Reilly-Feinstein thread on the front page

[Reisen]

Seriously, I have to say, this just adds fuel to the fire I have against the Duke-hating Feinstein. Has there every been a more bitter, miserable human being in the world of sports? We trash on guys like Calhoun, Calimari, etc, but as much as I dislike both of them, I'm sure they have redeeming qualities.

Feinstein, on the other hand... I can't wait until the Post finally gets rid of him.

[oldnavy]

Seriously, I have to say, this just adds fuel to the fire I have against the Duke-hating Feinstein. Has there every been a more bitter, miserable human being in the world of sports? We trash on guys like Calhoun, Calimari, etc, but as much as I dislike both of them, I'm sure they have redeeming qualities.

Feinstein, on the other hand... I can't wait until the Post finally gets rid of him.

That is a great article! Hits the nail on the head with regards to seeing everything as a black/white (i.e., race) issue.

Feinstein is a very unhappy, bitter man and it is a shame because he has talent, but I will not read his work anymore just because of things like this blog...

Oh and to answer your question... yes his name is Billy Packer.

[weezie]

De-lightful article. One blowhard calling out another. Feiny fancies himself quite the provocateur, usually sneering at the rest of us, the "little people."
Hardy har har.

[BD80]

Can we take up a collection to send Feinstein to unc's school of journalism, then we could call him a tar heel and not have him associated with Duke.

Calling Shanahan a racist is foolish, embarrassing, and just sloppy, inept journalism.

Feinstein is to journalism what Nifong was to the legal profession.

[jipops]

Has it been an underlying trend that Feinstein wants to jump on the race bandwagon? First there was the lacrosse case where he quickly drew his false assumptions and now there is something like this. Has something changed with John over the past decade? I don't remember him coming across this bitter in the past and always on the attack. Is he now the white Jason Whitlock?

I must say, it is always entertaining to see a columnist go after another columnist. It's a refreshing change.

[BD80]

Has it been an underlying trend that Feinstein wants to jump on the race bandwagon? ... Is he now the white Jason Whitlock? ...

You owe Jason an apology

[Vincetaylor]

Feinstein is officially irrelevant after the Shanahan accusation. Remember how he said Coach K was done and wasn't what he used to be? Feinstein is a fat, bitter stain for Duke University. I can't believe he got into Duke.

[SuperTurkey]

I have mixed feelings about this. I agree with much of it, but Reilly's shtick (even in this article) is so galling that I hate agreeing with him.

This is like watching UNC play UK. Yeah, it's nice that one will lose, but it's a bummer that one will win.

[Duvall]

Has it been an underlying trend that Feinstein wants to jump on the race bandwagon? First there was the lacrosse case where he quickly drew his false assumptions and now there is something like this.

Two is a trend?

I really can't fault Feinstein for not taking at face value any explanation that involves Rex Grossman understanding something.

[4decadedukie]

Feinstein is to journalism what Nifong was to the legal profession.

Cogent observation - humorous, but perceptive - nicely done.

[CameronBornAndBred]

They talked about his comments on Monday Night Football, I enjoyed watching Deion Sanders basically say that Feinstein has no idea what he's talking about.

[sagegrouse]

Shanahan is way too uptight to handle the explanation of benching a star quarterback for the two-minute drill at the end of the game.

Now lets find an expert at this -- say Steve Spurrier -- and let me channel the 'Old Ball Coach:'

"Well, we weren't doing so well, and Rex has had some good practices and knows Kyle's system, so I thought we'd try him for a few plays. Well, it wasn't such a good idea. I guess we all learned something."

Translation: "We were screwing up; I tried something different; it was even worse; next play; end of story."

More to the point, Spurrier always played multiple QBs, even with the Redskins ("Come here Rex, I think RB-34X wide will work. You think you can make that throw? Good. Lets try it after the next first down.") So he never would have had to deal with a situation that made a simple player substitution into a presidential impeachment.

sagegrouse
'BTW, everyone notice that the Old Ball Coach whipped Florida last night, 36-14, in Gainesville. He is headed for the SEC Championship game'

[killerleft]

In Mr. Feinstein's defense, it's not been about the truth for a long time. Just 'cause... Just cause.

[Indoor66]

Shanahan is way too uptight to handle the explanation of benching a star quarterback for the two-minute drill at the end of the game.

Now lets find an expert at this -- say Steve Spurrier -- and let me channel the 'Old Ball Coach:'

"Well, we weren't doing so well, and Rex has had some good practices and knows Kyle's system, so I thought we'd try him for a few plays. Well, it wasn't such a good idea. I guess we all learned something."

Translation: "We were screwing up; I tried something different; it was even worse; next play; end of story."

More to the point, Spurrier always played multiple QBs, even with the Redskins ("Come here Rex, I think RB-34X wide will work. You think you can make that throw? Good. Lets try it after the next first down.") So he never would have had to deal with a situation that made a simple player substitution into a presidential impeachment.

sagegrouse
'BTW, everyone notice that the Old Ball Coach whipped Florida last night, 36-14, in Gainesville. He is headed for the SEC Championship game'

I am sure, to the great sadness of Stray Gator.

[Reisen]

Peter King calls out Feinstein in today's MMQB. What a fool (Feinstein, not King).

[4decadedukie]

I do not have the details, but DC's all news radio station (WTOP) just announced that the Redskins and McNabb have reached a multi-year, multimillion dollar contract extension. That surely sounds like Shanahan is racially biased against McNabb. More Feinstein garbage.

[Bluedevil114]

I do not have the details, but DC's all news radio station (WTOP) just announced that the Redskins and McNabb have reached a multi-year, multimillion dollar contract extension. That surely sounds like Shanahan is racially biased against McNabb. More Feinstein garbage.

FIVE YEARS $78 million dollar contract..........I guess Shannahan is really a racist.

[arnie]

FIVE YEARS $78 million dollar contract..........I guess Shannahan is really a racist.

Fienstein will say this is a coverup move to hide the racism.

[Scoring Point]

Fienstein will say this is a coverup move to hide the racism.

There will always be a unique subset of people who are more enamored with being spectacularly bad at what they do, rather than dignified and good. Think Lenny Wirtz, Dale Brown or Dee Snider.

[4decadedukie]

Fienstein will say this is a coverup move to hide the racism.

I am sure Dan Snyder would be willing to pay almost $100M to cover-up Shanahan racism. Get real.

[Devilsfan]

We stayed in the same downtown hotel during the final four. He hung out in the lobby and seemed to have only one friend, a sports writer from Boston. His anti Duke Football and anti Duke everything else irks me and made it hard to even look at the man. Perhaps he is ultra sensitive and was hurt by someone from his alma mater early on and is still resentful. I have read a coulple of his books and am not enamoured in the least.

[DC Chak]

Feh. Feinstein was looking for hits and attention. He got it. 980 had him on their show, and Czaban, right-winger that he is, directly called Feinstein "out of his mind." I don't think Shanahan's motivations in making the switch were racially motiviated, but I do think that Shanahan's scrambling BS explaination of his reasons crossed a line he didn't need to cross. More specifically, as Feinstein put it in a later post on his blog:

"Shanahan raising issues about McNabb’s intelligence brings back some bad memories for a lot of people about the racial stereotyping that went on for years when it came to African Americans playing the quarterback position."

Shanny didn't need to do that, and he should have been smart enough not to do that. Is that "racial coding" as Feinstein called it, and a fireable offense? I don't think any of us would go that far. It sucks that Feinstein inflamed the issue as he did by making an extreme claim, but he's far from the first, in journalism, politics, or in many other arenas, to draw attention to himself by making extreme comments about race.

Great post by sagegrouse about how the Old Ball Coach would have diffused the drama, BTW.

[tecumseh]

You know what was racism in the sense that it was stereotyping due to race though not mean spirited and no one was really hurt. It was the non recruiting of Jeremy Lin. I mean the kid can play, he is in the freaking NBA. I thought there was a reason he flew under the radar but the kid was Californina POY by almost every publication and took his team to a 32-1 record and state title.
You can not tell me he could not have helped a lot of Div I schools like Stanford, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, really almost any school except the real power schools like Duke. IMHO they did not recruit him because they thought no chinaman could have game.

[roywhite]

You know what was racism in the sense that it was stereotyping due to race though not mean spirited and no one was really hurt. It was the non recruiting of Jeremy Lin. I mean the kid can play, he is in the freaking NBA. I thought there was a reason he flew under the radar but the kid was Californina POY by almost every publication and took his team to a 32-1 record and state title.
You can not tell me he could not have helped a lot of Div I schools like Stanford, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, really almost any school except the real power schools like Duke. IMHO they did not recruit him because they thought no chinaman could have game.

Don't know about low recruiting interest for this particular player, but I know Coach K has plenty of international experience that tells him there are good basketball players in all parts of the world.

I'm somewhat surprised, actually, that we haven't seen more recruiting activity for Duke with international players (some has happened with Marty and Olek). Maybe the amateurism issues that we see in the Kanter case are a problem when looking at the more talented prospects overseas.

[killerleft]

Feh. Feinstein was looking for hits and attention. He got it. 980 had him on their show, and Czaban, right-winger that he is, directly called Feinstein "out of his mind." I don't think Shanahan's motivations in making the switch were racially motiviated, but I do think that Shanahan's scrambling BS explaination of his reasons crossed a line he didn't need to cross. More specifically, as Feinstein put it in a later post on his blog:

"Shanahan raising issues about McNabb’s intelligence brings back some bad memories for a lot of people about the racial stereotyping that went on for years when it came to African Americans playing the quarterback position."

Shanny didn't need to do that, and he should have been smart enough not to do that. Is that "racial coding" as Feinstein called it, and a fireable offense? I don't think any of us would go that far. It sucks that Feinstein inflamed the issue as he did by making an extreme claim, but he's far from the first, in journalism, politics, or in many other arenas, to draw attention to himself by making extreme comments about race.

Great post by sagegrouse about how the Old Ball Coach would have diffused the drama, BTW.

Did Shanahan question McNabb's intelligence, or just say or infer he did something dumb? There is a world of difference. Even Coach K has done some dumb things.

[asbcheeks]

You know what was racism in the sense that it was stereotyping due to race though not mean spirited and no one was really hurt. It was the non recruiting of Jeremy Lin. I mean the kid can play, he is in the freaking NBA. I thought there was a reason he flew under the radar but the kid was Californina POY by almost every publication and took his team to a 32-1 record and state title.
You can not tell me he could not have helped a lot of Div I schools like Stanford, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, really almost any school except the real power schools like Duke. IMHO they did not recruit him because they thought no chinaman could have game.

Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.

[SuperTurkey]

Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.

Agreed. The chinaman is not the issue!

[CEF1959]

I'm not going to try to defend John Feinstein on this latest flap involving Donovan McNabb. He can do that himself, and has on his blog. And I won't try to defend John Feinstein on his contention that Duke should (along with other academically-inclined schools) form their own conference and not play in a football-crazed, win at the cost of academics, conference. It's been a subject of debate for decades. Remember calls for a "Magnolia League" to serve that purpose?

But I respect John Feinstein for three reasons: (1) He does original reporting, meaning he talks to real sources, rather than just sitting back to read the web then offering commentary. In other words, like him or not, he's a real sports reporter. That distinguishes him from most right there. (2) He has authored the two biggest selling non-fiction sports books in history. No one else can make that claim. (3) He speaks his mind, takes strong stands, and explains his strong stands with facts as he sees them. You don't have to agree with him; I don't have to agree with him. There's no way to agree with 100% of 30+ years of sports reporting and commentary. And I don't agree with JF on the McNabb or Duke FB issues. But so what? He's out there. Not on an anonymous forum. I respect what he's done.

Charles Fletcher

[shf9]

(4) He pissed off Reilly.

[Jderf]

Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.

I think the poster was using the term to draw attention to the (hypothetical) latent bias in society against the talent of Asian basketball players. I don't think the poster himself was using it derogatorily. That said, it still grates on the ears.

[NashvilleDevil]

I think the poster was using the term to draw attention to the (hypothetical) latent bias in society against the talent of Asian basketball players. I don't think the poster himself was using it derogatorily. That said, it still grates on the ears.

And asbcheeks was just quoting The Big Lebowski after The Dude's rug (the one that really tied the room together) was soiled.

[Orange&BlackSheep]

You know what was racism in the sense that it was stereotyping due to race though not mean spirited and no one was really hurt. It was the non recruiting of Jeremy Lin. I mean the kid can play, he is in the freaking NBA. I thought there was a reason he flew under the radar but the kid was Californina POY by almost every publication and took his team to a 32-1 record and state title.
You can not tell me he could not have helped a lot of Div I schools like Stanford, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, really almost any school except the real power schools like Duke. IMHO they did not recruit him because they thought no chinaman could have game.

I don't think there is a D1 program in the country for whom Jeremy Lin would not have seen the floor. Anyone who can get to the rim against UConn to me is by definition a legitimate D1 player. I can think of a lot of Duke guards in the 2000's who could not get to the rim against most anyone more or less UConn. Check out the Youtube of JL against UConn to see what I am talking about. I think his game is tailor made for Duke's motion offense.

[tecumseh]

Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.

Chinaman makes sense in the context in which it was used and I have been called that myself. (actually I am part Japanese but the distinction is lost on a lot of people)

[killerleft]

It was suggested in a comment below Feinstein's blog that McNabb didn't BOTHER to learn the whole playbook. That's another thing entirely, but I laugh to think what Feinstein would have thought of McNabb being called lazy.

I have no idea whether McNabb learned the whole playbook or not.