Harrelson, predictably, taken to task by media

[chitownsportsfan]

So you are saying you've never said someone was a "p**sy" or "f*g" or told someone to drop their balls or get their panties out of a bunch, or said something was "gay?" If you haven't, I find that extremely hard to believe.

 

I'm not saying that saying any of that stuff is right or wrong, but people have the right to say what they want and I'd say the vast majority of people who say these things do them out of jest/anger/ some sort of emotion and never mean to offend or have anything against any of the group's they may have offended with saying it. It is just something that has gone on with males for thousands of years. And I think you are definitely wrong, nothing is changing, the only thing is changing is the forums in which you can actually say what you feel and think are changing. Go to any school yard today and listen to the conversation of a group of boys and compare it to one of 30 years ago. Boys are still making fun of other boys, kids are still getting made fun of for doing things like a girl, etc. What also hurts your argument is that these groups that we are told are suppossed to be offended by making comments like this use those very terms in jest all the time. It's not uncommon for a girl to tell a man to stop wearing a skirt or get your panties out of a bunch. Or for homosexual people to call things gay, and so forth. If things were really changing, these groups wouldn't use those phrases and such anymore. Most of the time it is some white guy telling us that those people should be offended.

 

Wow.

[Feeky Magee]

So you are saying you've never said someone was a "p**sy" or "f*g" or told someone to drop their balls or get their panties out of a bunch, or said something was "gay?" If you haven't, I find that extremely hard to believe.

 

I'm not saying that saying any of that stuff is right or wrong, but people have the right to say what they want and I'd say the vast majority of people who say these things do them out of jest/anger/ some sort of emotion and never mean to offend or have anything against any of the group's they may have offended with saying it. It is just something that has gone on with males for thousands of years. And I think you are definitely wrong, nothing is changing, the only thing is changing is the forums in which you can actually say what you feel and think are changing. Go to any school yard today and listen to the conversation of a group of boys and compare it to one of 30 years ago. Boys are still making fun of other boys, kids are still getting made fun of for doing things like a girl, etc. What also hurts your argument is that these groups that we are told are suppossed to be offended by making comments like this use those very terms in jest all the time. It's not uncommon for a girl to tell a man to stop wearing a skirt or get your panties out of a bunch. Or for homosexual people to call things gay, and so forth. If things were really changing, these groups wouldn't use those phrases and such anymore. Most of the time it is some white guy telling us that those people should be offended.

You sound like a lovely person.

[Dick Allen]

So you are saying you've never said someone was a "p**sy" or "f*g" or told someone to drop their balls or get their panties out of a bunch, or said something was "gay?" If you haven't, I find that extremely hard to believe.

 

I'm not saying that saying any of that stuff is right or wrong, but people have the right to say what they want and I'd say the vast majority of people who say these things do them out of jest/anger/ some sort of emotion and never mean to offend or have anything against any of the group's they may have offended with saying it. It is just something that has gone on with males for thousands of years. And I think you are definitely wrong, nothing is changing, the only thing is changing is the forums in which you can actually say what you feel and think are changing. Go to any school yard today and listen to the conversation of a group of boys and compare it to one of 30 years ago. Boys are still making fun of other boys, kids are still getting made fun of for doing things like a girl, etc. What also hurts your argument is that these groups that we are told are suppossed to be offended by making comments like this use those very terms in jest all the time. It's not uncommon for a girl to tell a man to stop wearing a skirt or get your panties out of a bunch. Or for homosexual people to call things gay, and so forth. If things were really changing, these groups wouldn't use those phrases and such anymore. Most of the time it is some white guy telling us that those people should be offended.

I know you will get ripped for being a little over the top, but you bring up several good points. Many of the people who want to break out the pitchforks for Hawk say and do the same thing or even more "offensive" and don't think twice about it. There are avatars on this site that definitely objectify women. Where is the outrage? There's a Hot Babe thread in SLAM feature NSFW Kate Upton photos. In fact one poster here who said Hawk offended part of the fanbase and was senseless and stupid, posted he felt sorry for a stool some overweight girl in that thread was sitting on.

 

Piling on Hawk is easy. Has even one woman complained about Hawk's comments?

 

 

I will say this thread only has about 3 or 4 people actually complaining about Hawk's use of skirt.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Dick Allen

[iamshack]

Quite trying to mix up my words. I didn't say Hawk knows nothing about baseball. He just says the same thing over and over and over again, and a lot of times it's either incorrect, or he has to stretch something to make it a weird, larger point. "Tell you what Stoney, no one knows this game." What in the f*** are you talking about?

 

"First rule of baseball is catch the baseball." Is it? Says who? That's his defense for anyone that can't hit for s***, aka Gordon Beckham. He simply is stuck in his ways, and some of them are absolutely ignorant, like his unwillingness to try to understand new stats or his bulls*** TWTW.

 

This isn't an example of "hey, your parents were right about something," it's an old man being crazy at this point in time.

 

Just because you played the game doesn't mean you know everything about the game, and it sure as hell doesn't make you a good broadcaster. I don't really learn anything NEW about the game from Hawk. Not anymore. It's catch phrases and old stories. I genuinely learn things from Stone while listening to the game. Sometimes even Farmer or DJ. Hawk is just full of absolute nonsense at this point.

 

Oh, and please don't ever use his GM days as proof he knows something.

 

He obviously knows something about baseball, but at this point he's just too far gone.

Says Hawk, obviously. It's his opinion. I don't think Stone disagrees with him either.

 

As for the new metrics and analytics, our goddamned manager doesn't understand them. What's more important, that the field manager understands them, or the play-by-play man?

[3GamesToLove]

So you are saying you've never said someone was a "p**sy" or "f*g" or told someone to drop their balls or get their panties out of a bunch, or said something was "gay?" If you haven't, I find that extremely hard to believe.

 

I literally haven't said things like that since middle school, when I stopped, thought about it for a second, and realized how awful those things were to say.

Edited August 15, 2014 by OsweGo-Go Sox

[The Wiz]

I literally haven't said things like that since middle school, when I stopped, thought about it for a second, and realized how awful those things were to say.

Ok, and that's fair enough. But to say times have changed, you obviously have never been in a locker room recently. There are people who are in their 20's saying much worse things than "they should wear skirts." And it's not just 1 or 2 people, it's a lot of people.

[3GamesToLove]

Ok, and that's fair enough. But to say times have changed, you obviously have never been in a locker room recently. There are people who are in their 20's saying much worse things than "they should wear skirts." And it's not just 1 or 2 people, it's a lot of people.

 

I'm a high school teacher and calling things "gay" or "retarded" and the like are two things that I cover on day one.

 

I know things haven't totally changed, but I'd imagine it's gotten a lot better. I don't really have a control group since the community I teach in is different than the one I grew up in, but from what I've heard even in that community it's gotten 10x better in terms of "f*****" and the like.

 

Things don't change until people make a stand. They're not going to go away on their own.

[Dick Allen]

I literally haven't said things like that since middle school, when I stopped, thought about it for a second, and realized how awful those things were to say.

So you haven't said anything around your friends or just thought of things that if you actually said it to a woman, or if you are not heterosexual, a man, they wouldn't be at least as offended as they apparently are (although not one has stepped forward with the complaint as far as I can see) with Hawk's comments?

[AJUribe]

Someone actually spent time to write this article?

[greg775]

I love Hawk but announcers who go there deserve the short suspensions they often get.

Why? Because the PC police is out there ready to nail any public figure that says anything like Hawk did. He just didn't need to go there. Just rail on and on, but don't defy the new PC laws if you are an announcer or public figure of any kind.

 

So many examples of guys getting suspended for offending the PC police.

[bmags]

I don't want the pitchforks brought out for Hawk. I want him to recognize it was a stupid thing to say and not say it again. That's it. If he's suspended a game I'd like that because I've enjoyed every game he's not been on this year more than when he's been on, but I don't think it is vital.

 

I'm glad he's being shamed for it, and I'm glad it once again brings out those who feel so oppressed that they can't say whatever they'd like...on tv...without consequence.

[Rowand44]

So you are saying you've never said someone was a "p**sy" or "f*g" or told someone to drop their balls or get their panties out of a bunch, or said something was "gay?" If you haven't, I find that extremely hard to believe.

 

I'm not saying that saying any of that stuff is right or wrong, but people have the right to say what they want and I'd say the vast majority of people who say these things do them out of jest/anger/ some sort of emotion and never mean to offend or have anything against any of the group's they may have offended with saying it. It is just something that has gone on with males for thousands of years. And I think you are definitely wrong, nothing is changing, the only thing is changing is the forums in which you can actually say what you feel and think are changing. Go to any school yard today and listen to the conversation of a group of boys and compare it to one of 30 years ago. Boys are still making fun of other boys, kids are still getting made fun of for doing things like a girl, etc. What also hurts your argument is that these groups that we are told are suppossed to be offended by making comments like this use those very terms in jest all the time. It's not uncommon for a girl to tell a man to stop wearing a skirt or get your panties out of a bunch. Or for homosexual people to call things gay, and so forth. If things were really changing, these groups wouldn't use those phrases and such anymore. Most of the time it is some white guy telling us that those people should be offended.

This post is going to rub people the wrong way but I completely agree.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Rowand44

[Feeky Magee]

Yeah, people should have the right to go around calling people f*gs because sometimes gay people use that term. It's the same with rappers and the n-word. God damn PC police trying to ensure we can't belittle people different to us.

[Wanne]

This post is going to rub people the wrong way but I completely agree.

 

yeah...me too. I'll also ad the "N" word used all the time by African Americans. But for anybody to be up in arms over what Hawk said is completely ridiculous. If this country spent more time trying to be productive...and actually GOOD at what they do instead of jumping on every faux cause in the name of political correctness...we'd be much better off! The wussification of America continues.....

 

 

Regardless...it's a no-name writer trying to get noticed is all I take this article as. What Hawk said was 100% acurate.

[caulfield12]

Everyone knows the kind of talk that goes on in NBA/NFL/MLB clubhouses. Just read all the transcripts from the Dolphins' situation with Ignito and Martin...that's just touching the surface, undoubtedly.

 

Or remember Beckham calling Getz "gay" written in the dirt? All that stuff with Ozzie and Mariotti?

 

However, just because Harrelson was/is around that kind of talk, IN THE CLUBHOUSE...doesn't mean he shouldn't make some type of effort NOT to do it, or we should simply accept the excuse "that's just the way he is, he'll never change, etc."

 

He can at least TRY.

 

 

[Quin]

Hey guys, let's try to keep this topic on Hawk's comments and not the overarching societal issues in America, lest we move this thread to the Buster.

[iamshack]

Yeah, people should have the right to go around calling people f*gs because sometimes gay people use that term. It's the same with rappers and the n-word. God damn PC police trying to ensure we can't belittle people different to us.

We get it, there really is no excuse to use offensive words/names, etc.

 

Yet while we expend all this energy being outraged about "casual sexism," we're simultaneously committing far worse harms.

 

The same guy in here reprimanding us all for thinking the use of the word "skirt" in this context is not a big deal is out there flexing his intellectual muscles in other threads in some dick-measuring contest and relishing the fact that he can make others feel inferior to his vastly superior intelligence.

 

 

[Feeky Magee]

We get it, there really is no excuse to use offensive words/names, etc.

 

Yet while we expend all this energy being outraged about "casual sexism," we're simultaneously committing far worse harms.

 

The same guy in here reprimanding us all for thinking the use of the word "skirt" in this context is not a big deal is out there flexing his intellectual muscles in other threads in some dick-measuring contest and relishing the fact that he can make others feel inferior to his vastly superior intelligence.

It's not a huge deal no, and I don't think many are outraged, but typically in cases like this the people saying there's absolutely no issue with comments like these are saying it as part of a wider view that amounts to "I should be able to say what I want and not get called out for it". Hence 9 minutes after I made a comment parodying someone who wanted to use the n-word because black people did, someone made that exact comment.

[spiderman]

I think people (for example, Dan Bernstein) use this faux outrage as another reason to attack Hawk. Anyone upset with these comments need to get a life, and get over their Hawk hatred, and this is coming from someone who wouldn't miss Hawk if the team made a change.

[The Wiz]

Yeah, people should have the right to go around calling people f*gs because sometimes gay people use that term. It's the same with rappers and the n-word. God damn PC police trying to ensure we can't belittle people different to us.

Not the same situation at all and you know it.

[Texsox]

As he should...oddly enough, my first thoughts when I read it were, don't get your panties all bunched up.

[IlliniKrush]

I don't want the pitchforks brought out for Hawk. I want him to recognize it was a stupid thing to say and not say it again. That's it. If he's suspended a game I'd like that because I've enjoyed every game he's not been on this year more than when he's been on, but I don't think it is vital.

 

I'm glad he's being shamed for it, and I'm glad it once again brings out those who feel so oppressed that they can't say whatever they'd like...on tv...without consequence.

This point is just so hard for people to understand. You don't have to be outraged. But you can certainly disagree with what he said, and realize that he shouldn't be saying things like that when he's an announcer for a major league team, and a large part of the fan base is female.

 

Simply saying "well it's always been this way and that's why it's OK" doesn't make it OK.

 

Now you've got people comparing it to calling someone a "f**" etc. So if Hawk did that tonight, would that be OK too because that's how certain people talk?

 

There are ways to disagree with a call and describe your feelings on air without saying what he said. That's all he has to learn how to do in that situation.

[Chicago White Sox]

Lol at all the faux outrage. We've all been guilty of saying stupid and insensitive things in our lives. And quite frankly, it can be very hard to break these bad habits. I have absolutely zero problem with homosexuality and try my best to avoid use potentially offensive words, but I do slip up from time to time and use the word "gay" out of context (calling something lame). I've even done this in front of gay people I know. They have never scorned me for it, they have never judged me for it. They know I'm not a hateful person and understand it's nothing more than a bad childhood habit showing its ugly face.

 

I see absolutely no reason to crucify Hawk over this comment, and I think those doing so must foolishly believe they've never said some stupid or insensitive s*** in their lives.

[iamshack]

This point is just so hard for people to understand. You don't have to be outraged. But you can certainly disagree with what he said, and realize that he shouldn't be saying things like that when he's an announcer for a major league team, and a large part of the fan base is female.

 

Simply saying "well it's always been this way and that's why it's OK" doesn't make it OK.

 

Now you've got people comparing it to calling someone a "f**" etc. So if Hawk did that tonight, would that be OK too because that's how certain people talk?

 

There are ways to disagree with a call and describe your feelings on air without saying what he said. That's all he has to learn how to do in that situation.

You just equated Urban Meyer to a "dickface" in the college football thread

 

[IlliniKrush]

You just equated Urban Meyer to a "dickface" in the college football thread

And?