I would fire an Ozzie
| 16
|
by user Xinoph
If I were GM or owner of a Major League Baseball team, and my team's manager went off on a reporter like Ozzie did on Jay Mariotti, I would fire him.
Not only is it advantageous for a team to have a good relationship with the media - any ten-year-old could figure that one out, but apparently it's beyond Ozzie - it offends a good number of people. Even if the overwhelmingly male, overwhelmingly homophobic sports fans don't mind the use of the term, it's really a dismissable offense, not a suspendable offense - and as we've seen here, there are those who think it's not worth a suspension!
When you think using a slur isn't offensive, isn't worth getting upset about, odds are you're bigoted against that group. But, just because all too many athletes and sports fans feel that way doesn't mean the franchise has to condone it, and my team wouldn't. I would make it clear from their hiring that it's the duty of every staff member and player on the team to represent the franchise publicly, and if they did that poorly their jobs would be on the line.
To not punish someone for using that term - no matter what they say they intended, after living in this country for any length of time it should be obvious what it means here - is to condone not only the use of that term, but homophobia in general. Yes, by not punishing Ozzie, the White Sox are condoning homophobia. While most sports fans might be comfortable with that, I'm not.
I don't think it's OK to use terms of hatred casually.
I don't think it's OK to use terms of hatred at all.
This society is already bigoted enough against homosexuals without the World Series champions encouraging it. When an athlete is accused of being gay, they rush out to defend their honor and get seen on the arms of as many beautiful women as possible.
Wouldn't it be better if they just said "None of your damn business"? Then they wouldn't imply that homosexuality was this horrible, unmentionable offense, and they wouldn't feed the tabloid machine. But no, they have to be the big macho he-man. Everybody wants to be Wilt Chamberlain.
Teams are businesses, and the main point of any team is to make money. I understand that. I wouldn't necessarily expect a team in a less worldly city to rush out and condemn comments like Ozzie's. But, it should certainly be punished in a major city. While I can appreciate that not everyone thinks this is a fireable offense - a lot of people don't care about bigotry if it's not directed against them - I can't imagine that anyone who thinks it shouldn't be punished isn't a bigot.
So let's be honorable, sports fans. If this were an ethnic slur, everybody would be calling for Ozzie's head. Let's treat all bigotry and hatred the same, not ignore it when directed against certain groups. That's not how a democratic, pluralist society should function, and we American sports fans might like to show some class once in a while to the rest of the world.
I know this article won't get a lot of votes, or help my user ranking much. But it's something that needs to be said, regardless of whether people agree with it.
Date
Thu 06/22/06, 5:42 am EST
