OT: Gumbel on Winter Games

[Aerosmith777]

I'm just curious, did anyone else see this? Bryant Gumbel took shots at the winter olympics (I assume on his HBO show). I can't believe this isn't a bigger story. The only reason I know about is b/c Chris Russo was talking about it on WFan yesterday in New York. If a white sportscaster of Gumbel's notoriety made these same remarks about the NBA, I wonder what would happen...

“Because [the Winter Olympics] are so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like try not to be incredulous when someone tries to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of Blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a “kiss and cry area” while some panel of subjective judges decides who won. And try to blot out all logic when announcers and sports writers pretend to care about the luge, the skeleton, the biathlon, and all those other events they don’t understand and totally ignore for all but three weeks every four years. Face it, these Olympics are little more than a marketing plan to fill space and sell time during the dreary days of February. So, if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, and we can move on to March Madness, for God’s sake, let the Games begin.”

 

[Fighting_Irish9]

I'm just curious, did anyone else see this? Bryant Gumbel took shots at the winter olympics (I assume on his HBO show). I can't believe this isn't a bigger story. The only reason I know about is b/c Chris Russo was talking about it on WFan yesterday in New York. If a white sportscaster of Gumbel's notoriety made these same remarks about the NBA, I wonder what would happen...
“Because [the Winter Olympics] are so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like try not to be incredulous when someone tries to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of Blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a “kiss and cry area” while some panel of subjective judges decides who won. And try to blot out all logic when announcers and sports writers pretend to care about the luge, the skeleton, the biathlon, and all those other events they don’t understand and totally ignore for all but three weeks every four years. Face it, these Olympics are little more than a marketing plan to fill space and sell time during the dreary days of February. So, if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, and we can move on to March Madness, for God’s sake, let the Games begin.”

I'm not a fan of the Winter Olympics...Downhill skiing is the only sport I like to catch.

Mainly cause its the only sport I have ever done. Who has ever luged, how much athletic ability does it take to luge?

The Winter Olympics to me is just a bunch of rich mans games, I love skiing but damn if it isn't an expensive hobby

P.S. hockey bores the hell out of me, the only thing that gets me to watch the olympics is patriotism if there is a guy from the US in the running

 

[UNTITLEDPROJECT]

If Gumbel doesnt like the Winter games, thats fine. If he feels there is racial connotations behind them, then he's as ignorant as a Klan member. Gumbel already made an ass out of himself for asking for more money, and now this?

 

[TexasDomer]

So he doesn't remember the coverage of the Jamaican bobsled team, whose coverage lasted longer than their talent dictated? What about Grant Fuhr and other blacks who play professional hockey?

Is he saying the Winter Games are somehow less valuable because there are fewer blacks? For a sport to be a sport, does it have to have a certain number of blacks? Can no elite sports exist in colder climates, where historically fairer complected people have lived?

Call me crazy, but this sounds like racism and sour grapes. If HBO were covering the Winter Olympics, or another TimeWarner company was, I can guarantee he would be gushing. Gumble is a self-important, arrogant guy.

 

[Fighting_Irish9]

What exactly is getting you guys so upset...

Way I read it, he was saying these aren't the best athletes in the world...

Do you think Winter Olympic guys are the best athletes in the world? I didn't see him say blacks were being kept out or complaining about anything other than he didn't think these were the best athletes in the world...

 

[Aerosmith777]

What exactly is getting you guys so upset...
Way I read it, he was saying these aren't the best athletes in the world...
Do you think Winter Olympic guys are the best athletes in the world? I didn't see him say blacks were being kept out or complaining about anything other than he didn't think these were the best athletes in the world...

I think they're the best athletes at what they do. If Bob Costas ever went on NBC and said something along the lines of "Basketball players can't be considered the best athletes b/c there aren't enough whites in the sport" he'd be crucified.

And when you make a point about how few blacks there are there, the innuendo (I think anyway) is that they are somehow systematically discrimminated against, which is complete b.s.

 

[Aerosmith777]

I'm not a fan of the Winter Olympics...Downhill skiing is the only sport I like to catch.
Mainly cause its the only sport I have ever done. Who has ever luged, how much athletic ability does it take to luge?
The Winter Olympics to me is just a bunch of rich mans games, I love skiing but damn if it isn't an expensive hobby
P.S. hockey bores the hell out of me, the only thing that gets me to watch the olympics is patriotism if there is a guy from the US in the running

I don't think a sport is considered lowly just b/c I've never done it, or b/c it costs too much to play. Golf costs a ton too, but I'd still consider that a sport mainly b/c it takes a certain amount of physical ability (mainly flexibility) to do well that the average person doesn't posess. I've never done gymnastics, and would probly if not certainly hurt myself if I ever tried, but I could never tell the olympians who do it that what they do isn't a sport considering how much training they go through to be good at it.

And if you think the luge requires no athletic ability, you should try it sometime. You know how much strength it takes to turn a sled around a corner going down hill that fast?

I love hockey too, so I guess we disagree on all counts. 3 of my Devils are on the U.S. team, so I'm pretty interested in the games this year.

 

[Fighting_Irish9]

The point about the cost and lack of people playing isn't that it isn't a sport but that few people are exposed to these sports so it is kind of a stretch to call them the worlds best athletes

When everyone has access to a sport THEN and only then are you getting the Best atheletes at that sport, I think his opinion has alot of merrit when it comes to these sports.

They aren't the best athletes, just the best athletes out of the small group of people that actually have the opportunity to play the "sport"

 

[irish4life99]

Did you see the Polish Curling team. Now that was a bunch of finely tuned athletes. I didn't even know they made Olympic sweat pants in 46 short. I'm sure they curl back a few brewskies too.

 

[BigIrish]

The point about the cost and lack of people playing isn't that it isn't a sport but that few people are exposed to these sports so it is kind of a stretch to call them the worlds best athletes
When everyone has access to a sport THEN and only then are you getting the Best atheletes at that sport, I think his opinion has alot of merrit when it comes to these sports.
They aren't the best athletes, just the best athletes out of the small group of people that actually have the opportunity to play the "sport"

are you actually suggesting that there's a whole segment of the american population that are better than our current olympians but are simply EXCLUDED from competition? is it possible they fail to express an INTEREST in those sports, in favor of more "American" sports?

Some of the most prolific U.S. olympians in both winter and summer events are ethnic minorities.

in a utopian society, everyone will have access to everything and sport will finally have its true champions. until then, you have to at least show interest in a sport before you can be crowned the champion.

 

[jiggafini19]

The Gumbel Brothers are scumbags.

They have more money than they know what to do with and their mother still lives in the projects on the South Side of Chicago.

I could care less about the Winter Olympics.

Where are all the white guys on the USA Track and Field team, Bryant?

Jagoff.

 

[Fighting_Irish9]

are you actually suggesting that there's a whole segment of the american population that are better than our current olympians but are simply EXCLUDED from competition? is it possible they fail to express an INTEREST in those sports, in favor of more "American" sports?
Some of the most prolific U.S. olympians in both winter and summer events are ethnic minorities.
in a utopian society, everyone will have access to everything and sport will finally have its true champions. until then, you have to at least show interest in a sport before you can be crowned the champion.

Yes I think if every american had access to the olympic sports and had an interest in these sports, we would send out a MUCH better Olympic team.

No one is saying this is anyones fault...Gumble didsn't say whitey was keeping the black man out..he simple said these aren't the greatest athletes in the world...and I agree.

the greatest athletes in the world play soccer, track and field, swimming, triathalons, basketball is up and coming...

They don't lie on their backs and go down a frozen water slide

 

[Fighting_Irish9]

The Gumbel Brothers are scumbags.
They have more money than they know what to do with and their mother still lives in the projects on the South Side of Chicago.
I could care less about the Winter Olympics.
Where are all the white guys on the USA Track and Field team, Bryant?
Jagoff.

Let us know how you really feel

 

[jiggafini19]

Let us know how you really feel

With Steve Alford, Dennis Erickson, Carson Daly, Paris Hilton, Oprah and Gloria Allread the Gumbels are on a list of people I absolutely cannot stand.

Snowboarding and figure skating aren't even sports by definition, so who the hell cares? Once March Madness and baseball start, people will have something to talk about. Right now, they don't.

I'm sure the Gumbels are burning their Tyrone Willingham torches too with Jason Whitlock and all the other bozos with race agendas. Together, they'll unite with Kellen Winslow Sr to make sure to strongarm African American recruits only play for Washington, UCLA and Kansas State.

And you'd better believe the Mike Davis/Indiana Basketball marches will start soon. TAKE BACK THE NIGHT!!

Move your mother out of the ghetto and maybe I'll piss on you when you're on fire. Or maybe I will even if they aren't.

That's how I really feel.

 

[BigIrish]

Snowboarding and figure skating aren't even sports by definition, so who the hell cares? Once March Madness and baseball start, people will have something to talk about. Right now, they don't.

ehhh....who's definition of sports are we talking about here? who are we to throw stones? after, American's like to think that NASCAR is a sport.

 

[jiggafini19]

ehhh....who's definition of sports are we talking about here? who are we to throw stones? after, American's like to think that NASCAR is a sport.

The one we learned in grad school.

Figure skating: not a sport.

Snowboarding actually would be by definition, so I was off there.

NASCAR actually is a sport.

 

[BigIrish]

i take it you're referring to a textbook definition of sport? sincere curiosity - how is it defined?

 

[Gizmo]

I don't see many minorities competing in cycling, but despite the fact that I find the sport very boring it takes a great deal of athleticism to be good. So just because Lance Armstrong is beating people with the same skin color is he less of an athlete? What he has done is simply amazing and saying anything less because he doesn't compete against many minorities is ignorant.

And Gumbel is wrong. These are some of the best athletes in the world, IN THEIR SPORTS. Just because certain athletes run or jump or throw or catch does not make them a better athlete. It might make them a faster runner or a higher jumper or more exciting to watch, but it does not make them a better athlete. I think the toughest sport to excel at is golf, and the toughest thing to do in sports is hit a baseball at the major league level. These are two legitimate sports and anyone who excels at these sports is a great athlete. So despite being fat, Jack Nicklaus and Babe Ruth are two of the greatest athletes of all time. There are plenty of athletes who are in better shape, but simply being in good shape doesn't make you a great athlete. Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner could outrun and outjump Tiger Woods any day of the week, but to call him a better athlete than Woods would be a complete joke.

Gumble is just an asshat who's looking to twist NBC's "greatest athletes in the world" tagline into something it's not in an effort to make a name and money for himself. As a minority he can say things that the majority can't, and he's abusing that power here. We all know Shaun White can't dunk on KG, but I bet KG couldn't even stand up on a snowboard. Different sports, different skill sets. A two-year old could make this distinction. Apparently Gumble can't.

 

[TexasDomer]

Aero:

So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of Blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention

This quote is what leads me to believe that Gumbel equates atheticism with race.

I defy anyone, of any race, to participate in several of the events (Nordic combined, cross-country skiing, biathlon, 5000m speed skating), and not learn how athletic and well-conditioned one has to be to compete at that level.

 

[irish4life99]

What do you think the reaction to Bryant's comments would have been if Rush Limbaugh would have said something simlar on ESPN (Before he got fired that is)? I'm quite sure he would have lost his job.

 

[Vince Young]

Y'know, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean athletes who historically clean up at the Winter Games ain't exactly white...

 

[irish9331]

The part of this whole thing that gets me is the fact that Bryant Gumbel is the whitest black man on the planet.

 

[Aerosmith777]

Y'know, the Chinese, Japanese and Korean athletes who historically clean up at the Winter Games ain't exactly white...

That's a great point, and its one that gets overlooked all the friggin time. What about all the other "minorities" (who aren't minorities in their own countries) at the winter olympics? Why is it that only the lack of black athletes make the olympics unfair and not the best athletes at their sport?

That's my problem w/ this statements, all that matters to losers like Gumbel is if blacks are there or not. Is it Shaun White's fault that not too many black people live in Colorodo/Canada/Finland/every other mountainous area and therefore can't snowboard? Is his gold medal less b/c of that? Am I not supposed to consider him the greatest half-pipe snowboarder in the world b/c all his competition is white due to factors that are not in anyone's control? To that I say, bull f-ing sh*t! What about other so-called sports? How 'bout one near and dear to all our hearts, football? Practically no one outside the U.S. plays football, so I guess these aren't the greatest football players in the world we watch on Sunday, cause no one in Latvia gives a damn about football. I'm not too sure much of Europe cares for baseball (hence they dropped it from the olympics) so I guess somebody better tell Hank Aaron he's actually not the homerun king of all time, b/c some kid in Denmark could have been better than him had he ever been exposed to the sport. That line of thinking is utterly ridiculous to me. It relies on too many hypotheticals and "if only's". These are the best athletes at what they do, and losers like Gumbel should get over their narrowminded belief that the ethnic makeup of the U.S. should generalize to the whole world.

You know, Cuba Gooding Jr. is actually a big time hockey fan, and it distresses him that there aren't too many great black hockey players. But does he sit and bitch and moan about it and blame whitey? Does he knock the accomplishments of guys who have made it to the NHL b/c of it? No. Instead, he chooses to spend some coin out of his own pocket to build rinks in inner city areas and to bring the sport to a segment of the population that wouldn't experience it otherwise. That's they way to go about this sort of thing, not to tell the people who have trained their whole lives for this moment that what they do is meaningless b/c some kid in innercity chicago never got taken to to the halfpipe.

 

[Fighting_Irish9]

Wow this thread has turned into a rant.

I don't think the best athletes in the world are at the Olympic games, the best people at playing that "sport" are but that doesn't make them the best athletes

If I'm the best X-Box player in the world am I an Elite Athlete?
If I'm the best Sand Bag Toss player in the world am I an elite athlete?

But where ever you go there will be people who think Nascar drivers are elite athletes too

 

[Aerosmith777]

Wow this thread has turned into a rant.
I don't think the best athletes in the world are at the Olympic games, the best people at playing that "sport" are but that doesn't make them the best athletes
If I'm the best X-Box player in the world am I an Elite Athlete?
If I'm the best Sand Bag Toss player in the world am I an elite athlete?
But where ever you go there will be people who think Nascar drivers are elite athletes too

what the hell does that mean? give me the definition of "sport" that playin x-box would fall under? Just b/c you're ignorant about luge or cross country skiing, who are you to say those are not sports? Or that the people who compete in them aren't elite athletes? Like I said, some kid in Poland may know nothing about football & have never played it, but if he came over here and told you that Ladanian Tomlinson wasn't an elite athlete, how would you take it? You're comparing apples to oranges. The sports at the winter olympics (with the possible exception of curling, I'll spot you that one) all take a certain level of physical ability average people no where near possess.

and btw, some of the things in the winter olympics that you trivialize are a lot more important to the rest of the world than a number of american "sports." For example, you may not care about cross-country skiing, but I know for a fact that in Norway they care a lot more about that than they do baseball, and they'd probly scoff at a "sport" where most of the "athletes" barely move for the majority of the game.

 

[kickerbg31]

Yes, there are not many black athletes competing in the winter olympics. Yet when Shani Davis won the gold in the 1000M speedskating, the Chicago Tribune gave him a full two page spread because he is the first black athlete to win an individual gold in the winter games. I wonder how Gumbel feels about this.

 

[Fighting_Irish9]

what the hell does that mean? give me the definition of "sport" that playin x-box would fall under? Just b/c you're ignorant about luge or cross country skiing, who are you to say those are not sports? Or that the people who compete in them aren't elite athletes? Like I said, some kid in Poland may know nothing about football & have never played it, but if he came over here and told you that Ladanian Tomlinson wasn't an elite athlete, how would you take it? You're comparing apples to oranges. The sports at the winter olympics (with the possible exception of curling, I'll spot you that one) all take a certain level of physical ability average people no where near possess.
and btw, some of the things in the winter olympics that you trivialize are a lot more important to the rest of the world than a number of american "sports." For example, you may not care about cross-country skiing, but I know for a fact that in Norway they care a lot more about that than they do baseball, and they'd probly scoff at a "sport" where most of the "athletes" barely move for the majority of the game.

First off I'm not saying baseball players are elite athletes, they are good at a certain skill..

Just like Nascar drivers are not elite athletes, but elite at a certain skill.

I don't think Snow boarders are elite athletes, skiers are not elite athletes, they just have amazing balance.

Speed skaters, Cross Country Skiers, etc are athletes but considering maybe 10% of the world has access to these sports, I would say it is a stretch to call the elite of these groups the WORLDS GREATEST Athletes.

I think some are so pizzed about racial issues that they arent paying attention to what is being said.

1. A large number of Olympic sports are Quasi sports...do you guys really disagree?

2. These aren't the WORLDS GREATEST athletes, just the best people at these certain quasi sports...

If he didn't bring up blacks, I doubt any of you would disagree with him

 

[Vince Young]

Hey, I'm not even getting into the "are these really sports" argument, because ultimately the answer doesn't matter one bit. Who cares whether or not NASCAR is a sport, or curling? You'll have fun watching NASCAR, I'll have fun watching curling, and we'll both go home happy regardless of whether or not it fits the strict dictionary definition of "sport." Somebody enjoys watching it, and that's good enough for me.

And if someone believes the Winter Olympics aren't worth watching because they're not "really" sports, hey, go right ahead. You're not hurting anyone. Believe it all you want, and have fun watching something else on TV.

But if someone believes the Winter Olympics aren't worth watching because there aren't enough black participants, I'm gonna get a little upset, because that's racial prejudice. If I said the NBA wasn't worth watching because there aren't enough white participants, I'd get pilloried -- and rightfully so.

What Gumbel said is racist, hands-down. He ought to be called out on it, and loudly.

And don't even get me started on the political shot he took...

 

[jiggafini19]

Yes, there are not many black athletes competing in the winter olympics. Yet when Shani Davis won the gold in the 1000M speedskating, the Chicago Tribune gave him a full two page spread because he is the first black athlete to win an individual gold in the winter games. I wonder how Gumbel feels about this.

And he's from Chicago, too.

 

[jiggafini19]

i take it you're referring to a textbook definition of sport? sincere curiosity - how is it defined?

Combat (Wrestling, Judo, karate, boxing, fencing, tae kwon do...)
Court (Tennis, shuttlecock sport, badminton, volleyball, squash, Table tennis...)
Team (cricket, Baseball and football (soccer) are the most popular globally, with baseball being popular in the Americas and in Japan, cricket in the Commonwealth of Nations and football being popular throughout the world. Other examples include: Rugby, ice hockey, field hockey, softball, basketball, American Football...)

Figure skating is not a sport. I believe there was an issue in the last Olympics with the judging/scoring system? Even now that they revamped the scoring process....not a sport.

It is basically an argument that won't end because the definition can be interpreted differently by everyone that reads it. Figure skating is usually odd man out.