98 replies to this topic

[Liberty_Bell]

I was a die-hard Eagles fan, but I draw the line with this BS.

Bob Costas should be required to get training, a background check, and to demonstrate competency before opening his mouth.  If this guy still has a job today then the NFL obviously thinks his offensive comments were not too unreasonable.

I tuned in to watch football and I get insulted and lectured?

Hey NFL - enjoy your
self-righteous lectures, your murderers, your wife batterers, your drug abusers, gang members, and your dog killers.  I'm through with you scumbags.

Long Time Eagles Fan No More,

Liberty_Bell

[Intel Division]

Costas isn't employed by the NFL.  He's employed by NBC.  Why do liberal terrorist gun statements made by an NBC employee impact your love of the Eagles?

[Liberty_Bell]

I don't blame the Eagles in the slightest.  But I do blame the NFL.

If this guy had said that this tragedy just reminds us that professional athletes are under immense pressure, and times change, but women need to know their place even today and support their husbands, the NFL would have this NBC employee's head on a platter.

This is unacceptable in an NFL broadcast and I am not supporting this nonsense.

[mikepennyd]

What specifically did Bob Costas say?  I'd like a direct quote if possible.

[MightyJNC]

Liberty_Bell, on 03 December 2012 - 07:47 AM, said:

I was a die-hard Eagles fan, but I draw the line with this BS.

Bob Costas should be required to get training, a background check, and to demonstrate competency before opening his mouth.  If this guy still has a job today then the NFL obviously thinks his offensive comments were not too unreasonable.

I tuned in to watch football and I get insulted and lectured?

Hey NFL - enjoy your
self-righteous lectures, your murderers, your wife batterers, your drug abusers, gang members, and your dog killers.  I'm through with you scumbags.

Long Time Eagles Fan No More,

Liberty_Bell

I know I'm going to regret even asking this but what exactly did he say that you found to be so "offensive, unreasonable and insulting"?

BOB COSTAS:

"Well, you knew it was coming. In the aftermath of the nearly unfathomable events in Kansas City, that most mindless of sports clichés was heard yet again: Something like this really puts it all in perspective. Well, if so, that sort of perspective has a very short shelf-life since we will inevitably hear about the perspective we have supposedly again regained the next time ugly reality intrudes upon our games. Please, those who need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportion about sports would seem to have little hope of ever truly achieving perspective. You want some actual perspective on this? Well, a bit of it comes from the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well that we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article.

"Our current gun culture,"Whitlock wrote, "ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead."

"Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions, and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows?"

"But here," wrote Jason Whitlock," is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."

[Liberty_Bell]

MightyJNC, on 03 December 2012 - 09:39 AM, said:

I know I'm going to regret even asking this but what exactly did he say that you found to be so "offensive, unreasonable and insulting"?

You won't regret it.  If it's not apparent, then an explanation won't be helpful, and I'm not interested in a pointless argument.

[RedskinsFan01]

"If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."

Yeah because shooting someone is the ONLY way to murder them. What a tool.

[BKLYNYG]

There are tons of reasons to abandon the Eagles, but I'm not sure this is one if them.

[KzEaglefan86]

Meh, if all of this is based on the quote Mighty posted then I think you are overreacting.  I'd hardly call Costas' comments a "lecture." They're just one man's opinion and they've got nothing to do with the NFL or the Eagles.

[MightyJNC]

Liberty_Bell, on 03 December 2012 - 09:47 AM, said:

You won't regret it.  If it's not apparent, then an explanation won't be helpful, and I'm not interested in a pointless argument.

I did the second I hit reply.

No, but apparently you're very interested in using your first EMB post to attack and ridicule one of the finest, most respected and articulate professionals in sports journalism without having the backbone to specify why or offer a rebutal to anything he or Jason Whitlock said.

Costas has won eight National Sportcaster of the Year awards from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, and was inducted into that organization's Hall of Fame in 2012.

He has also won four Sportscaster of the Year awards from the American Sportscasters Association, and nearly twenty Sports Emmy Awards for outstanding sports announcing.

In 1999, Costas was a recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is awarded to members of the electronic and print media for outstanding contributions to the sport.

He was selected as the D Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism recipient in 2004.

In 2012, he was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

[MightyJNC]

KzEaglefan86, on 03 December 2012 - 10:00 AM, said:

Meh, if all of this is based on the quote Mighty posted then I think you are overreacting.  I'd hardly call Costas' comments a "lecture." They're just one man's opinion and they've got nothing to do with the NFL or the Eagles.

That quote was his  entire commentary, the majority of which was quoting/paraphrasing KC-based writer (J. Whitlock's) article.

[MightyJNC]

RedskinsFan01, on 03 December 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

"If Jovan Belcher didn't possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."

Yeah because shooting someone is the ONLY way to murder them. What a tool.

Please tell me that's NOT how you interpreted Whitlock's article.

His entire point is that "wide-spread and ready access to handguns often cause certain situations/confrontations to rapidly escalate into deadly violence resulting in what could have been avoidable tragedy".

I swear to GOD some of you mofo's are absolutely clueless and/or have the reading comprehension skills of a fruit fly.

[Liberty_Bell]

BKLYNYG, on 03 December 2012 - 09:57 AM, said:

There are tons of reasons to abandon the Eagles, but I'm not sure this is one if them.

I'm not abandoning the Eagles, I'm abandoning the NFL.  Unfortunately, it's sort of a package deal from a practical standpoint.

[RedskinsFan01]

MightyJNC, on 03 December 2012 - 10:09 AM, said:

Please tell me that's NOT how you interpreted Whitlock's article.

His entire point is that "wide-spread and ready access to handguns often cause certain situations/confrontations to rapidly escalate into deadly violence resulting in what could have been avoidable tragedy".

I swear to GOD some of you mofo's are absolutely clueless and/or have the reading comprehension skills of a fruit fly.

Thats how i interpret his quote because thats what it means. He clearly stated that if he didn't have a gun they both would still be alive. Crazy people will try to do crazy things regardless if they have a handgun or a knife from the kitchen at their disposal. People just need to realize that **** happens and it always will. You can't prevent violence.

[MightyJNC]

RedskinsFan01, on 03 December 2012 - 10:49 AM, said:

Thats how i interpret his quote because thats what it means. He clearly stated that if he didn't have a gun they both would still be alive. Crazy people will try to do crazy things regardless if they have a handgun or a knife from the kitchen at their disposal. People just need to realize that **** happens and it always will. You can't prevent violence.

No it doesn't.  Your taking 1 line completely out of context while totally missing the core premise of his entire article.

[trashman561]

You must really love your guns..huh? lmao

Liberty_Bell, on 03 December 2012 - 07:47 AM, said:

I was a die-hard Eagles fan, but I draw the line with this BS.

Bob Costas should be required to get training, a background check, and to demonstrate competency before opening his mouth.  If this guy still has a job today then the NFL obviously thinks his offensive comments were not too unreasonable.

I tuned in to watch football and I get insulted and lectured?

Hey NFL - enjoy your
self-righteous lectures, your murderers, your wife batterers, your drug abusers, gang members, and your dog killers.  I'm through with you scumbags.

Long Time Eagles Fan No More,

Liberty_Bell

Liberty_Bell, on 03 December 2012 - 09:47 AM, said:

You won't regret it.  If it's not apparent, then an explanation won't be helpful, and I'm not interested in a pointless argument.

You must really love your guns...huh?

[MightyJNC]

trashman561, on 03 December 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

You must really love your guns...huh?

Well based on his little tirade, it was obviously this statement by Costas that he found to be so "insulting and unreasonable":

"Please, those who need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportion about sports would seem to have little hope of ever truly achieving perspective."

Clearly it hit way, way to close to home for his comfort level.

[mike030270]

I didn't know that the shooting over the loud music at the gas station was in KC.

[Liberty_Bell]

MightyJNC, on 03 December 2012 - 10:00 AM, said:

No, but apparently you're very interested in using your first EMB post to attack and ridicule one of the finest, most respected and articulate professionals in sports journalism without having the backbone to specify why or offer a rebutal to anything he or Jason Whitlock said.

I'm not sure why it says it's my first post, I signed up in 2005 or 2006.  Although I haven't posted in a few years, I signed in today with those credentials.  Perhaps they lost some records through a software upgrade?

I made my position quite clear.  Yours is clear as well.  I have no obligation to get into an argument at your beckoning call, despite your snarky attempt at humiliating me into it.

[blakjak]

Please save us the anti gun rhetoric - its old.

[DawkinsOwnage03]

I hate being forced to watch liberal NBC to watch football.

[dmac5]

Liberty_Bell, on 03 December 2012 - 07:47 AM, said:

I was a die-hard Eagles fan, but I draw the line with this BS.

Bob Costas should be required to get training, a background check, and to demonstrate competency before opening his mouth.  If this guy still has a job today then the NFL obviously thinks his offensive comments were not too unreasonable.

I tuned in to watch football and I get insulted and lectured?

Hey NFL - enjoy your
self-righteous lectures, your murderers, your wife batterers, your drug abusers, gang members, and your dog killers.  I'm through with you scumbags.

Long Time Eagles Fan No More,

Liberty_Bell

Well........bye.

[Excel]

Just what I wanted to hear watching football. If it wasn't a gun it would have been a Knife. We ban a knife, it's a club, and on and on and on. These people act like a gun has the brains to tell people to shoot each other.

[SP]

I definitely see where the OP is coming from.  Whitlock made a thoroughly anti-gun statement and Costas supported it.  This linebacker could have snapped the girlfriend's neck or stabbed her, but both of those are more personal.  That's why many violent crimes are committed with firearms- you don't have to physically touch the person you are murdering. It's the psychology of a murderer.

However, we don't know what their fight was about (unless some new information came out that I'm unaware of).  We don't know the WHY, just the HOW.  And the HOW isn't as important as the WHAT happened.  If the guy wanted her dead, she would have been killed one way or another.

To suggest that access to a firearm is why two people are dead is incorrect and that's what the OP is saying, I believe.  As an American citizen, it is my right to own a firearm, but I am aware of the expectations and responsibility that comes with said right.  I understand its uses and one of them is not during domestic confrontations of this apparent nature.

When we encourage violent actions on the field of play, such as with the popularity of ESPN's Jacked Up! segment, and the constant replays of devastating hits, sometimes perspectives are skewed a bit.  There is no relation between what happens on the field of play and this incident. However, it DOES go to show that these players are not always heroes and have their own personal conflicts.  Everyday people go about their life as if they're invincible.  That nothing bad can happen to those around them and that living on the edge (driving styles comes to mind) is acceptable.  So yes, tragedies do, albeit usually briefly, put life into perspective.  It may also put life into perspective for other players that are experiencing domestic problems or feel like committing suicide.  So yes, this is a sobering time for many fans, players, coaches, staff, and other team employees.  At the same time this incident was occurring, a Browns employee committed suicide at THEIR practice facility.  This is real.

As far as this statement from Whitlock, which Costas agrees with:

Quote

"more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead. Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it."

Two things come to mind:
1) The first sentence only occurs in the "hood" and has nothing to do with what happened during the Blecher incident.
2) The last bit assures me that Whitlock has never endured a home invasion or been robbed/car-jacked.  Or, worse, kidnapped/raped.  All are situations in which a firearm protects the safety of you and your family, both physically and psychologically.


But please, go ahead and bash the OP.  If you heard the way Costas made those statements instead of just reading the text on the screen, you'd probably feel slightly swayed.  We see these specific players one day per week (some on Thursdays and Mondays, most on Sunday), and we have no idea what is going on underneath their helmet during the game, let alone what they're thinking and doing during the week.  So, yes, incidents like this do put things into perspective: there's more going on than just a football game.  These are real people with real lives and real problems- both internally and externally.

[rage114]

MightyJNC, on 03 December 2012 - 10:00 AM, said:

I did the second I hit reply.

No, but apparently you're very interested in using your first EMB post to attack and ridicule one of the finest, most respected and articulate professionals in sports journalism without having the backbone to specify why or offer a rebutal to anything he or Jason Whitlock said.

Costas has won eight National Sportcaster of the Year awards from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, and was inducted into that organization's Hall of Fame in 2012.

He has also won four Sportscaster of the Year awards from the American Sportscasters Association, and nearly twenty Sports Emmy Awards for outstanding sports announcing.

In 1999, Costas was a recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is awarded to members of the electronic and print media for outstanding contributions to the sport.

He was selected as the D Schaap Award for Outstanding Journalism recipient in 2004.

In 2012, he was awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism.

He earned all those awards.  Unfortunately, those awards have left him feeling entitled to go beyond his expertise and make political and social comments.

IMO, his comments were uncalled for and ignorant.  Belcher shot his girlfriend 8 times.  That is the action of a criminal in a rage and if a hammer was the only thing nearby, he would have used that.  They would not be alive today if guns were illegal.

[DawkinsOwnage03]

If I wanted to hear Obama mafia talking points I would turn on CNN or MSNBC, I should be able to watch my football team play with out hearing some dumb liberal like Costas, who has NOTHING to do with the NFL, tell me how wonderful life would be if we banned fire arms.  Meanwhile libs like Costas love to ignore the fact HALF the country pays no income tax whilecollecting a government handouts I pay for and how abortion is great but our second amendemnt is awful.

[jrsu37]

dmac5, on 03 December 2012 - 12:33 PM, said:

Well........bye.

[SP]

DawkinsOwnage03, on 03 December 2012 - 01:54 PM, said:

If I wanted to hear Obama mafia talking points I would turn on CNN or MSNBC, I should be able to watch my football team play with out hearing some dumb liberal like Costas, who has NOTHING to do with the NFL, tell me how wonderful life would be if we banned fire arms.  Meanwhile libs like Costas love to ignore the fact HALF the country pays no income tax whilecollecting a government handouts I pay for and how abortion is great but our second amendemnt is awful.

There's a sub-forum for this kind of crap, you idiot.

[DFC]

Excel, on 03 December 2012 - 12:40 PM, said:

Just what I wanted to hear watching football. If it wasn't a gun it would have been a Knife. We ban a knife, it's a club, and on and on and on. These people act like a gun has the brains to tell people to shoot each other.

Exactly.  If you get rid of guns then less people will die by gunshot.  However, more will die by stabbing, clubbing and strangulation among others.  Plus, the only people who would have guns are those who don't care about laws i.e. criminals.  That's going to make ua A LOT safer.  

That's not even going into the Constitutional argument of the rhetoric Costas was spewing.

[DFC]

SP, on 03 December 2012 - 03:17 PM, said:

There's a sub-forum for this kind of crap, you idiot.

Liberty_Bell brought this to ATNFL, not DawkinsOwnage...