@wmwcjr,
Aw, I messed up. Now I've got it.
This is the very last reply I’m ever going to post at this website. I’ve had enough of this nonsense. I’m sick and tired of people whose only response to people with whom they disagree is to insult them. My life does not revolve around the family PC. I’m going to get some comments off my chest, then that will be it. I’m burning bridges. I couldn’t care less if I’m banned.
First, Cyclo, if you want to brag about football playing friends, I’ll just say that I have several close friends who played football in high school, one of whom even played university football and was a captain of his team. I even once gave a sizable monetary contribution to the election campaign of a former college football player who was running for Congress. He was a really nice guy. I supported him BECAUSE HE WAS A FOOTBALL PLAYER who happened to agree with my political views at the time. So, you can’t accuse me of being a bigot, although you clearly are bigoted towards those of us who don’t like sports.
And now another account of bullying. A friend of mine who graduated from high school the same year I did in the same district told me the following two years ago. For the record, my friend was not a nerd. He was actually cool, a tough guy who could be mischievous without being malicious. He told me that at his high school, a predominantly white school he once called “a redneck school,” bullying by football players was rampant. None of the coaches or the principal cared. (My friend’s words, not mine.) When he was an underclassman, one of the seniors on the football team came along as he was messing with his locker in the hallway between classes and deliberately SLAMMED the door of his locker on one of his hands as hard as he could, even though my friend had never done anything or even spoken to him. The nurse told my friend that he was lucky that he had not suffered any bone fraction in his hand. He had to wear a cast on his hand for two weeks, which was the hand he wrote with. Even though my friend identified him, the player was never disciplined.
He told me that one of the players, whom I had actually admired as a junior high classmate, regularly tormented a MENTALLY RETARDED student, which offense earned him only a few days’ suspension from school. (Big deal. He probably enjoyed the vacation.) He bullied a student who was not only weak, but was also retarded. Two strikes against the victim. Yet there was no revulsion by most of the other students against what he did because, after all, the bully was a football player.
My friend also told me about the curious case of a quiet, shy girl who had transferred to the high school during their senior year. One of the football players, who had a particularly notorious reputation, started dating her. Soon there were rumors that she had been raped by the player. My friend said that a patrol car had been seen in front of her family’s home. They moved out of the neighborhood IMMEDIATELY. I mean in less than 24 hours. Perhaps the reason why she did not press charges was because the player was a star athlete who would be playing football at one of the leading universities in this state. I’m not saying that a rape DID take place; but I can see that if she had been assaulted, no one would have cared. What chance would she have gotten in court? It would have been his word against hers, and the jury no doubt would have been stacked with football fans.
Cyclo, I’m struck by the outright hatred that you have directed against i_like_1981. Your reaction is so vehement that one would think that 1981 had said something totally despicable such as supporting the 9/11 terrorists or advocating sex with children. But what did 1981 say? He said that he didn’t like … football players. Oh, wow. Big deal.
I know that some sports fans are reasonable people, but you and kuvasz clearly are not. I’ve noticed that lovers of chess, classical music, or just about any other interest don’t mind if people don’t share their enthusiasm. So, why the extreme reaction from people like Cyclo? Simply because sports are a religion to these people. Any critical observation about any negative attitude or action connected with sports is viewed as blasphemy by these people. The sports critic is an infidel. We live in a society in which just about any institution -- big business, big labor, politicians, churches, schools -- is subjected to critical evaluation. But not sports. Oh, no. Not sports. Nothing is supposedly wrong in the world of sports. Sports are sacred. They’re squeaky clean.
In one of your early posts in this thread, you spoke of athletes as if they are a master race and you even envisioned breeding human beings. Sorry, but this “Progressive” idea of yours was already done by Adolf Hitler.
Incidentally, before I go on, Cyclo and kuvasz have actually given life to this thread, which I’m sure they would have deleted if they could. That’s what’s so hilarious. I had assumed that the thread would die. Then Cyclo and kuvasz rushed back like bulls into a china shop to be the big, bold sports fans they are and pick on Chai2 simply because she didn’t fall down at the altar of sports in a worshipful pose. Kuvasz also subjected Chai2 to psychoanalysis online, despite the fact that he’s never met her. I wonder if the APA has heard of this amazing supernatural ability.
When I first read your comments about how wonderful sports were and how terrible and despicable people such as Chai2 and myself are for not sharing your enthusiasm, I was reminded of white Southern conservative rednecks, who would be expected to make such comments. Then I checked the listing of yours and kuvasz’ posts. Wow, was I amazed. You’re not Southern conservative rednecks at all. You’re trendy, permissive, “anything goes,” Kumbaya, “war is not nice” liberal “Progressives”! There’s a major disconnect here. I thought liberals were supposed to be tolerant and stood up for people with unpopular views. You rush into this thread with all the fervor of someone reacting to a vicious racist attack upon some beleaguered minority group. But what you’re rushing to defend is … (now get this) sports.
Your reaction is actually quite conservative. (Sorry, David. I mean socially conservative, not Constitutionally conservative.) Are sports threatened in any way? Are high-school athletes such as football players subjected to discrimination? Do they experience rejection in any way? Are they denied equal opportunities? Give me a break!
Incidentally, what do many of the great football coaches (including some who are no longer with us) -- Joe Paterno, Bill McCartney, Tom Osborne, Woody Hayes, Darrell Royal, Paul “Bear” Bryant -- all have in common? They’re all POLITICALLY CONSERVATIVE! So, what are you and kuvasz doing supporting this “Progressive” brand of politics? You should drop your sissy liberal politics and join the Republican Party. Come on, boy, get with the program! The hatred that you have for people like me and 1981 shows the extent of your intolerance. So much for your professed liberalism. At the same time you mindlessly support same-sex marriage (which even the ancient Greeks did not envision), you probably would tell any boy who doesn’t like sports that he’s a fag.
Sorry, but all is not well in the world of football. There was an article in New Times magazine in 1975 that opened my eyes. I had wondered what was wrong with the sports media. In July of 1974 an 18-year-old girl claimed that six football players at a prominent university that I've chosen not to name had gang raped her. There was brief mention in the media about this incident, then the furor quickly died down. The New Times article, which was written by an alumnus of that university who had majored in journalism, presented some interesting facts. The president of the university hypocritically staged a cover-up of this scandal at about the same time he had denounced the Nixon administration for staging a cover-up in the Watergate scandal. He reportedly said, “I don’t need to talk to the girl. I talked to the boys.” Sure doesn’t sound like he really wanted to find out what had happened, does it? I know that lie detector tests are not always accurate, but I would have subjected both the accused and the accuser to lie detector tests. The author of the article mentioned some claims that were never reported by the sports media, which really isn’t a journalistic institution but really is nothing more and nothing less than a propaganda mill whose purpose is to turn just about everyone into sports fans. The girl claimed that a friend of hers had been impregnated by one of the players, who would not give her friend money for an abortion. So, the girl threatened to rat on the player to the university if he did not give her friend abortion money, which he did. Some time later she was dating one of the players, who invited her into the athletic dorm, where they had consensual sex. He excused himself out of the dorm room, leaving her there. Then the player whom she had blackmailed showed up almost immediately (coincidence, perhaps?) and told her that if she didn’t submit to him, that he would push her out the dorm window, which was three stories high. After he had his way with her, four more players came in and did the same. She claimed that there were nine penetrations.
I’m not saying that a rape definitely took place, because I have no tangible proof and I wasn’t there. But these claims would provide a motive for a gang rape other than just lust, and that would be revenge for the blackmail. These claims could have been checked by the university, but they weren’t. The news article about this scandal was buried (wonder why) in the local paper instead of featured on the headline page. The girl, who spent two days in a mental institution, eventually decided to not press charges, especially after she started receiving death threats. If she had pressed charges, she would have lost anyway because the accused were star players. The author of the article claimed that some of the university's football fans were actually indifferent as to whether a gang rape had occurred or not. They were only concerned about having a winning season.
The six players were suspended for a year. That same year another student who wasn’t a football player was EXPELLED from the university from having consensual sex in his dorm room. Double standard, you see. Five of the six returned; the other went to a college or another university. One of the five was awarded the Lombardi Award in 1978, no questions asked. Three of the five went on to play professional football, no questions asked. The cover-up had succeeded, thanks to the complicity of the sports media and the approval of many of the university football fans. Surely there have been similar cover-ups at other universities.
Cyclo, I don’t hate you; and I wish you well. But you’re easily one of the biggest jerks I’ve ever met online; and I say, “So long!” I think you would find that some of the other members of this forum feel the same way about you. I understand that you just got married. If you have a son, I sure hope he participates in sports, because I’m sure you would make his life miserable if he chose nonathletic pursuits above sports. Now, if you end up having a nonathletic son and an athletic son, I wonder if you might just be a little more partial to one at the expense of the other.
I gotta hand it to you. You truly are a male cheerleader. You should don a wig, a tight-fitting blouse, and a short skirt.
And be sure to shave your legs.
