Former Reds majority owner Schott dies at 75

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/baseball/mlb/03/02/bc.bbo.obit.schott.ap/index.html?CNN=yes ^

[Lunatic Fringe]

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Marge Schott, the tough-talking, chain-smoking owner of the Cincinnati Reds who won a World Series but was repeatedly suspended for offensive remarks, died Tuesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. She was 75.

[willyboyishere]

Diane Sawyer can now breathe easy. Positively the ickiest thing I ever saw on TV was Sawyer's interview with Schott over the ridiculous "racist" flap of several years ago. Diane almost had tears in her eyes as she asked Marge to "please TRY, could you please TRY...." (to be more sensitive and PC) as if the fate of Western Civilization depended on it.) It was a virtual parody of nauseatingly fatuous Liberal pieties.

[xzins]

She wasn't racist....Marge's only problem was that she couldn't string words together real well in front of a live microphone.

It's an easy lesson to learn that she never learned. If you get burned by interviews and open mikes, then stay away from them.

I'm a born and bred Cincinnatian, and I always thought she was a gutsy lady, AND she was that rare owner who wanted to win more than she wanted to make money. She bled Cincinnati red(s)....

[boop]

Schott was a sacrificial lamb for PC. A couple of quotes I remember: "In the beginning, Hitler was good. Only later when he started killing people was he bad." The press started calling her a Nazi because she owned a WWII flag at home. She also said, "when I was young, guys with earrings were fruits". She supposedly said "nigger" during a conference call with other owners. (This was denied by the other owners), but by now the media was piling on.

[Afro_conservative]

She didn't just own a WWII flag she had flags of swastikas and praised Hitler. Of course you knew this and conveniently left it out. There is a difference between being PC and being and asshole but people here don't seem to get it. Also you need to remember the people who fought and died for this country fighting Hitler while this old hag was sleeping well at night young men where dying and she praises that demonic prick. She has no shame and that is what is wrong with society today, not being PC but being appropriate to people and having respect.

[ClintonBeGone]

God, how could you let them take a picture like that?

[ClintonBeGone]

BUMP

[ClintonBeGone]

Please pull my post.

Just don't ask him to pull your finger :)

[TomServo]

Just don't ask him to pull your finger :)

I almost said that, myself. :-)

[Afro_conservative]

So is it OK to have pictures of Osama Bin Laden and Palestinian Terrorists. Would you like for Arabs to celebrate and dance on ground Zero on 9/11. Probably not. We are a country that is free but we also should respect other people. The tolerance you are talking about is ludicrous. No one should respect or be tolerant of Nazis, terrorists, or anything of that nature.

You are being intellectually dishonest. You want the things you deem not offensive to you to be OK'ed but for everyone else you want to cry. "so what. America wants to be tolerant for everyone so why not Nazis too? Hummmmmmm?" Where in the hell do you get this idea that America which is 50/50 split is tolerant of everyone. Get into the real world some things are acceptable and some aren't and she by and far wasn't

[judgeandjury]

She wasn't racist....

She wasn't any more racist than the black, white, and Latino players who played for her.

[anncoulteriscool]

I'll never forget the 1990 World Series Marge Schott could not get straight that our troops were in the MIDDLE EAST.....she kept saying "our troops in the FAR EAST" and "our troops in the MIDWEST"....it was really funny how ditzy she seemed to be,

[xzins]

I've tried to analyze why the press hated Marge. I think it was because the press hated the conservative area from which she hailed. They hated to see her success. (Easterners, they hated her teams beating their teams...a normal fan reaction...I can understand that.)

In any case, her comments about "Hitler being good at the beginning" WAS PRECISELY what I was taught in school around here. (I'm a cincinnatian.) I was taught that his national socialist agenda did initially fire up jobs and growth after the devastation caused by the treaty of Versailles and the depression. The racism and aryanism of nazism is what was from the pit of hell. (Although, I'm no fan of socialism.)

It is true that she was accused of the "n" word, but it was pure hearsay with half saying that it wasn't said.

At that time, guys with earrings were fruits. Everybody remembers "left is right, and right is wrong." Isn't that essentially saying the same thing that she said?

But, long live the desire to win demonstrated by Marge Schott. She was no slouch at business, either. In many ways, she was a great lady.

[Terry Mross]

The problem I have is it seems as though you're saying someone's free speech should be taken away if you don't agree with them or if you think what they said was insensitive.

I also have a problem when you're business is taken from you because of what someone assumes you think. Even if she was a Nazi in this country you should be able to do business. If some idiot wants to put a sign in front of his restaurant that says "I don't want to serve blacks but the government says I have to.", he should be able to do it. He would be out of business in about a week but he'd still have his right to free speech.

What happened to Marge was straight out of the Nazi play book.

As for memorabilia, I'd love to have something that belonged to Bin Laden. I'd sell it and make a killing.

[boop]

No, I never thought she was pro-Hitler. I thought that the Nazi flag thing was a red herring. I know of many WWII vets taking Nazi memorabilia as "trophies". It was just piling on at that point. I always thought she was a complete idiot when it came to public statements. She just seemed to shoot her mouth off without thinking. I was living in Cincy during this time, and would just cringe when a microphone was placed in front of her.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I'm a born and bred Cincinnatian

Hail fellow Cincinnatian!

I'll raise a frosty Hudepohl to you and we can reminisce about the great old days at Crosley field watching Vada Pinson and Charlie Hustle.

[xzins]

Great center-fielder.

We need to do a thread some day on Joe Nuxall....there aren't many who have been an active part of baseball for 60 straight years -- back to 1944. Today he'd be a gem, ending his career with something like a 3.54 era.