Friday, May 17, 2013
Powerball odds? Juan Pierre’s homers are long shots, too
(www.al.com)
Odds of being attacked by a shark marlin: 1 in 11.5 million.
Read More...Pierre’s clout came leading off the bottom of the first for the Miami Marlins against the Cincinnati Reds.
Pierre’s homer was his first since June 23. He whooped when the ball went over the fence down the right-field line.
“I don’t know how to react to those things, so it’s just a spur-of-the-moment deal,” Pierre told reporters of his homer reaction. “That’s about the only time you’ll see me smiling on the baseball field.”
...
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< 1 2If the pitcher were Jamie Moyer, or Roger Clemens making his comeback, players of all races should be reasonably expected to not take 'boy' in that way. Except Julio Franco.
Nobody is saying it's not an insult, they are saying it's not a racially motivated insult unless the intent behind the words were racially motivated. Nobody doubts that someone in the dugout was trying to insult and piss off Phillips, it's whether or not it was racially motivated that is the issue.
Hughes may have had no racial intent, but I don't think there's anything wrong with Phillips calling it racist if that's how he perceived it, especially given the history of the term. If Hughes had called him a "chair" and Phillips felt the same way...that would be different.
EDIT: Just wanted to clarify that just because I think Phillips can be justified in calling Hughes a racist or saying Hughes made a racist comment does not actually mean Hughes is racist.
I was born in 1985. In fact, Jared Hughes is a couple months older than I am. I know damn well and have known so for a very long time that boy is not an appropriate thing to say to a black person unless they're six.
Good for you. Maybe Jared Hughes didn't know that.
If it's inappropriate to say to someone regardless of their race, then its inappropriateness is not dependent on race and it can't be "racist."
Look, it's clear that Hughes was intending to piss off Phillips. To say that using "boy" in that scenario with a white person is "inappropriate" misses the point, as Hughes wasn't trying to be appropriate. The problem is, using the term with a black person carries additional racial connotations. That doesn't make Hughes a "racist". Hopefully, he didn't know the context and has now learned and apologized.
Well, just the one really. ####### wide recievers.
There might be a greater living American than Andrew McCutchen, but I haven't heard of him/her.
Of course -- but not on the basis of the private's race. We can stipulate that the speaker wanted to demean Phillips, but that doesn't make the ocmment racial or "racist." It makes it demeaning.
If I call a friend "my n!gger", it's OK (same as if I called him a "d!ck swollower")
But "n!gger" is not exhibited, intended for, or heard by only friends in 2012. It's exhibited, intended for, and heard by, hundreds of thousands of people the speaker and exhibitor don't know -- including many white crackers.
I'd be pissed if I were Phillips, too.
Sure. Being demeaned tends to piss people off. But Phillips tweeted "#racism."
But "n!gger" is not exhibited, intended for, or heard by only friends in 2012. It's exhibited, intended for, and heard by, hundreds of thousands of people the speaker and exhibitor don't know -- including many white crackers
With an "a" or with an "er"?
With an "a" or with an "er"?
I have a black cat with white paws that I alternatively have nicknamed My N---a! with an exaggerated Flavor Flav accent and Honkey Paws. This is probably going to get me in trouble one day with multiple species.
EDIT: Just wanted to clarify that just because I think Phillips can be justified in calling Hughes a racist or saying Hughes made a racist comment does not actually mean Hughes is racist.
Agree. One key point - Phillips tweeted #racism, not #racist. Hughes probably didn't have a racist intent, but that doesn't mean that Phillips was out of line in pointing out that the term can be received as a racist remark.
You think that all black men are French waiters? That's a sufficiently weird stereotype that I'm going to adopt it tout de suite.
FWIW, my guess is that this whole thing is as much a regional issue as anything else. I think that a white guy from Connecticut (like Hughes) will be less likely to be aware of the racial subtext of the word than a Southerner like Phillips would be. Hughes thought he was engaging in generic athletic trash talking, and Phillips heard a word that in his experience has a very specific intent. I don't blame Hughes for anything more than a little bit of ignorance, and I don't blame Phillips for lashing out.
I'm trying to figure out what I say when I sing along or repeat/mimic ... with my accent it comes out closest to "eh," though that's not exactly it. Also depends on inflection.
I doubt it, it's not like successive generations have become more willing to throw racial slurs around.
he's really from Orange County, and I don't think either place gets him off the hook. It's not like there's no black people in Connecticut or California.
She called you 'boy' instead of your name."
California is not Orange County...
edit: fwiw here's our timeline
Hughes may or not may have said something.
Phillips tweeted he was racially insulted
Phillips and Hughes broed up over the phone
Phillips said Hughes admitted he said something and apologized
Hughes was just on mlb radio saying he didn't apologize and that he never said anything 'racially charged'
The radio guys didn't apparently want to put Hughes on the spot and point-blank ask "Did you say 'boy'"
I actually do need a pencil.
Link
Edit: or something, after reading 66.
****
I'd be disinclined to use any variant of the n-word as a pet nickname, in conversation, or otherwise. I'm not arguing that it needs to be taken out of usage - or arguing much of anything really - as I've seen a litany of good arguments on various sides of that issue -- just that my not using it is a very small price in exchange for not inadvertently hurting someone.
Even if I feel silly self censoring when I'm alone in my car, rapping along with my stereo.
This is a slightly better article in that it has quotes from Hughes as well:
Phillips forgives him, so our talking about whether he's "off the hook" is pretty meaningless.
Thanks to enjoying baseball mostly through the radio and this site, I only found out Andrew McCutchen is a black guy when I watched this year's All-Star Game.
I mean, come on, that's a pretty white-sounding name, right there.
I'd also been assuming Mike Trout was a black guy, but that really was just racism on my part. Sorry, dude.
Here's how you can tell. BA's draft blurbs on both guys:
McCutchen: "His athletic ability, speed and frame earn comparisons to Mets prospect Lastings Milledge"
Trout: "Trout's frame and skill set draws comparisons to Aaron Rowand"
Trout: "Trout's frame and skill set draws comparisons to Aaron Rowand"
It's cliche, but it's true. The same thing happens in Europe with soccer. Every young, African striker is the next Didier Drogba.
Absolutely true. It doesn't even have to be a race thing. If the player is fast, can play keepy-uppsies, and nutmeg a few guys...then he's the next ####### Maradona. Nevermind that he can't shoot, pass, cross or head for ####.
That is priceless. Mostly for these two potential MVPs to be compared to such pedestrian players (though at least Rowand was good for a couple of years). Prospecting is tough work. Most of the comps used go in the other direction (toolsy CF compared to Mantle or Mays, short righty compared to Oswalt/Hudson, any pitcher over 6'6 compared to Randy Johnson, etc.)
Without checking the numbers, I believe this is made funnier in McCutchen's case by the fact that Milledge was the FAR superior minor league performer (not to mention the holder of a HOF-level ZiPs). Prospecting is tough work, like you said.
You gotta be shittin' me. The best comp for Trout is a refined Bo Jackson. The closest white comp is Kirk Gibson, but Trout's way more advanced and technically skilled than Gibby was at the same age.
I never saw anything one way or another, so I assumed Trout was black until the moment I saw a picture.
For Trout, I think the proper comp of this type is Mays.
Trout:"This gutty gamer gets the most out of his limited ability by giving 110% every day. He is one of the most baseball-savvy grinders in the sport".
Aaron Rowand? Come on.
I'd rather that than consistent comparisons of minor leaguers to guys in or on their way to the Hall of Fame. We talked about it a bit in the draft thread, it sometimes gets forgotten that even having a very pedestrian MLB career can be quite difficult. Guys like Rowand, Rick Helling or Nick Punto while hardly stars are often the success stories of their draft class or minor league teams.
The curious thing? The Heyman article was posted 3 hours before the John Fay post, so you'd think if there was something BP did today it'd be part of the later (more concilliatory) post.
Wasn't Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire playing in the same league as Bo at the same time?
More like he was probably still ticked off or defensive about the whole thing earlier in the day and then later after either he figured it out himself or someone advised him how to handle it he changed his stance.
Also, this speaks volumes about Mr. McCutchen's maturity this year as a emerging team leader as well as a hell of a ballplayer.
Although I don't think we need to follow the NYTimes style sheet when commenting on the newsblog...
Yes, but Bo was still kind of unreal.
Buck O'Neil said only three guys hit with that distinctive sound off the bat: Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, and Bo Jackson. And I guess he would know.
Just for the record, no, I did not insult his intelligence because he thought he heard a racial remark. I insulted his intelligence because he thought that he got hit intentionally in the eighth inning of a tied game that the opponents needed to win. Pretty desperately, in fact. There is no chance what so ever that Hughes hit Phillips on purpose. None. That Phillips thought it to be so, to the point that he picked up the ball and threw it in Hughes general direction, shows that Phillips either isn't the sharpest tool in the shed or was so pissed off about getting hit that he wasn't thinking straight.
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