. All of us. Thanks much--Rick Telander

That's a total cop-out response. "All of us are trying harder to be better" completely removes the responsibility from where it belongs. And "smack talk" as a euphemism for the grossness Cowley unleashed is offensive in its own right. Yuck.

[TaylorStSox]

ah nevermind.

Edited May 2, 2012 by TaylorStSox

[caulfield12]

It reminds me of George Bush at age 40 working hard to get over alcoholism or Bill Clinton over sex addiction, etc.

 

"Youthful indiscretions." Still, a father, married man and cancer survivor should know better. Being around AJ and Ozzie so much really caught up with him.

 

It is ironic the poor intern got eviscerated for one mistake, and yet that's the nature of the world, there will always be "favoritism." I saw it for years and years with Jason Whitlock in Kansas City with the same, or at least a very similar act.

 

He (Whitlock) was further insulated by the Borat defense (how can he be offensive if he's Jewish but making fun of Jews??)...because he was African-American, he got away with a lot more than a white columnist arguably.

Edited May 2, 2012 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

ah nevermind.

 

 

Funny that you censored yourself in a thread about Cowley, lol.

 

Maybe he could take a lesson from you. Think before sending.

 

 

It was Abraham Lincoln (I know kyle or northside will love this reference) who always used to become furious with his commanding generals during the first 2-3 years of the Civil War. He just needed the therapy of putting down on paper his anger, his frustration, writing page after page with furious indignation about their failures to take the fight to the enemy....but he always tore them up or threw them in the fire instead of undermining the morale of the Army.

Edited May 2, 2012 by caulfield12

[knightni]

It reminds me of George Bush at age 40 working hard to get over alcoholism or Bill Clinton over sex addiction, etc.

 

"Youthful indiscretions." Still, a father, married man and cancer survivor should know better. Being around AJ and Ozzie so much really caught up with him.

 

It is ironic the poor intern got eviscerated for one mistake, and yet that's the nature of the world, there will always be "favoritism." I saw it for years and years with Jason Whitlock in Kansas City with the same, or at least a very similar act.

 

He (Whitlock) was further insulated by the Borat defense (how can he be offensive if he's Jewish but making fun of Jews??)...because he was African-American, he got away with a lot more than a white columnist arguably.

Could have been worse. He could have complimented Fidel Castro.

[greg775]

Here's the response I received...a little bit of a surprise, but maybe not as much vitriol for Cowley in the newsroom as there was for Mariotti.

 

 

Joe is a good guy who made a mistake--and I think that's how most people see it. He felt that others were in on the joking and smack talk (pro wrestling kind of blabber) with him--a kind of club on the Internet, if you will. Now he knows. Now he will be who he is. I appreciate your concern, and I'm glad you care enough to write to the S-T about it. We're all going to try harder to be better here. All of us. Thanks much--Rick Telander

 

See? I was right.

That is what Cowley was doing, the wrestling persona.

That was a great reply from Telander.

I like you caufield, but I wonder if what you did here isn't slimy. Telander prolly didn't want you posting his response for the world to see. He was nice enough to send u a response and you show it to the world. Just my take on that.

Guys ... Cowley thought his followers knew his schtick. Now he knows better. Case closed. Slap on wrist.

His posts I'm sure will be dull as hell from now on. He'll do the bare minimum of play by play from the games w/no opinion since people can't handle his Dice Clay act.

Edited May 2, 2012 by greg775

[max power]

See? I was right.

That is what Cowley was doing, the wrestling persona.

That was a great reply from Telander.

I like you caufield, but I wonder if what you did here isn't slimy. Telander prolly didn't want you posting his response for the world to see. He was nice enough to send u a response and you show it to the world. Just my take on that.

Guys ... Cowley thought his followers knew his schtick. Now he knows better. Case closed. Slap on wrist.

His posts I'm sure will be dull as hell from now on. He'll do the bare minimum of play by play from the games w/no opinion since people can't handle his Dice Clay act.

I couldn't disagree with you more. Telander is a journalist. If he wanted to speak off the record, he would have known much better than most to say so.

[caulfield12]

Greg, c'mon.

 

Live in the real world. There's no such thing as "off the record" when a random person from China sends you an e-mail.

 

If anything, his response was meant to be shared...although I can certainly e-mail him and ask if he'd like to have it taken down, lol. He's never seemed like that kind of a writer or person.

 

I even said I was a frequent poster at a White Sox-related message board. It's not like I was pretending to be a lawyer for a random female Asian HR worker at the Sun-Times who was threatening a fake lawsuit just to get a reaction from him!

 

Everything a professional writer does is for public consumption unless he requests otherwise. The whole purpose of what he wrote was to defuse the tension and make Cowley more sympathetic, correct?

Edited May 2, 2012 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

See? I was right.

That is what Cowley was doing, the wrestling persona.

That was a great reply from Telander.

I like you caufield, but I wonder if what you did here isn't slimy. Telander prolly didn't want you posting his response for the world to see. He was nice enough to send u a response and you show it to the world. Just my take on that.

Guys ... Cowley thought his followers knew his schtick. Now he knows better. Case closed. Slap on wrist.

His posts I'm sure will be dull as hell from now on. He'll do the bare minimum of play by play from the games w/no opinion since people can't handle his Dice Clay act.

 

 

Just like Miami can't handle Ozzie's Dice Clay act, either, lol.

 

Not when they ALSO lose 9 of 10 games with that huge payroll and looking up at four teams ahead of them in the standings.

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2012 by caulfield12

[max power]

^I'm hoping that no one is willing to touch that one with the proverbial ten foot pole.

[greg775]

Greg, c'mon.

 

Live in the real world. There's no such thing as "off the record" when a random person from China sends you an e-mail.

 

If anything, his response was meant to be shared...although I can certainly e-mail him and ask if he'd like to have it taken down, lol. He's never seemed like that kind of a writer or person.

 

I even said I was a frequent poster at a White Sox-related message board. It's not like I was pretending to be a lawyer for a random female Asian HR worker at the Sun-Times who was threatening a fake lawsuit just to get a reaction from him!

 

Everything a professional writer does is for public consumption unless he requests otherwise. The whole purpose of what he wrote was to defuse the tension and make Cowley more sympathetic, correct?

 

I just thought it was kind of slimy to print his personal response to you on a public message board w/out telling him. That's all. You did tell him you were a poster on a board, so that's probably sufficient.

[caulfield12]

^I'm hoping that no one is willing to touch that one with the proverbial ten foot pole.

 

 

I just did it to make a point, lol.

 

And the point is that there's SOME things in life or in the world you can never talk about or argue or seemingly defend, NO MATTER WHAT.

 

Doesn't matter if you're just taking a Devil's Advocate view, regardless of one's personal beliefs.

 

The funny thing is that you CAN talk about Mao Zedong or Stalin, and they killed MANY more millions of people in their own countries. In China now, I can say he was a "bad guy" even though officially he's still a national here and his body is preserved in a mausoleum, just like Lenin's at the Kremlin.

 

Just like if Ozzie said that same thing about, say, Pol Pot in Cambodia, it wouldn't even have registered as a blip on the radar screen. But he said it about Fidel Castro in South Florida in Little Havana.

[Quin]

Greg, you're not a real person.

[greg775]

Greg, you're not a real person.

 

You don't think it's rotten to send somebody an email and print his response on a message board?

And I like caufield, no disrespect meant.

[caulfield12]

That does it.

 

Greg thinks I am "slimy" and Cowley is his new hero in lieu of any Ozzie controversy.

 

Shouldn't his name be officially adjusted to Cowley Fan Club, Ozzie Fan Club OR Ozzie/Cowley fan club?

 

Especially since his other hero Rongey has disappeared for the time being.