Mike Rice
William Perlman/The Star Ledger/US Presswire
Mike Rice
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/9125796/practice-video-shows-rutgers-basketball-coach-mike-rice-berated-pushed-used-slurs-players
In several dozen hours of video of Rutgers men's basketball practices obtained by "Outside the Lines," coach Mike Rice is seen hurling basketballs from close range at his players' heads, legs and feet; shoving and grabbing his players; feigning punching them; kicking them; and screaming obscenities and homophobic slurs.
The video shows practices from 2010-12. About 30 minutes of the video was viewed in December by athletic director Tim Pernetti, who suspended Rice for three games that month and fined him $50,000. But the incidents in the videos obtained by "Outside the Lines" appear to go beyond Pernetti's description at the time, when he cited "inappropriate behavior and language" between Rice and his players. When he announced the suspension on Dec. 13, Pernetti offered few specifics after conducting a week-long investigation.
In addition to Rice's physical actions seen in the practices, Rice calls Rutgers players "f----ts," "m-----f-----s," "p-----s," "sissy b-----s," and "c---s," among other epithets.
[skipped paragraphs]
"He would throw his cap at me and he would call me many names," he said of Rice. "The adjectives were creative. They were mean words."
Biruta said Rice's insults were often not about his game but about him personally. "If you're going to criticize me as a basketball player, I'm OK with that," he said, "but he would criticize me as a person."
On a 30-minute video Murdock said he showed Pernetti and other Rutgers officials in December, Rice is seen hurling a ball from point-blank range just passed Biruta's head, shoving him and repeatedly swearing at him. At another point, Rice hurls a ball that strikes Biruta's knee. He appears momentarily hurt and has to sit out a play.
"The one thing I hated," Murdock said of Rice, "he would always talk about 'Lithuanian this, Lithuanian that,' talk about where he's from, 'soft-ass Lithuanian b----,' 'soft-ass Lithuanian p----.' His nickname was basically 'Lithuanian f----t.'"
These are NOT the actions of a disciplinarian!
These are the actions of an abusive, sadistic jerk!
Associated Press
But there are those who think otherwise.
From Salon's T.F. Charltonn
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/05/why_do_athletes_tolerate_abusive_coaches/?source=newsletter
When ESPN released videos of former Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice abusing players during practices — kicking members of his team, firing basketballs from point blank range at them, screaming in their faces, and hurling verbal abuse at them, including misogynistic and homophobic slurs – it did not take long for Sean Hannity and Michelle Malkin to come to his defense.
Malkin dismissed Rice’s firing as “political correctness … run amok.”
Michelle Maglalang Malkin should be the LAST person to complain about political correctness.
In fact, Michelle Maglalang Malkin has been protected by political correctness more than anyone else on earth!
http://michellemalkinisanidiot.com/
Protected by Political Correctness
More than Anyone Else on Earth
I mean, whenever someone like Rush Limbaugh makes a mildly stupid joke, liberal websites like Salon and TheNation go after him with a vengance. Their writers write MEGA-LONG articles chronicling EVERY controversial comment Limbaugh has made, and repeat every sins of America's past too.
Michelle Maglalang Malkin is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more mean-spirited than Rush Limbaugh. But because Michelle Maglalang Malkin is a "minority", the politically correct liberal writers at Salon or The Nation refuse to write aggressive criticisms of this evil, wicked, satanic, racist anti-immigration fanatic. Instead,they limit their criticism to 1 or 2 mild paragraphs! Now, THAT is political correctness run amok!
Now, back to Mike Rice's defenders
http://www.thenation.com/blog/173704/mad-men-why-fox-news-and-former-players-defend-former-rutgers-coach-mike-rice
For Fox News Host Sean Hannity, Mike Rice's firing constituted something of a national tragedy. “I kind of like old-fashioned discipline," he said. "Maybe we need a little more discipline in society and maybe we don’t have to be a bunch of wimps for the rest of our lives... My father hit me with a belt and I turned out okay!”
Look at what I just highlighted in red! Anytime you hear someone say stuff like "My father hit me with a belt and I turned out okay!” WATCH OUT ! That person is THE TOTAL OPPOSITE OF OK! You're dealing with someone who is out of touch with reality!
AmericanGiants.com
Sean Hannity
(the guy who thinks he's OK after getting hit by a belt)
And off course, there are some players who defend Mike Rice
Less simple to grasp is the second group of Coach Rice’s defenders: some of his former players. Junior Rutgers forward Wally Judge said during a telephone interview to the AP, "I have grown from the moment I stepped in these doors, not only as a player, but also as a person because of how [Coach Rice] has treated me." Another player, sophomore forward Austin Johnson said, "[Coach Rice] did a lot for us off the court, academically, socially.... I am not saying what he did wasn't wrong, because I do believe it was wrong. But it is also tough because it was a highlight reel of his worst moments."
University of Pittburgh guard Travon Woodall also defended Rice, who worked at Pitt as an assistant, but in the process said he was "not the only coach to put his hands on a player, or talk the way he did." In other words, what Coach Rice said and did wasn’t a big deal because this kind of abusive behavior is a normalized part of high-level youth sports.
I don’t doubt the sincerity of these players at all. I do think their synchronicity with the Hannity and Bolling crowd speaks volumes about how bullies and the bullied can define their lives by the same logic and come to same rationalization: it’s necessary. We recognize this behavior in battered women that defend their husbands.
READ THAT AGAIN!
This is the "battered wife syndrome"!
If all you know is abuse, you don't expect better!
This was highlighted above with the phrase from the player who said he was not "not the only coach to put his hands on a player, or talk the way he did."
This mentality is very dangerous!
It is this mentality that kept slaves from rebelling!
It is this mentality that kept people from rebelling against dictatorships!
It is this mentality that makes it easy for young women to be victimized by pimps and spouse abusers!
It is this mentality that allows lost and confused young men to take abuse from violent bullies just to feel like "one of the boys"
People like Sean Hannity thinks it is "toughness" to take crap from abusive coaches and bosses!
WRONG!
Real Toughness means NOT TAKING ABUSE FROM ANYONE!
Obviously, that's easier said than done.
It's hard if you're reliant on a basketball scholarship to stay in college. It's especially so if you're from a lower socio-economic background.
It's hard if you got kids to feed and your only hope is to remain at the job with an abusive boss!
But you can only take so much abuse!
It's not healthy to take crap from others everyday.
Life is too short to remain under the rule of abusive coaches, bosses or spouses!
And in this day and age, we have the Internet to help us! We have blogs that allow us to tell our side of the story.
We don't have to be silenced by the abusers! We can tell our stories, write our blogs, mention it on a social network, and receive support from the decent people around the world.
And importantly, we have to help others going through an abusive situation.
Of course, you cant fight your battles alone!
Sometimes, you need to tell the higher-ups, the authorities.
DO NOT BE AFRAID of being called a "tattle-tell" or a "snitch"!
In fact, I "tattle-tell" and "snitch" when necessary!
And I'm proud of that! :)
