Funny how everyone forgot about this 'salute' from the very same Olympic games.
Posted on 07/30/2008 2:37:58 AM PDT by The Raven
Earlier this month, ESPN awarded Tommie Smith and John Carlos the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs - the sports network's equivalent of the Oscars - for their once infamous, and now famous, black power salutes from the medal platform at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
The stench of self-congratulation surrounding ESPN's decision is thicker than the air in a locker room after double overtime. "As the passage of time has given us the opportunity to put their actions into the proper context," gloats USC professor Todd Boyd in an ESPN.com column, "their supporters can now feel vindicated while their detractors must eat their words."
...
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
ESPN- not good enough to suck!
Kinda thought that’s the rock Keith Olbermann crawled out from under....
It was one of the most shameful moments in American sports history.
These people are mentally deranged. Encouraging radicalism in the Black community in the late ‘60s was akin to dropping a nuclear bomb on themselves. The damage it created has never been repaired.
The Messiah-hood of Obama empowers all sorts of lunatic behavior. It won’t stop with ESPN, and anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional.
Wait. Is it “black power” or “African-American” power?
The ONLY reason I watch them is like tonight. The Cubs are on. Otherwise you are right.
I would really like to see the IQ demographics of people who watch "Sports Center".
As Obama and the Wrong Reverend Wright demonstrate, it is now okay to be openly racist, so why not go back and celebrate racists past.
And to think people still debate over the reasons many species of life become extinct.
My friends, we have entered the dark ages once again.
ESPN is filled with white guilt.
So, they say and do things that will be "relevant", ie, something that might matter beyond the victory party. Thus, in order to ingratiate themselves with the news division, they become even bigger lefties than even the MSM lefties.
Another reason is that they learn their economics from seeing who has the best free food and liquor in the press boxes and press conferences.
Finally, many sports "journalists" are frustrated non-athletes, guys who got pantsed in 8th grade P.E. class. Being a leftie is their way of getting back at all those successful bullies who achieved glory through hard work.
If you don't believe this, Bryant Gumbel and Keith Olbermann started out as sports announcers.
ESPN - Everybody Start Pandering Now.
Limbaugh's comments touch off controversy
ESPN.com news services | Updated: October 1, 2003, 7:09 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA -- Donovan McNabb has been to three straight Pro Bowls and two consecutive NFC championship games, and was runner-up for NFL MVP in his first full season as a starter.
Still, commentator Rush Limbaugh saw fit to question the quarterback's credentials.
Before McNabb led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 23-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills, Limbaugh said on ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" that McNabb is overrated. However, Limbaugh injected his comment with racial overtones that have set off a controversy.
"Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go," Limbaugh said. "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."
ESPN released an official statement Wednesday night.
"Although Mr. Limbaugh today stated that his comments had 'no racist intent whatsoever,' we have communicated to Mr. Limbaugh that his comments were insensitive and inappropriate. Throughout his career, he has been consistent in his criticism of the media's coverage of a myriad of issues," the statement read.
Earlier, ESPN executive vice president Mark Shapiro came to the conservative Limbaugh's defense.
"This is not a politically motivated comment. This is a sports and media argument," Shapiro was quoted as saying in a USA Today column published Wednesday. "Rush was arguing McNabb is essentially overrated and that his success is more in part [due] to the team assembled around him.
"We brought Rush in for no-holds-barred opinion. Early on, he has delivered," Shapiro told USA Today.
ESPN spokesman Dave Nagle said Tuesday that Limbaugh doesn't do interviews.
"It's sad that you've got to go to skin color. I thought we were through with that whole deal," McNabb told the Philadelphia Daily News.
Limbaugh resigns from ESPN's NFL pregame show
ESPN.com news services | Thursday, October 2
PHILADELPHIA -- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh said Thursday he resigned from ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" pregame show to protect network employees from the uproar over critical comments he made about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
Limbaugh quit late Wednesday, three days after saying on the show that McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.
"The great people at ESPN did not want to deal with this kind of reaction," Limbaugh told the National Association of Broadcasters at its convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. "The path of least resistance became for me to resign."
George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, accepted Limbaugh's resignation Wednesday. ABC and ESPN are owned by Walt Disney Co.
"We regret the circumstances surrounding this," Bodenheimer said. "We believe that he took the appropriate action to resolve this matter expeditiously."
On Wednesday, McNabb said he didn't mind criticism of his performance, but was upset Limbaugh made his race an issue and said it was too late for an apology.
"It's somewhat shocking to hear that on national TV from him," McNabb said. "It's not something that I can sit here and say won't bother me."
McNabb said in a statement issued Thursday by the team that he won't address the topic.
"I said all I have to on the topic at the press conference [Wednesday]," the statement read. "I spent more time on the subject than I expected to. It's time for me to concentrate on the Redskins and try to win a football game with my teammates this weekend."
Also in a news conference on Thursday, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie accused ESPN of "institutional racism" for among other things hiring Limbaugh in the first place. In response, ESPN issued a statement, saying: "We are not going to respond to an assertion that is not based in reality."
Talking about his ESPN comments, Limbaugh said Thursday he had thought about the issue the night before making the comments. He said he was used to scrutiny after 15 years in radio and expects to get attention.
"I figured if I'm going to do this [the ESPN show] I should be who I am," he said.
QB disappointed others didn't respond during show
ESPN.com news services | Updated: October 2, 2003, 12:49 AM ET
PHILADELPHIA -- Donovan McNabb isn't looking for an apology from Rush Limbaugh, who said he was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.
It's too late for that.
"He said what he said. ... I'm sure he's not the only one that feels that way but it's somewhat shocking to actually hear that on national TV," the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback said of Limbaugh at a news conference Wednesday. "An apology would do no good because he obviously thought about it before he said it."
Before McNabb led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 23-13 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Limbaugh said during ESPN's pregame show that he didn't think McNabb was as good as perceived from the start.
"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well," Limbaugh said. "There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."
Before Limbaugh resigned, ESPN released an official statement Wednesday night.
"Although Mr. Limbaugh today stated that his comments had 'no racist intent whatsoever,' we have communicated to Mr. Limbaugh that his comments were insensitive and inappropriate. Throughout his career, he has been consistent in his criticism of the media's coverage of a myriad of issues," the statement read.
Limbaugh didn't back down from his comments during his syndicated radio talk show Wednesday.
"All this has become the tempest that it is because I must have been right about something," Limbaugh said. "If I wasn't right, there wouldn't be this cacophony of outrage that has sprung up in the sports writer community."
"I'm shocked that we're at Wednesday and we have not seen an apology from Mr. Limbaugh," Sharpton said. "We cannot sit back in silence. That would be consent and we would have lost self-respect."-->
The NFL disclaimed any responsibility.
"ESPN knew what it was getting when they hired Rush Limbaugh," league vice president Joe Browne said. "ESPN selects its on-air talent, not the NFL."
How is censoring Carlos and Smith different than the 2008 Chinese bans on similar displays ?
Thanks. You've made my point.
Funny how everyone forgot about this 'salute' from the very same Olympic games.
Both Smith and Jones were used as stooges by the anti-American Black Panthers and their cohorts in the hate-America leftist movement. Lots of other Black athletes, like the then Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabar, shunned the Olympics due to political pressure. It is with no little satisfaction that I was happy to see our basketball team with a lot of patriotic Black athletes like Spencer Haywood, win the gold medal. And George Foreman won the gold in boxing.
sorry, Tommy Smith and John Carlos. Not Tommy Jones and John Smith.
“ESPN is filled with white guilt.”
White guilt = wilt...and I don’t mean Wilt the Stilt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.