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View Full Version : My blood is begining to boil!!



MarkD83
03-11-2007, 02:48 PM
I can usually handle the Duke haters but the latest article I opened up on this subject just struck a new low.

http://sports.aol.com/whitlock/_a/duke-basketball-program-in-denial/20070308111509990001

The whole theme of the article is "I am not a Duke hater" but look how much I hate all that I perceive Duke represents. My blood is boiling because this appears to be the sentiment that arose last year at this time that lead to the mess that is the Duke Lacrosse case.

Yes Coack K can be and (is) arrogant at times, but to label every Duke player as arrogant, rich and whiny and by association trying to infer that those associated with Duke are the same goes over the line.

dukelifer
03-11-2007, 03:36 PM
I can usually handle the Duke haters but the latest article I opened up on this subject just struck a new low.

http://sports.aol.com/whitlock/_a/duke-basketball-program-in-denial/20070308111509990001

The whole theme of the article is "I am not a Duke hater" but look how much I hate all that I perceive Duke represents. My blood is boiling because this appears to be the sentiment that arose last year at this time that lead to the mess that is the Duke Lacrosse case.

Yes Coack K can be and (is) arrogant at times, but to label every Duke player as arrogant, rich and whiny and by association trying to infer that those associated with Duke are the same goes over the line.


This is an interesting line

Unable to take his ball and go home at that moment, Henderson probably thought at launch point he'd turn the lane into a harmless mosh pit, and once in the air, realizing the stupidity of his choice, he couldn't figure out an appropriate exit strategy.

What about Hans rough unable to take his ball home in that moment and simply kick out.

But he is no Duke hater- he would send his som there as long as they did not make him spoiled. I am sure K has special classes on just that. Also tell me a time that a UNC player was reprimanded by his coach in public- or was even suspended for not performing up to snuff academically. But of course, it is only Duke players who are above all this.

Lord Ash
03-11-2007, 03:39 PM
Definately a racist rant.

With one big brush he labels every Duke athlete, and indeed student, a whiney rich kid without even knowing anything about them. That's funny, I remember stories of Sean Dockery ducking gunfire... maybe I am wrong?

Amazing, picking on a coach because he has a REPUTATION of going after students from strong, together families. And then he assumes that any kid from a family like that is snotty and suburban.

And there is a clear racist undertone here. I mean... look at the pictures of hated Dukies... all either white or with a single white parent (Shane.) Coincidence? The best part is he does everything he can not to use the word "white." I wonder if he even realizes it? Go ahead man, just say it; Duke recruits have "a high basketball IQ" but no "athleticism."

Seriously, racist as racist can be. That is if a black guy can BE racist...:rolleyes:

Ima Facultiwyfe
03-11-2007, 03:50 PM
An example of how well he knows what he's talking about......who is SCOTT Wojciechowski ?

Love, Ima

VaDukie
03-11-2007, 04:05 PM
Sean Dockery, Chris Duhon, Chris Carawell, and Elton Brand all came from less than perfect families. Whitlock's article is just poorly done.

Also, I look forward to next season when we prove his 'also-ran' rant completely wrong. Has he even bothered to look at our recruiting class and the losses the rest of the conference will suffer?

3rd Dukie
03-11-2007, 04:05 PM
Definately a racist rant.

With one big brush he labels every Duke athlete, and indeed student, a whiney rich kid without even knowing anything about them. That's funny, I remember stories of Sean Dockery ducking gunfire... maybe I am wrong?

Amazing, picking on a coach because he has a REPUTATION of going after students from strong, together families. And then he assumes that any kid from a family like that is snotty and suburban.

And there is a clear racist undertone here. I mean... look at the pictures of hated Dukies... all either white or with a single white parent (Shane.) Coincidence? The best part is he does everything he can not to use the word "white." I wonder if he even realizes it? Go ahead man, just say it; Duke recruits have "a high basketball IQ" but no "athleticism."

Seriously, racist as racist can be. That is if a black guy can BE racist...:rolleyes:

According to Webster, racism is not specific to any race. http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/images/smilies/confused.gif
:confused:
If you go back to the '66 team, beaten by KY in the Final 4, Steve Vascendak (sp?) was the son of a coal miner from PA if I recall correctly. Mike Lewis was from Missoula, Montana, Verga's Dad was a surgeon from Sea Girt, NJ. My point is that they were such an eclectic group. I don't recall Jack Marin's background. Heck, if Duke had won that game (which I attended) the world would have been spared another racist assault on Adolph Rupp. (Deserved or not is not the issue here.)
No doubt about it, that Chris Carrawell was certainly from a spoiled background. He probably dodged as many bullets in East St. Louis as Dock did in Chicago.
The fact is, I suspect, that most of the Duke recruits do NOT come from privileged backgrounds in terms of material things. They come from, as Ash said, a background of strong families and values. Don't know why that should be a reason for hatred, but I guess it is.

MarkD83
03-11-2007, 04:27 PM
It was interesting to read the thread and see some more level headed responses to the AOl article than the one I was thinking of writing. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "If you are angry count to 10 before you respond, if you are very angry count to 100". I was on my way to 1000.

gannon4429
03-11-2007, 04:27 PM
I stopped reading Whitlock's articles a couple years ago because he was so biased. I really don't mind people who have legitimate gripes with Duke basketball, but don't let your personal bias show. If I had a kid who wanted to be a journalist, I would use his articles as an example of how not to get your point across. Worthless.

Lord Ash
03-11-2007, 04:58 PM
Here is his email addy if you want to write him:

ballstate68@aol.com

Here is what I wrote:

"Hello.

I couldn't help but be a bit disgusted by your piece about Duke basketball and the players (and students, because until they get paid to play, they are Duke students first, athletes second, just like in any school) Duke attracts.

http://sports.aol.com/whitlock/_a/duke-basketball-program-in-denial/20070308111509990001

Your piece was biased and, indeed, came off as rather racist and classist.

First off, you make a massive generalization about the types of athletes Coach K recruits... or should I say, a massive generalization about the families they come from.

"He gets to coach kids who have involved parents and have rarely missed a meal."

What are you talking about? Sure, some students come from traditional families, but many others are not. Sean Dockery, Chris Carrawell, Chris Duhon, Elton Brand... many Duke athletes came from non-traditional families and had to work their asses off to make it to Duke. It is terrible of you to demean them and their families by saying this...

"He gets to coach kids who have involved parents and have rarely missed a meal."

Which was preceded by this:

"...the spoiled, whiny, rich (itch) in the Duke basketball program."

(I am not sure what itching has to do with it. Do Duke students also have dry skin? Or is this some version of "I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.?")

Then, you include an interested assortment of hated Duke players and coaches... all either white, or in the case of Shane Battier, with one white parent.

With this evidence, I can't help but wonder if while you are typing "spoiled, whiny, rich (itch)" you aren't THINKING "spoiled, whiny, rich white (itch.)

And then I am equally offended by this comment:

"He gives off the air that he turns his nose up at the rest of college basketball, the programs and the coaches who try to win championships while working with the poor and dysfunctional."

Where on earth did you get this? Did I miss it when Coach K went on a rant blasting John Cheney? Did I miss it when Coach K only recruited rich kids? Did I miss it when suddenly kids who aren't spoiled, whiny, rich kids are instead poor and dysfunctional?

I can't help but wonder if you are about to start writing about how Duke players have "very high basketball IQ" but aren't very "athletic."

The shame of it is that your "planned" Coach K speech was a good one, and one many Duke fans would have appreciated. But it is lost in "shock jock" writing.

I find your article to be rather racist, denegrating to white players and black players, rich players and poor players, and especially ALL those in betweens, and not terribly subtle at that.

Try to do better. An well researched article comparing the financial background of Duke athletes vs other schools would have been interesting. A reprimand of Coach K's handling of the situation would have been interesting. But you just seemed to fall back on the same old tired stuff, and then just tweaked it enough to be truly offensive."

Bluedevilsfanforever
03-11-2007, 05:02 PM
Does this Whitlock guy ever ever write something good? Or does all of his writing is on some rant that he does not like? I never seen him write one postive on any sports article that he writes.

Virginian
03-11-2007, 07:15 PM
I try to not get riled by the "everyone hates Duke" stuff we have to read all the time, but I'm getting the feeling that in the last few months the tone has shifted.

The "hate Duke" argument used to be that "everyone" hates Duke because we win all the time and get all the calls. It was the "everyone hates the Yankees" theme.

Recently, however, we've seen a number of columns with the writers shifting from "everyone hates Duke" to "I hate Duke." That's a very strange place for a journalist to put himself. Much, much worse, IMO, are the reasons given for this hatred. It's no longer that Duke wins too much or gets too much help in doing so. Now the hatred is all chalked up to the "accepted fact" that all Duke athletes, students, alums and coaches are "arrogant" and "whiney" and "priveleged." The players are said to be out of control and "violent" (Henderson of course and Laettner dredged up suddenly after 15 years). And of course Coach K is hated not just because he's ubiquitous in commercials and the like. Now's he's a liar and a hypocrite.

It's gone suddenly from jealousy and sour grapes to cold-blooded hatred and slander. And national sports writers are leading the charge.

Notice how the "privilege" and "rich" charges mirror the tenor of the reporting and commentary on the LAX case a year ago. Seems to me the sportswriters are loath to let go of that point of view.

I'm wondering if we shouldn't start challenging these writers and commentators. We shrugged it off in the past, but it's getting dangerously out of control now. Perhaps we should be responding to these morons with tactfully written emails that say things like "excuse me, sir, but did you really mean to write something that sounds so out of control and racist?" or "Don't you have anything new and intelligent to bring to the national discussion of basketball?"

I for one am not going to let it go unchallenged.

MarkD83
03-11-2007, 07:20 PM
My frustration stems from the fact that I think emails to the writers of these articles is exactly what they want. They can take the number of emails to their bosses and show how well they are attracting readers. The real key is to send emails to the editors of the sites/newspapers for which the offending journalists write.

Sir Stealth
03-12-2007, 11:58 AM
I think it would be a big mistake to criticize Whitlock as racist. It's just not his track record. I was disappointed to see him critical of Duke, because I think he's been one of the best (and one of few good) sportswriters in the country. He was dead right about the lacrosse case early on. How can he only mean white players when he's basing it on Gerald Henderson? There is truth to the point that Coach K does go out of his way to recruit players from stable families, and this includes Black players like Henderson, Grant Hill, Jason Williams, etc. Sometimes I myself have wondered if this contributes to our team playing soft.

I have really been disgusted at a lot of what has been written about Duke lately, but I'll still take the articles on a case by case basis. I think that Whitlock goes out of his way to say that he is isn't a Duke hater for a reason and I think he's being honest. He's calling the Henderson incident and the current take on Duke as he sees it. I think a lot of people here wouldn't be surprised if Coach K doesn't regret his comments about Hansbrough being in the game a little. I think K knows that, while it certainly wasn't intentional, Gerald did commit a hard foul and a reckless play at the end of the game that had consequences.

Personally, in the face of all the irrational hatred, I think its right to circle the wagons, protect Gerald, and be defensive. But I also don't think there was anything glarlingly inaccurate and certainly nothing racist about this article.

Spret42
03-12-2007, 12:17 PM
I would remind Whitlock of the fact that the hoops world needs men like Coach K in the same way it needs others.

Coach K has recruited in a way that works for him and has best worked for the institution he represents. Yes, he for the most part recruits young men from fairly stable backgrounds etc. He must feel as though these are the types of young men with which he feels he can best connect and win. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this!! It takes all kinds of men to make the basketball world work.

There are coaches like John Chaney who routinely recruited young men who needed what Chaney had to give. He was a old school black man who believed he could be a positive influence on the lives of young black men, many of whom were without his kind of influence their entire lives. He was a net positive influence on their lives.

Different strokes for different folks.

I agree that Duke and Coach K can come across at times as looking down their noses at the rest of the college basketball world because of the level of people and athlete they are able to secure. It used to really bother me, until my father reminded me of the fact that the world needs Coach K at Duke, coaching men like Grant Hill, much in the same way the world needs John Chaney and John Thompson.

Battery
03-12-2007, 11:08 PM
Someone should take the fool to the Emily K center in Durham.

throatybeard
03-12-2007, 11:44 PM
who is SCOTT Wojciechowski

He's Nick Hor-vaaaaath's big man coach. I think he played here Shawn Battier's freshman year.

Channing
03-13-2007, 12:10 AM
I was listening to Buck and Kincaid on sports radio in Atlanta today (you might have heard John Kincaid when he occasionally fills in for Colin Cowheard), and they had Pat Forde on the show. They asked him about the ACC tournament and he said it was great, and that it was possibly the best first round in tournament history and heres why (according to Pat - this is a rough quote):

"Every lower seed won, There was one double overtime game, a single overtime game, a game decided by 1 pt (I think it was), and of course, Duke lost - whats not to like"

So much for appearance of neutrality.

adam
03-13-2007, 12:35 AM
Before moving to Boise, I use to work at the same radio station group in Kansas City as Jason Whitlock. Based on my time there, I can tell you he never was a stranger to causing controversy in his discussions. And though his radio career may have gone downhill because of that, he's become a regular columnist for several newspapers and websites... So, he must be doing something right (even though I think he is way off-base in the referenced article about Duke).

BluBones
03-13-2007, 01:00 AM
Sean Dockery, Chris Duhon, Chris Carawell, and Elton Brand all came from less than perfect families. Whitlock's article is just poorly done.

Also, I look forward to next season when we prove his 'also-ran' rant completely wrong. Has he even bothered to look at our recruiting class and the losses the rest of the conference will suffer?

Whoa. I certainly come from a less than perfect family. Is there anyone here from a perfect family? I'm pretty sure that according to paragraph 3 of section 8 of article 92 of the DBR code that's grounds for banning.

bhd28
03-13-2007, 01:20 AM
Before moving to Boise, I use to work at the same radio station group in Kansas City as Jason Whitlock. Based on my time there, I can tell you he never was a stranger to causing controversy in his discussions. And though his radio career may have gone downhill because of that, he's become a regular columnist for several newspapers and websites... So, he must be doing something right (even though I think he is way off-base in the referenced article about Duke).

Works for and against him... causing controversy got him known and got him a job at ESPN... it also got him fired from ESPN. Now he writes for AOL (and some other part time places I am sure).

In America today, the easiest path to getting your name out there as a writer is to try to stir up controversy. In fact, those writers are usually the ones who are celebrated by the profession because they cause strong feelings in the public (even if they just feed mob mentality). The sad part is that very few of them really make any sort of difference with their writing or offer any real insight. Few really make people think any interesting or 'real' thoughts... as Josh Billings said...

"About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment."

That is pretty much what happens. People re-hash old arguments and try to put them in a new light or just try to stir up controversy where they can.