I'm going to make this one quick. I saw the video a few hours ago and I was trying to think of what to say in this blog. A video was leaked of Rutgers Basketball Coach Mike Rice berating and yelling at his players during practices, taunting them with slurs, kicking them and throwing balls at them. For those who haven't seen the video, take a look:
Rutgers announced his termination on its Twitter account early this morning. These are quotes from Mike Rice when confronted outside of his home by ESPN and other reporters:
Rice apologized "for the pain and hardship that I've caused."
"I've let so many people down," he said to the reporters. "My players, my administration, Rutgers University, the fans. My family, who's sitting in their house just huddled around because of the fact that their father was an embarrassment to them.
"It's troubling, but I will at some time, maybe I'll try to explain it, but right now, there's no explanation for what's on those films. Because there is no excuse for it. I was wrong. I want to tell everybody who's believed in me that I'm deeply sorry."
At least he apologized and that's a start.
This isn't the first time Rutgers faced media attention like this. In 2010, 18 year old Tyler Clementi committed suicide after his roommate spied on him having an intimate encounter with another male and leaked said footage on the internet. 3 years later, and this sort of thing happens.
I've heard everything from it's abuse and it's wrong to people saying the players and people need to "man up" and take it as lighting a fire under them. There are better ways to show your team how to play better. There's a difference between yelling to get your point across and yelling, kicking, shouting slurs, and throwing basketballs at people's heads. A BIG difference.
Guys like Mike Rice love to take charge and physically push around his players to feel good about himself. Typical Alpha Male stuff. Young adults play College Basketball because it's fun, competitive and they want to make it to the pros. They don't do it to pretty much get beat up on by the Head Coach. Rutgers certainly hasn't set the College Basketball world on fire, but you don't try to become the best by physical abuse. Maybe now that he's been fired, he'll have time to think about his actions. Maybe he'll go to Anger Management and get himself straightened out.
People in this generation love to act tough. No wonder I read people saying, "man up" "college basketball needs men, not boys." I would love to seem them in that type of situation and see how they act. A lot of people love to run their mouths about situations they know nothing about and deem those that disagree with them as "too emotional" or "too sensitive."
That's their opinion and they're entitled to it. But it's common sense. There's a right way and a wrong way to do things. Mr. Rice obviously was doing it the wrong way.
These College ball players are still kids. They're not getting paid for this. It's COLLEGE Basketball, not the NBA.
No matter what people say, if that was YOUR kid in that video getting balls thrown at their head, getting kicked, grabbed, and have slurs shouted at them by a head coach, there would be a fight without discussion. I sure as hell wouldn't tell my kid to man up. I'd tell him to fight back and knock the coach on his ass. I know that's how I feel and I'm only 22 years old.
But here's a question that's been bugging me;
Why didn't the players speak up about this sooner?
How long has this been going on?
I don't know. Maybe we'll never know.
Let me know what you think.
Feel free to Comment.
By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete
Rice apologized "for the pain and hardship that I've caused."
"I've let so many people down," he said to the reporters. "My players, my administration, Rutgers University, the fans. My family, who's sitting in their house just huddled around because of the fact that their father was an embarrassment to them.
"It's troubling, but I will at some time, maybe I'll try to explain it, but right now, there's no explanation for what's on those films. Because there is no excuse for it. I was wrong. I want to tell everybody who's believed in me that I'm deeply sorry."
At least he apologized and that's a start.
This isn't the first time Rutgers faced media attention like this. In 2010, 18 year old Tyler Clementi committed suicide after his roommate spied on him having an intimate encounter with another male and leaked said footage on the internet. 3 years later, and this sort of thing happens.
I've heard everything from it's abuse and it's wrong to people saying the players and people need to "man up" and take it as lighting a fire under them. There are better ways to show your team how to play better. There's a difference between yelling to get your point across and yelling, kicking, shouting slurs, and throwing basketballs at people's heads. A BIG difference.
Guys like Mike Rice love to take charge and physically push around his players to feel good about himself. Typical Alpha Male stuff. Young adults play College Basketball because it's fun, competitive and they want to make it to the pros. They don't do it to pretty much get beat up on by the Head Coach. Rutgers certainly hasn't set the College Basketball world on fire, but you don't try to become the best by physical abuse. Maybe now that he's been fired, he'll have time to think about his actions. Maybe he'll go to Anger Management and get himself straightened out.
People in this generation love to act tough. No wonder I read people saying, "man up" "college basketball needs men, not boys." I would love to seem them in that type of situation and see how they act. A lot of people love to run their mouths about situations they know nothing about and deem those that disagree with them as "too emotional" or "too sensitive."
That's their opinion and they're entitled to it. But it's common sense. There's a right way and a wrong way to do things. Mr. Rice obviously was doing it the wrong way.
These College ball players are still kids. They're not getting paid for this. It's COLLEGE Basketball, not the NBA.
No matter what people say, if that was YOUR kid in that video getting balls thrown at their head, getting kicked, grabbed, and have slurs shouted at them by a head coach, there would be a fight without discussion. I sure as hell wouldn't tell my kid to man up. I'd tell him to fight back and knock the coach on his ass. I know that's how I feel and I'm only 22 years old.
But here's a question that's been bugging me;
Why didn't the players speak up about this sooner?
How long has this been going on?
I don't know. Maybe we'll never know.
Let me know what you think.
Feel free to Comment.
By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete
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