Bryant Gumbel -"Lack Of Blacks Makes Olympics Look Like GOP Convention"

[Liesje]

Interesting.

If it makes Gumbel feel any better, gymnastics IS as ancient as ancient Greek sport and some of the best and most innovative gymnasts in the world (at the previous few Olympics) are/were black (Dominique Dawes, Anita Hatch, Tasha and Jordan Schweikert, Betty Okino, Elvire Teza, Ashley Miles, Melanie Sinclair). Summer Olympics, not winter, but still...

/defensive sport rant

 

[anitram]

Bryant Gumbel is an idiot.

99% of the world doesn't give a shit about American football either. Should we say that's racist because there are no Chinese playing in the league?

 

[Irvine511]

Bryant Gumbel is an idiot.

99% of the world doesn't give a shit about American football either. Should we say that's racist because there are no Chinese playing in the league?

um, excuse me, but that's only 95% of the world.

the USA is a solid 5% of the world's population.

 

[BluRmGrl]

Disclaimer: I shudder - violently! - at the thought of even appearing to defend Rush Limbaugh. My proceeding comments are not in any way, shape, or form meant to be taken as such.


Maybe Limbaugh's comments re: McNabb in Super Bowl XXXVIIII where accurate. Maybe Donvan wasn't as good as the media was making him out to be - maybe he was. For this argument, though, none of that matters. What does is the fact that Limbaugh was vilified as a racist - but what if Gumbel had been the one to make the same point? I don't think there'd have been much more said than, ' Whew! He really burned McNabb with those comments, didn't he?'

We can never begin to dream of racial equality in this country until everyone is held to the same standard. Disparaging comments from a white regarding a black can be no more tolerated than disparaging comments from a black about a white.
Racism isn't a one-way street. Black, white, red, yellow, brown, whatever - anyone can be racist.

That's not to say that I think people shouldn't be allowed to speak whatever they believe. Say what you want - but be prepared for the fact that it may upset a lot of people & just might cause you your job.

I don't know... I'm certain I don't have any answers. It just worries me that it seems whites are supposed to be ultra-sensitive to the black community's dignity, but the reverse isn't the same. Racism is never going to end if we can't ALL learn to appreciate each other.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Or learn that you all have the right to disparage eachother under law.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Bryant Gumbel is an idiot.

99% of the world doesn't give a shit about American football either. Should we say that's racist because there are no Chinese playing in the league?

well, not that i agree with or defend gumbel's stupid comments... but the olympics are a world wide sport, the NFL is held only in america.

and there are asian americans in the NFL.

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I like the Olympics. Snowboard cross looks so damn cool.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

[q]Shani Davis of the U.S. skates to win the gold in the men's speed skating 1000 metres race at the Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy February 18, 2006. REUTERS/Max Rossi Reuters[/q]

oh and Eddie the Eagle.

 

[indra]

I actually kind of enjoyed Eddie the Eagle. Whenever he attempted a jump you were just sure he was gonna die.

 

[nbcrusader]

I actually kind of enjoyed Eddie the Eagle. Whenever he attempted a jump you were just sure he was gonna die.

I think it was the coke bottle glasses that made him an endearing figure.

 

[BonosSaint]

I actually kind of enjoyed Eddie the Eagle. Whenever he attempted a jump you were just sure he was gonna die.

Yeah, you always made sure you watched his jumps. Kind of like a train wreck. The glory of being mediocre. Gave all of us hope.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Eddie the Eagle.

 

[nathan1977]

I'm sorry, did Bryant Gumbel say something?

Guess I wasn't listening either.

 

[Yahweh]

Maybe if more black atheletes trained in winter sports there would be more there, it has nothing to do with anything else other then that. Hes acting like their is an equal number of blacks that play winter based sports and that is simply not the case.

 

[ThatU2]

Dunno, I seem to recall the Jamaican bobsled team getting embarrassingly extensive attention...

How can any attention that involves the late great Uncle Buck, John Candy be embarrassing? Shame on you.

Ultimately this was just another attempt at Gumbel trying to label the GOP as racist. It has nothing to do with the Winter Olympics... Though B. Gumby won't make a mention of Mega-Prick Shannon Davis unless it is to say that, 'See, there should be more Afro-Americans in the Winter Games.'

As far as I'm concerned, He's best relegated to the Famiry Guy's 'Gumbel and Bumgel'.

 

[chiso]

"Gumbel2Gumbel"



[...enough said.]

 

[nathan1977]

^

Brilliant.

 

[verte76]

Eddie the Eagle.

The ultimate mediocrity glorification. I rather liked him, though, I could relate to him. Too bad they grounded him by passing new Olympic eligibility rules.

 

[U2doggie]

Yes, indeed, Bryant Gumbal is a total idiot....is this REALLY what he believes?? or is he just taking shots at NBC, his former employer, which happens to be covering the Olympics? Is he trying to make the winter games out to be some sort of racist spectacle? Is he trying to ridicule the most popular events of the winter games?
He sucks.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Bryant Gumbel is an idiot.

99% of the world doesn't give a shit about American football either. Should we say that's racist because there are no Chinese playing in the league?

And like american football, the rest of the world neither knows who he is or gives much of a shit of his opinions.

weird.

 

[Carek1230]

Gumbel is an embarrassment to America. Bigot.

 

[blueyedpoet]

I know many within the black community who feel as if Gumbel is, well, not really black

 

[nbcrusader]

I know many within the black community who feel as if Gumbel is, well, not really black

What does that mean?

 

[Carek1230]

What does that mean?

i.e. those in the black community do not consider Gumbel a "bretheren" or one of their own kind. He is not of black
or african american descent.

 

[blueyedpoet]

in other words, he acts too white......a former roommate of mine was explaining to me once that people like Gumbel forget where they came from and completely submerge themselves into "white America."

 

[verte76]

I guess they just feel that he is out of touch with them and doesn't understand them.

 

[nbcrusader]

in other words, he acts too white......a former roommate of mine was explaining to me once that people like Gumbel forget where they came from and completely submerge themselves into "white America."

Doesn't that strike you as racist in its own way? That African Americans must think or act a certain way? That behavior must follow heritage?

 

[Irvine511]

Doesn't that strike you as racist in its own way? That African Americans must think or act a certain way? That behavior must follow heritage?

whether good, bad, right or wrong, there's always been the phrase "Uncle Tom."

every minority community has elements that resents those that might appear to be a bit too acceptable to the majority that has traditionally discriminated against them.

i can understand this, to some extent. the creation of a minority status to begin with is predicated upon the majority seeking to make distinctions upon which discrimination can be justified between itself and those it can identify as somehow different. to ignore this is to ignore history, it's true. and every person of minority status knows self-loathing members of that community.

however, it would seem as if an appropriate rationale to describe someone as an Uncle Tom wouldn't be because of dress or speech or vocabulary. unfortunately, it seems as if his speech and dress are precisely the reasons for Gumbel's lack of respect with some members of the african-american community.

 

[blueyedpoet]

Well, from a sociological standpoint, we know that within minority groups people tend to bicker. Additionally, many feel that people like Gumbel do not remember where they came from and how hard it is to get out of the "ghetto." I don't really know if he was ever poor. We're not talking about jealousy here, though. That distinction is very important. If a member in a struggling group makes "it" they are expected to help others. And, I don't see that being a bad thing. People shouldn't forget their roots.