Here’s the whole quote:
“Well you knew it was coming. In the aftermath of the nearly unfathomable events in Kansas City, that most mindless of sports clichés was heard yet again: “Something like this really puts it all in perspective.”
Well, if so, that sort of perspective has a very short shelf life. Since we will inevitably learn about the perspective we have supposedly again regained the next time ugly reality intrudes upon our games.
Please. Those that need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportions about sports would seem to have little hope of ever truly achieving perspective. You want some actual perspective on this? Well, a bit of it comes from the Kansas City based writer Jason Whitlock, with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well, that we may as well just quote, or paraphrase, from the end of his article:
“Our current gun culture,” Whitlock wrote, “ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead… Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it.”
In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions and their possible connections to football will be analyzed. “Who knows? But here,” wrote Jason Whitlock, “is what I believe: if Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”
The second half is next.”
- Bob Costas, 12/2/12 halftime commentary Cowboys/Eagles game, Sunday Night Football, NBC.
I’m sure that gun “went off” all by itself. Both times.
How does he KNOW they would both be alive today?
If he was angry enough and the gun wasn’t available, there was also the choice of
• stabbing (outlaw posession of any pointy or sharp objects)
• strangling/choking (outlaw all ropes, neckties, string, fishing line, chains, necklaces, etc)
• bludgeoning (outlaw any bats, sticks, rods, garden tools, hockey sticks, hammers, mallets, etc)
• hacking (outlaw axes, machetes, slingblades, etc).
• beating with fists (pass laws ensuring that everyone keeps their hands to themselves at all times)
• drowning (outlaw bathtubs and swimming pools)
• poisioning... (make it illegal for anyone to possess any chemical that cannot be safely ingested)
WE MUST KEEP THE COUNTRY SAFE!!!!!
“Our Current Gun Culture”?!?!?!?! What in the He!! is this moron talking about? The current “Gun Culture” I am aware of is decent law-abiding citizens owning and using guns for LEGAL activities. Not menacing or intimidating unsuspecting people. This idea that “ghetto culture” has permeated all corners of American society is outrageous. Please Jason and Bob Doofus, get over yourselves. The problem is the NFL; this type of thuggery has been celebrated in this league for years now. Instead of getting rid of the hoodlums, thugs, and criminals the league continues to apologize for these lunatics. Clean up your own house before you start going around trying to blame Americans for being part of some “imaginary Culture”.