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Race Relations in Professional Sports


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"The problem is, he doesn't know how to deal with African-American people," Bradley said. "I think that's what's causing everything. It's a pattern of things that have been said -- things said off the cuff that I don't interpret as funny. It may be funny to him, but it's not funny to Milton Bradley. But I don't take offense to that because we all joke about race in here. Race is an issue with everything we do in here.

 

Bradley says Kent in his own world, lacks leadership

 

Yeah, Jeff Kent is a racist and beyond that he's just a flat out !@#$. No surprises there. I'm not sure what Bradley is getting at specifically here but I don't understand why he feels that Kent needs to treat black players differently. I'm sure he treats everyone like scum regardless of ethnicity.

 

It kind of reminds me of my time in the military. I treated everyone like a shipmate regardless of what ethnicity they were. Some of my friends however would talk differently around black people and act differently just the same. If I was black I would interpret that behavior as both condescending and insulting.

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Bradley says Kent in his own world, lacks leadership

 

Yeah, Jeff Kent is a racist and beyond that he's just a flat out !@#$.  No surprises there.  I'm not sure what Bradley is getting at specifically here but I don't understand why he feels that Kent needs to treat black players differently.  I'm sure he treats everyone like scum regardless of ethnicity.

 

It kind of reminds me of my time in the military.  I treated everyone like a shipmate regardless of what ethnicity they were.  Some of my friends however would talk differently around black people and act differently just the same.  If I was black I would interpret that behavior as both condescending and insulting.

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Jeff Kent's not a racist...hes just an !@#$. So is Milton Bradley.

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I was just reading this article, and kinda shocked by this comment by Bradley...

 

"Me being an African-American is the most important thing to me - more important than baseball," said the 27-year-old center fielder"

 

I'm not backing kent or anything, but if everyone shoudl be seen as ball players regardless of anything, then why is being black more important to Bradley than being a Dodger...theres something seriously wrong with that...

 

I know kent is and can be a complete scumbag, but it almost seems as if Bradley is playing the race card himself and trying to make it a bigger issue...

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I was just reading this article, and kinda shocked by this comment by Bradley...

 

"Me being an African-American is the most important thing to me - more important than baseball," said the 27-year-old center fielder"

 

I'm not backing kent or anything, but if everyone shoudl be seen as ball players regardless of anything, then why is being black more important to Bradley than being a Dodger...theres something seriously wrong with that...

 

I know kent is and can be a complete scumbag, but it almost seems as if Bradley is playing the race card himself and trying to make it a bigger issue...

416543[/snapback]

 

All good points.

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Milton Bradley has been a cancer since day one. I really don't know what the Dodgers were thinking combining Kent who's been know in many clubhouse disputes, Bradley who's a hot head and JD Drew who is so freaking distant. Where's the leadership?

 

The number one reason I don't like Milton is because he feels the need to brush his shoulders off every time he hits a HR. If you want to be represented as a respectable man don't do the crap you've done the entire career. That being get in to a verbal confrontation on TV with your manager, go ballistic on the crowd, refer to yourself in the third person, dust your shoulders off after you hit a HR, throw a bag of balls on the infield. In my book Milton Bradley has as much credibility as Albert Belle.

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I think part of the misunderstanding here is that treating people the same and treating people equally can be two entirely different things.

 

If one treats two folka the same but they start out with different characterstics which are delivered to them and are not their fault then the final outcomes achieved may be very different.

 

For example, I am commited to treating everyone the same so I give everyone the same four inch stool to stand on so they can reach the high shelves.

 

Definitely I treated everyone the same but I did not treat everyone equally at all.

 

I helped the 6 foot guy reach the high shelf and get the goods.

 

However, when I gave the 5 foot guy (or gal) the same 4 inch stool they couldn't reach and got nothing as a result.

 

I treated eveyone the same but I did not treat eveyone equally.

 

What's the general rule here?

 

First and foremost it is that there is probably no general rule or principle here.

 

Situations are different and ones actions or responses should also be different if I am going to be fair. Its makes a difference in terms of whether I should accomodate the differences between people based on the root and the nature of that difference.

 

An accomodation which attempts to make up for a factor deemed by society to be irrelevant to how a benefit should be distributed but impacts the achievement of the goal is one I probably want to make if I can, even if it means that I may be treating two people differently.

 

However, if this difference is relevant to distribution of the goal then I probably won't treat people diffierently am content to see the differences in distribution occur based on these differences.

 

If there is a general rule it is probably the golden rule of doing on to others as I would have them do on to me.

 

I am far more interested in treating people equally than I am in treating them the same and in order to truly treat folks equally some weird and paradoxical things will happen from time to time, but part of being an adult is learning to deal with these paradoxes.

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Jim Rome just read the full quote on his radio show. It seems like ESPN left out a pretty big part when they chose what to report on this story. Bradley said that being black is more important than baseball. It might just be me, but it seems like he is more interested in playing the race card than anyone else, especially Kent.

 

Is Kent and idiot, sure he is. But because he called out Bradley on a play where he was doggin it (NOT because he was black), doesnt make Kent a racist, it makes him a leader.

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I think part of the misunderstanding here is that treating people the same and treating people equally can be two entirely different things.

 

If one treats two folka the same but they start out with different characterstics which are delivered to them and are not their fault then the final outcomes achieved may be very different.

 

For example, I am commited to treating everyone the same so I give everyone the same four inch stool to stand on so they can reach the high shelves.

 

Definitely I treated everyone the same but I did not treat everyone equally at all.

 

I helped the 6 foot guy reach the high shelf and get the goods.

 

However, when I gave the 5 foot guy (or gal) the same 4 inch stool they couldn't reach and got nothing as a result.

 

I treated eveyone the same but I did not treat eveyone equally.

 

What's the general rule here?

 

First and foremost it is that there is probably no general rule or principle here.

 

Situations are different and ones actions or responses should also be different if I am going to be fair.  Its makes a difference in terms of whether I should accomodate the differences between people based on the root and the nature of that difference.

 

An accomodation which attempts to make up for a factor deemed by society to be irrelevant to how a benefit should be distributed but impacts the achievement of the goal is one I probably want to make if I can, even if it means that I may be treating two people differently.

 

However, if this difference is relevant to distribution of the goal then I probably won't treat people diffierently am content to see the differences in distribution occur based on these differences.

 

If there is a general rule it is probably the golden rule of doing on to others as I would have them do on to me.

 

I am far more interested in treating people equally than I am in treating them the same and in order to truly treat folks equally some weird and paradoxical things will happen from time to time, but part of being an adult is learning to deal with these paradoxes.

416640[/snapback]

 

 

probably be better to treat them as future TEs

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Bradley also goes onto say that the reporters were racist because they interviewed him first when this news first broke, but of course it had nothing to do with Kent not being in the locker room at the time. Give me a break, he also cries about the percentage of African American players in MLB is too low. This dude has serious issues!! He was an idiot in Cleveland and he just moved to LA with the same attitude. Mix another idiot, Kent, in the picture and it makes for good reporting. Next Bradley will try increase the number of African Americans in the NBA as it is too low. I wish the guy would just shut up....

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It kind of reminds me of my time in the military.  I treated everyone like a shipmate regardless of what ethnicity they were.  Some of my friends however would talk differently around black people and act differently just the same.  If I was black I would interpret that behavior as both condescending and insulting.

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I completely disagree.

When I'm leaving work 2nd to last before my black coworker I'll say stuff like: "I'm gonna bounce" or "Peace". I will think afterwords: "what the hell did I just say? I never talk like that". But then I'll realize that there's nothing to feel guilty about unless you're a hyper-sensitive Race Card Expert because it's totally natural and most people are like this whether they realize it or not - they're just adapting to their environments.

If you think that's "condescending" then you're sort of implying that the black culture is inferior, so maybe I'm not the one with the race problem. :rolleyes:

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I was just reading this article, and kinda shocked by this comment by Bradley...

 

"Me being an African-American is the most important thing to me - more important than baseball," said the 27-year-old center fielder"

 

I'm not backing kent or anything, but if everyone shoudl be seen as ball players regardless of anything, then why is being black more important to Bradley than being a Dodger...theres something seriously wrong with that...

 

I know kent is and can be a complete scumbag, but it almost seems as if Bradley is playing the race card himself and trying to make it a bigger issue...

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Being White is really really important to me. I think about it all the time and I work really hard at it. With that in mind, I'm on my way to the GAP. Later I plan on investing my money, dancing poorly, and looking lame if I eventually go bald.

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Being White is really really important to me.  I think about it all the time and I work really hard at it.  With that in mind, I'm on my way to the GAP.  Later I plan on investing my money, dancing poorly, and looking lame if I eventually go bald.

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Not to mention your jumping ability...

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More from the article:

 

"I was told in spring training I was the team leader by Paul DePodesta. By Jim Tracy. By Frank McCourt," Bradley said of the Dodgers' general manager, manager and owner. "Growing up in LA, I know how to deal with all types of people, and I do it on an everyday basis. But some people don't deal with all different types of people every day, and therefore don't know how to handle situations when they arise."

 

"But they told me I got to be the leader! WAH!" He sounds like a little kid crying because he isn't getting to ride in the front seat even though mommy and daddy said he could.

 

Kent's response:

"He can go ahead and say those types of things, and it comes from an incident that he still doesn't get. And that's a shame," Kent said. "If you think that I've got a problem with African-Americans, then go talk to Dusty Baker. Go talk to Dave Winfield, who took me under his wing. Go talk to Joe Carter -- all the guys that I idolized in this game and all the veteran players who taught me how to play this game.

 

"That's a shame, and I take offense to that. That's just absolutely pathetic if it comes from his mouth."

 

In Kent's defense, he actually knows how to give quotes to the media without sounding like a six year old with a tummy ache.

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