“But my question, which is just a straight, honest question, is: Is [Robert Griffin III] a brother or is he a cornball brother?”
Rob Parker, ESPN commentator, ESPN
GH: Rob Parker, a formerly anonymous newspaper guy, is one of many inane voices that now dot the daytime shows that are a part of ESPN’s Chip Bayless Journalism – if you say it loud enough and it’s crazy enough, people will listen, tweet it and repeat it. It’s the kind of caustic casualness many attribute to online “journalist” but it has seeped into ESPN, network newscasts and even the sainted daily newspaper. A brother or a cornball brother? What defines each? Is the brother toting a 40-ouncer and the cornball brother working a diploma and a briefcase? Read on.
“He’s not real. OK, he’s black, he kind of does the thing, but he’s not really down with the cause. He’s not one of us. He’s kind of black but he’s not really, like, the guy you want to hang out with because he’s off to something else.”
Rob Parker, ESPN
GH: Parker is just too good to be true if you happen to be looking for idiotic quotes for an Off The Couch column. So where is it that RG3 is “off to” that Parker would not want to hang? Work?
“I don’t know because I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about how he’s a Republican, which, I don’t really care, there’s no information at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was like, I’ve got black skin but don’t call me black.”
Rob Parker, ESPN
GH: A white fiancé AND he might be a Republican? Get a rope. The fact that Parker is able to tie Tiger Woods into his idiotic portrayal of RG3 is so inane it is perfect.
“Following yesterday’s comments Rob Parker has been suspended until further notice. We are conducting a full review.”
Mike Soltys, ESPN spokesman, USA Today
GH: What Soltys’ comments failed to mention is that ESPN will also be reaping the benefits of his ridiculousness. There’s no marketing like crazy.
“My parents shatter stereotypes. My dad, a black man, listens to Rick James, Tupac, Guns N’ Roses and the Eagles. He eats his chicken baked, not fried. And he doesn’t like watermelon. He dated a white woman, my mama. And she listens to bluegrass and gospel. She watches any movie starring Eddie Murphy, Ice Cube or Tyler Perry. Fried chicken is her favorite.”
Jenee’ Osterheldt, columnist, Kansas City Star
GH: I found it interesting that The Star chose to have Osterheldt cover Parker’s comments in her column rather than Sam Mellinger, the Star’s lead sports columnist. Osterheldt is best known for writing about the frivolousness of life as a single female in Kansas City. So why have her cover this story? Is it because she is black? How stereotypical is that of The Star?
“Race and being ethnic enough is a never-ending conversation in this country, and one I run into often. Apparently, there is a checkbox of what does and does not make you black. I have been accused of being not black enough, too black and not white enough all my life. I have a white friend who couldn’t believe I liked Reba McEntire. ‘That doesn’t seem like your kind of music,’ she said. I have black friends who said I acted white.”
Jenee’ Osterheldt, columnist, Kansas City Star
GH: I have never had a friend or foe tell me I was or was not too white, too black or too/not too of any color. But I am sick of those Reba commercials for her TV sitcom popping up on just about every show I record.
“KCSP-610 a.m. morning talk show host ‘Bulldog’ Bob Fescoe has landed on Radio Ink magazine’s inaugural list of the ‘30 Top Local Sports Talkers in Radio for 2012’ in its December issue. Fescoe, the host of ‘Fescoe in the Morning’ from 6-10 a.m. with sidekick Josh Klingler, was the lone sports talker in the Kansas City market to make the elite list and came in at #28.”
John Landsberg, Bottomlinecom.com
GH: If you wonder why sports media types like Rob parker spit out this kind of ridiculousness on a live broadcast, look no further than who gets rewarded as the country’s finest sports talkers. Fescoe might be the furthest thing we have in Kansas City from a quality broadcaster. But he is great at acting the fool and getting noticed for it. What sells is stupid – and Fescoe deserves all he gets.
“It’s a great honor. I am very humbled to have been selected. The folks with 610 and Entercom have been outstanding and I want to thank them. I also credit the passionate sports fans in KC as I believe we do have the best fans in sports right here in Kansas City.”
Bob Fescoe, Bottomlinecom.com
GH: I have a different take than Bulldog on his great honor. These national lists of media folks could not be a bigger sham. KMBZ’s Darla Jaye has been named six consecutive years by Talkers Magazine as a “top talker” in the country. Darla Jaye? Fescoe fits in fine with this group.
“So, Romeo Crennel just rocked one of the weirder press conferences of the season, chastising the media for — best I can tell — quoting him accurately. You be the judge: Romeo, on Wednesday: ‘(Breaston) needs to show that he has a greater understanding of the game plan and he can execute the game plan. If he can do that, then he can be in uniform.’ Romeo, on Thursday: ‘I don’t know how you get he doesn’t know the game plan out of that.’ Huh.”
Sam Mellinger, Don’t Kill The Mellinger, KCStar.com
GH: Oh how I wanted someone – anyone – at Crennel’s press conference to just break out in laughter at the preposterousness of Crennel’s doubletalk. If this Chiefs’ gig doesn’t work out, Romeo could take a radio job and be a great addition to Sports Ink’s top 30 list next year.
“This is an unraveling of a guy who is losing control of his organization. He’s putting his pettiness ahead of the team. This is absolutely a fireable offense.”
Kevin Kietzman, after Danny Clinkscale informed KK that the word out of One Arrowhead Drive is that Scott Pioli is upset with “any and all” Chiefs’ players who talked with or had contact with Todd Haley while the Chiefs were in Pittsburgh to play the Steelers, 810 AM
GH: The Candy Wrapper Man strikes again. Has there ever been a Chiefs at Raiders game that was less anticipated than this Sunday’s snoozer? Maybe this is The Clarks’ Christmas present to local retailers who typically see empty stores during a Chiefs’ game. Ho-ho-ho.
GregHall24@yahoo.com and Twitter / greghall24
That “Talkers” list always reminds me of those fairly meaningless airplane magazine ads listing the “Best Steakhouses” in the country.
Local talk is bugging me lately. I am realizing that, as a Mizzou fan, my enjoyment of Mizzou sports was unaffected by the move to the SEC. But my enjoyment of local sports talk has plummeted. The inclusion of the SEC talk has caused a dilution of good guests and talk. Lack of meaningful KU v. MU rivalry games will slowly cool the border war. Sucks.
I think I’d rather watch an informercial than some of the garbage ESPN puts on the network in the afternoon with jerkoffs like Woody Paige and others on shows like Around the Horn. They’re all a bunch of blowhards.
Ha! I liked the last line. If Hunt had any sense of humor, the Chiefs would put together a short graphic ad they play on local tv the next couple weekends that says “To all retailers: Merry Christmas”, and then a Chiefs logo fades into the frame. If that snowflake-in-hell chance happens, it would be enough proof to me that Clark is overhauling the front office.
I lived in Detroit for 4 years while Parker was a columnist at the Detroit News. He’s as dumb as they come.
I’ll never understand why black people insist on “keeping it real” and that if you’re successful it means that you “sold out”. White people don’t have to keep black people down…they do it to themselves…and then they blame white people.
And what exactly is “the cause” that Parker thinks RGIII isn’t “down with”?
I suppose Parker is out there slangin’ dope on the street corners and keepin’ it real, yo.
RG3 chooses to live his life as a valuable and productive member of the human race and not a nigger. THE HORROR. Fuck what you eat, how you eat, what you drive, who you vote for, what you watch or listen to. How you act says more about who and what you are. This Tupac, Thug Life, Biggie Smalls, East Coast, West Coast, Derrick Thomas, Jovan Belcher, baby mamma’s shit is just that. SHIT! RG3 has chosen the path less traveled for a man with dark skin. He is intelligent, disciplined, articulate, seemingly responsible thus far, athletically gifted and like Tim Tebow a Godly man. He is the societal norm and not the aberration, yet he will be called a House Nigger and an Uncle Tom by those who despise his actions and lack the courage to walk in his footsteps and follow his convictions…..as in beliefs…..not criminal.
Scott Pioli is pissed at Chiefs players that talked to Todd Haley? Hey Scott! Fuck you! You’re an epic failure riding the coat tails of The Hoodie and The Big Tuna. That’s a fact that you will NEVER change you pasty, flabby, arrogant, shit for brains.
Espn and the KC Star sold their souls long ago. They’re no longer relevant to me. There are too many other good news sources out there, even in old media, such as cable TV and print journalism. These two just aren’t doing it the right way.
I managed a retail sporting goods store and we were regularly hit up by obscure publications who wanted to honor us as one of America’s top 100 specialty sporting good stores. For a price. I’ve never listened to Fescue so cannot speak to his abilities. But if his name is on a list like that, then money has changed hands and advertising expense increased on the station’s ledger.
Hey Greg, looks like you are going to be monitoring another sports station shortly. According to the KC Business Journal, 102.5 FM is flipping from Comedy to CBS Sports with some Kansas City area sports with local hosts. Starts on January 2.
Awesome. Cumulus will find a way to make 610 sound good. CBS Sports hosts, with “local” guys that will be cringeworthy, on a signal that is crap at best.
Maybe they can give UMKC basketball the full attention it deserves. Oh..wait.
crap. i listen to the comedy station when the sports stations start talking hoops. don’t want to lose that option.
Seriously – who the hell is Rob Parker? JH
ESPN has jumped the shark – JH
This would be a much bigger story if Parker was white.
Since its black on black racism, its a much smaller story
Are white democrats also sell-outs that arent down with the cause?
Are Michael Vick, Michael Irvin and Pac Man Jones down with “the cause”
Here is Debbie Schlussel’s take on Parker. I post it, because she worked with the guy and has some interesting insight in my opinion.
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/57306/racist-of-the-year-video-black-columnist-calls-redskins-qb-not-black-enough-cornball-brother-for-being-republican-having-white-wife/#more-57306
This is part of the article and I think is pretty acurate.
“If Rob Parker were not Black, he’d never be on ESPN or be a columnist for ESPN’s New York website. If Rob Parker were White, he wouldn’t be in the elite group of successful sports commentators–a field everyone wants to break into, but in which few succeed. If Rob Parker weren’t a “brother,” neither you nor I would ever have heard of him.
And that’s the way it should be. Rob Parker’s career in public commentary should have ended long ago. But his skin color has given him not just nine lives, but 109.
It speaks volumes when the Stephen A. Smith, an egomaniacal liberal and uber-racebaiter on Rob Parker’s level, says on the air that he’s uncomfortable they went down that path. It’s like Al Sharpton making Jesse Jackson look sane.”
The same could be said for Jason Whitlock.
Well O’reilly is putting a clown suit on whitlock now. Looks like it maybe parkers turn.
O’Reilly is doing more for Whitlock’s carreer than a Pulitzer. His constatn commentary assigns credence to Whitlock’s inanae blatherings.
oops typos.
Sorry.
Affirmative Action hires are ok in journalism, academe, politics because they fit in so naturally with such nebulous and subjective parameters defining excellence.
Affirmative Action hires in medicine, science and disciplines of with a technical aspect, can set you back, no matter how much hope and change you want.
I think the best possible place for Affirmative Action hires would be Figure Skaters.
The Europeans are even more intimidated by ethnicity than Americans and the judges would hand out “10s” to Stevie Wonder.
Rob Parker got fired from the Detroit News because in a Detroit Lions postgame press conference during the 0-16 season, she asked Rob Marinelli, the head coach, a question about his son-in-law, who was also the defensive line coach. The question was, “Do you think you should have gotten a better son-in-law?”
The truly sad part is that the Rob Parker types of the world are what ESPN wants and promotes. This “race to the bottom” society that we are all living in. The “What’s Now” aspect of ESPN, where every story is met with Twitter posts from athletes, who have the IQ of a 5th grader. Just sad.
I knew RGIII was different when I saw him interviewed after Baylor upset Oklahoma last season. It wasn’t a bunch of gang type talk, he was very humble about his his success, and discussed the last drive. He is a very gifted and comfortable person in his shoes and has become a role model. He is the type of player anyone would cheer for. Well…except Rob Parker.
not black enough? hasnt parker seen my cornrows?