Hairyducked Idiot

But if Kaplan was a racist, he would have agreed with Quade and said that Castro needs to prepare better. I think Kaplan is a pretty big fan of the hispanic Starlin Castro. So, next. Yes. There are only two types of people in the world. Regular people and racists. Regular people don't consider anything on basis of racial stereotypes, and the racists are so filled with hate and bias that they let it color every single situation and opinion. Therefore, a single non-critical opinion proves that the person falls into the former category. Again: No one's accusing David Kaplan of overtly hating Hispanic players. We are accusing him of allowing racial stereotypes to color his opinion of players. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHKIMOgoJoU

Proving yet again that I will google anything, it was actually Steven R. Keaton.

This one time he was nice to a Hispanic guy. That *proves* he's not racist.

As usual, that was better said in two paragraphs than I could manage in two pages.

You seem to make the point for me. Players that perform seem to be given a pass regardless of race. So Ramirez and Castro weren't performing when they were called out as lazy? I'll let this one stand on its own., I didn't call Darwin Barney white. I said that the opinions of players tend to fall into certain stereotypes based on race. Laziness is one of the most common Hispanic stereotypes. So when Latin player and a non-Latin player do the same thing, the Latin player is the one called lazy.

I have a problem with hypocrisy. Have you looked in the mirror recently? Yes. And from what I can tell, Dave Kaplan would think I was a very scrappy gamer. He'd never notice how lazy I am.

Lazy hispanic. That's one. We've come up with, what, 8 or 9 "Lazy" hispanic players from the same period. Name the last scrappy Hispanic player to play for the Cubs.

I have a problem with hypocrisy.

Too easy: Sandberg: Never cheated. Sosa: He had that whole broken bat thing. Yep. There's always an explanation. There's always some reason why the white player is different than the minority player. But when you zoom out, the pattern is clear.

Sammy Sosa didn't run out fly balls. Ryne Sandberg didn't dive for ground balls. Which one is reviled for selfishness and which one gets his foible brushed aside as no big deal?

As for "lazy white players," that's exactly the point. I believe truly lazy professional athletes are few and far between, so I wouldn't be able to name any. As for white players getting away with stuff, I've laid out these parallels repeatedly in the thread. Ron Santo was known for his emotional outbursts and unprofessional behavior such as taunting opponents and destroying equipment when he performed poorly. He once attacked his coach in the clubhouse, choking him and having to be pulled off him. He is a Cubs icon. Carlos Zambrano is known for his emotional outbursts and unprofessional behavior such as taunting opponents and destroying equipment when he performed poorly. He once sucker punched a teammate in the clubhouse. He is an unacceptable clubhouse cancer. Ryne Sandberg once quit on his team in the middle of a season in which he was performing poorly. He followed through with it. He is a beloved figure who many Cubs fans want to see as their next manager. Carlos Zambrano once said he was quitting on his team in the middle of a season in which he was performing poorly but tried to recant almost immediately. He is an unacceptable clubhouse cancer. Mark Grace had a well-earned reputation for nightly binge drinking for which he routinely brought along young teammates. He is a beloved Cub icon. Alfonso Soriano was ripped in the media for bringing Felix Pie along for partying. Carlos Silva is out of shape because he's lazy. Rod Beck is out of shape because he's awesome like that. Didn't Darwin Barney get seen turning his back to a pitch in the exact same inning Castro did? Or am I misremembering that one? Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Zambrano, Starlin Castro.

I thought he took an indefinite leave of absence already.

Todd Hundley, Honorary Hispanic

I can't believe you are adding fuel to this ridiculous line of attack. I know it is popular to attack Kaplan and call him racist, but it is pathetic that just because he calls out certain members of the club he is all of the sudden racist. Have you looked at the 40 man roster lately to see how many caucasians were on the roster? And on the big league team, they are definitely not in the majority. Out of the white guys on the roster, point out the ones that you believe are lazy or appear to have a poor work ethic? Wells? (maybe) As for an answer to your question, Hundley's work ethic was called into severe question. Farnsworth was another guy that took a lot of heat for partying too much and not being prepared for games. Kaplan piled on Prior quite a bit for being a wimp and lazy. More recently, Wells was picked on in the media for having a poor work ethic. But I guess that doesn't forward your story line. He asked for three lazy white players in the last five years. You come up with one maybe. Now quick, how many white players who have been described as "scrappy gamers" in the last five years can you come up with? Again, nobody said that minority players were never criticized or that you can't criticize players. I'm simply pointing out two trends: 1) White players continually get away with, and are sometimes lauded for, virtually identical behavior to what minority players are criticized for. 2) The criticism of Hispanic players tends to fall into a very specific stereotype. Your attempt to dispute didn't address either of those points. It's just another long list of "some of the media's best friends are minorities!"

I knew better than to discuss this with anyone on Facebook, because it'd just get me annoyed. I was just told that "You can't read the grand jury report and believe that Paterno knew that Sandusky did these things to children." When I asked for clarification, he said "The report just says that he relayed what he was told by McQuery, not that he believed him." Disgusting apologists. And of course there was the guy on another message board who argued that the reason people were upset at Paterno was because they didn't want to be upset at Sandusky because they were scared of criticizing someone for having sex with boys because America has been brainwashed by the Gay Army.

When Rod Beck is out of shape, it's because he's an awesome dude. (Not that he wasn't).

If yours were the majority opinion of Cubs fans and the local media, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

not to defend Kaplan, but just to be clear...you don't think Z is hot tempered and you don't think he reported out of shape? I think both of those are true. I think those are true of a lot of players, but the ones being pointed out share one characteristic. Then he is a bad example in the argument. Z is one of my favorite Cubs. I was at the game in Atlanta, and argued with the Braves fans around me that there's no way Z was throwing at Chipper based on the situation. Unfortunately sportscenter the next morning showed replays which made me a liar. I still think Z is awesome and should be brought back. But I also think he's at Andruw Jones level of, "man this guy could be so much more". We're establishing a pattern here. I do not, however, think there's any reason to believe that Zambrano is lazy. And more to the point, I believe that if Zambrano were white, then those same attributes would either be given a pass or lauded. I could make a list of Santo incidents and Zambrano incidents, scramble them up, and I bet the average non-Cubs baseball fan couldn't tell which ones belonged with which player. Yet Zambrano's incidents prove that he's an unacceptable, lazy clubhouse cancer, while Santo was a fiery competitor and beloved hero. Soriano gets ripped for taking Felix Pie clubbing. When Mark Grace led numerous young players into drunkenness, it's just part of his charm.

Funny. A coach who enabled a predatory child rapist for a decade just got fired. Forgive me if I'm not in the mood for defensiveness about it.

I think there's a certain amount of systemic racism in the way players are perceived, yes.

If you describe enough Latin players as lazy while you haven't hated a white player since 2002, then it starts to become a pattern. How many is "enough". I know we've got Z and Ramirez so far. Sosa.

not to defend Kaplan, but just to be clear...you don't think Z is hot tempered and you don't think he reported out of shape? I think both of those are true. I think those are true of a lot of players, but the ones being pointed out share one characteristic.

If you describe enough Latin players as lazy while you haven't hated a white player since 2002, then it starts to become a pattern.

It's not racism how he dislikes players who are bad. It's racism how he inevitably falls on racial stereotypes to describe them. Are we talking about A-Ram here? Has he called Z lazy? http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/carlos-zambrano/