February 12, 2014

Post: No diversity at Winter Olympics

From the Washington Post:
Whiter than ‘Downton’ 
Mike Wise 
COLUMN | No matter where he finishes, U.S. speedskater Shani Davis remains an unfortunate exception at the Games.
SOCHI, Russia — COLUMN | Don’t listen to your friends back home saying the Winter Olympics are just for white people who like the cold and vacation in Aspen. This is the most inclusive Winter Games ever. Why, there are Caucasians here from almost 88 different nations. 

East Asians are Caucasians, diversitywise.
Bada-bing! I’ll be here all week. 
Actually, I will be here the next 10 days. And in that time, I will encounter no more than a dozen people of African American descent. They are the same ones I see over and over. 
Speedskater Shani Davis, Lolo Jones and the U.S. women’s bobsled team, NBC correspondent Lewis Johnson and about three other black journalists ... 
Maybe it’s because I lived in the District for eight years. Maybe it’s because I spent my formative years in a real melting pot: rural Oahu, Hawaii, where diversity in ethnicity and culture are part of island life. Maybe I’m just used to seeing and feeling comfortable being around a variety of people, many of whom don’t look like me. 
Whatever, this place is whiter than an episode of “Downton Abbey.” ...
Sochi is one of the most multinational cities in Russia. There are ethnic Russians, about 70 percent of the population, Armenians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Greeks, Circassians, Belorussians, Tatars and Jews — which create roughly a, oh, 100 percent Caucasian stew. 
Now, you are reading this and thinking one of two things: What’s with the white guilt, son? Or, What does race have to do with the greatest athletes in the world competing in their chosen disciplines, most of which just happen to be contested against other Caucasians? 
Look, I don’t care about the color of the competitors. And I don’t think the paucity of black or Hispanic athletes should cheapen any gold medal, as if somehow this were a cold-war Olympics that didn’t include some of the greatest sporting nations. 
The fact is, despite Vonetta Flowers becoming the first black person to become a Winter Olympic gold medalist as a bobsledder in 2002, despite Davis becoming the first male African American to win individual gold in 2006, there hasn’t been a whole lot of carryover. 
Like golf waiting forever for the Tiger Woods Factor to kick in, the USOC and other nations are still waiting for that next wave of racial diversity in the Winter Games. 
I do wonder what an athlete like Davis thinks when he shows up at the Games. It’s one thing to understand your chosen sport has international competitions in Norway and the Netherlands and that almost all of your competitors will be white. It’s another thing to show up on the world stage and see that hardly anyone in any sport looks like you. 
Aside from the large contingent of Asian athletes

But they don't count.
and a smattering of Jamaican bobsledders and Tongans, the Opening Ceremonies’ Parade of Nations is as white as a von Trapp family reunion. ...
Is it more troubling for the Winter Games to be the province of the white or of the rich? 
Winter sports are on the average much more expensive than outdoor American stick-and-ball sports. But one of the greatest misconceptions about any of these competitions is that the athletes by and large came from affluent, privileged backgrounds. 
I’ve seen and heard too many stories of financial struggle and hardship to buy that. Without benefactors and major sponsorship, most U.S. athletes aren’t here. 
But speaking from a purely egalitarian view

In contrast, the racial make-up of the Super Bowl champs is an example of diversity and egalitarianism and all those good things.
it would be nice to see a country like the United States have its Winter Olympic team someday more accurately represent the diversity of its population — if only because more people would care, watch, read and give someone such as Shani Davis the attention and love he and his sport deserve. 
Otherwise, these Games are going to continue to resemble the inside of a giant snow globe, forever powdery white.

Forever hideously powdery white -- Fixed that for ya.

By the way, in 1913 Russian newspapers discovered that there was a village of 500 black Africans living near Batumi in Russian Abkhazia, a couple of hundred miles south of Sochi.

Here's the Wikipedia page on Afro-Abkhazians.
   

148 comments:

Anonymous said...

The NBA is a better example than the Super Bowl. It's even blacker than the NFL, and this guy Wise is a longtime NBA correspondent.

Does the NBA look like America, Wise? Why haven't you decried that league's racial makeup?

Anonymous said...

I do wonder what an athlete like Davis thinks when he shows up at the Games. It’s one thing to understand your chosen sport has international competitions in Norway and the Netherlands and that almost all of your competitors will be white. It’s another thing to show up on the world stage and see that hardly anyone in any sport looks like you.

it would be nice to see a country like the United States have its Winter Olympic team someday more accurately represent the diversity of its population — if only because more people would care, watch, read and give someone such as Shani Davis the attention and love he and his sport deserve.

That's crap. Shani Davis gets a lot of love. If he were white, no one would follow him because speed skating is not a popular sport in the US. If it were, people would know who Eric Heiden is. But Davis gets media attention in America because he is a black guy who does well in a winter sport.

Following the link on your post about Slate hating working moms, I found this article at Slate about why the speed skating community LOVES Shani Davis. According to this article, Shani actually knows the history of speed skating and is well respected in the Netherlands where he has several paid gigs.

And yet despite the surfeit of homegrown stars, the Dutch have a special place in their hearts for Shani Davis, the misunderstood American skater who is so very good at what he does. In an entertaining article for the Wall Street Journal, Joshua Robinson explained just how strong this love is. “Davis shows up on the covers of Dutch skating magazines. He has earned sponsorship deals from Dutch loan providers and cellphone companies. He has even been the subject of a nationally broadcast, 60-minute documentary about his life.” Davis, who visits the Netherlands regularly, keeps a picture of Dutch skating luminary Erben Wennemars on his refrigerator. He was recently photographed adorably sharing a bicycle with Dutch speedskater Koen Verweij, one of his 1000-meter rivals.

Reg Cæsar said...

Snow is racist. It falls only on white countries, like Norway, Austria, Chile and Japan. In fact, it's pretty lily-white itself, at least on the first day. (It does add colors after sitting for a month or two.)

Is Mike Wise related to Tim? He's doing a good imitation, if not.

Anonymous said...

RE: Lolo Jones,

For African American Counting purposes, shouldn't she have an asterisk by her name? Or is wise all about hypodescent?

Anonymous said...

>>>Sneeringly and Condescendingly, the author covering the Olympics wrote:
"""Actually, I will be here the next 10 days. And in that time, I will encounter no more than a dozen people of African American descent."""


Way way way way wait. Hold it. This dude sounds like a member of SWPL and a secret fan of the movie Her. Where exactly does he live in DC would be a fair question to ask.

If he encounters no more than a dozen blacks, couple observations:

1. If we are lectured all the time ad infinitum about how great great great that African Americans are at sports and we don't see them in the Winter Olympics, what's that mean? Whenever those few whites make mention of how fewer and fewer play in the NBA and NFL, they're told "Well, if whites were the best at their position, then we would tend to see more of them."

SO....can we still apply that logic to the winter games? If blacks were all that at winter sports, we'd tend to see more of them.
Could it really, REALLY be that (gasp) White Folks may actually be better athletically than blacks at some sports?

Really?

Seriously?


2. That bit about Oahu. RURAL Oahu (making a point that its off the touristy beaten track) uh....the ENTIRE ISLAND, is about 2% black. So that means, mostly Asian and whites (actually for the entire state as well).

So....Oahu, RURAL Oahu = Sochi in terms of racial makeup.

OOPS.

Sounds like this person is pretty well off and wants to "see" more diversity in places where it is totally expected back home.

If he were in an elite prep school classroom or Ivy League classroom, would he in fact write a similar column?

"Whadya mean there's no diversity? I see a bunch of Goldbergs, Wangs, Kims, Kurosawas, and even a Sherman!"

QED

Anonymous said...

Actually, I will be here the next 10 days. And in that time, I will encounter no more than a dozen people of African American descent. They are the same ones I see over and over.

So diversity is defined by having African Americans in numbers.

There are ethnic Russians, about 70 percent of the population, Armenians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Greeks, Circassians, Belorussians, Tatars and Jews — which create roughly a, oh, 100 percent Caucasian stew.

So diversity is defined by having African Americans in numbers.

Anonymous said...

How has the project to bring in Ethiopians to do long distance skiing going?

Luke Lea said...

Oh well, it evens out when you include the Summer Olympics. The sun people and the ice people I guess it must be.

Luke Lea said...

You know that Pushkin had African blood don't you Steve? At least I have read that.

Anonymous said...

>>Wise rabbiting on about diversity wrote:
""I do wonder what an athlete like Davis thinks when he shows up at the Games. It’s one thing to understand your chosen sport has international competitions in Norway and the Netherlands and that almost all of your competitors will be white. It’s another thing to show up on the world stage and see that hardly anyone in any sport looks like you. ""


Ok, NOW THEN.

Quick question here:

If I were to write an entire column exactly the same way with athletes names changed to fit my predetermined example to fit whatever big picture point to be made, and the ONLY thing significantly changed was the skin color to, oh, say......


"I wonder how Kevin Love feels about being the only WHITE person on his team. Sometimes he's the only white player on the entire court on a given night, wonder how he must feel, etc etc."

Any bets on whether or not this column would be published by the NYT; LAT; WasPo; Sports Illustrated; etc etc.

Anyone?

Because its very easy to reverse the colors to get an entirely different answer and outcome.


PS: Lori "Lolo" Jones is half white, btw.
Just sayin'.

Anonymous said...

"Wise was raised in Northern California and Hawaii and is a graduate of California State University, Fresno." (Via WIKIPEDIA)

Cal State Fresno, eh? Further proof that our boy Mike is not exactly an intellectual ball of fire.

Anonymous said...

The Russian Wikipedia has this pic of an African in traditional Caucasus garb, but it's from Karabakh, not Abkhazia. Parts of the Caucasus were in the Ottoman Empire and the Ottomans dealt in slaves. That's a hat by the way, not his hair. Caucasus natives used to wear hats like that.

Anonymous said...

""Actually, I will be here the next 10 days."""


Dude's probably itching to leave early to get back home and cover the REAL diversity sports story about the gay NFLer who just came out and is probably now sore as hell that he's stuck in nowheresville covering all lilly white winter sports stuff that his cliched clique of friends don't give two hoots and hollers about.

Canadian Observer said...

P.K. Subban is a future gold medalist at the Olympic Games. He's as black as they come, both in look and mannerisms.

It's an open secret that most of the Canadian hockey team don't like him. They had to put him on the team though, otherwise Team Canada would have come across as racist.

Anonymous said...

Holy cow. My tv is on the Olympics and I just saw the German pairs figure skating team. I think Mr. Wise should check it out. The male half of that team is a Wise family dream.

Anonymous said...

There are ethnic Russians, about 70 percent of the population, Armenians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Greeks, Circassians, Belorussians, Tatars and Jews — which create roughly a, oh, 100 percent Caucasian stew.


How shocking, that's not at all what you'd expect to find in Caucasia!

Anonymous said...

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/fivering_circus/2010/02/white_snow_brown_rage.html

Mike Wise is way behind.

Mr. Anon said...

The Horror! The unspeakable Horror of whiteness!

Mr. Anon said...

Why are there so few Hispanics at the Winter Games? And why is Mr. Wise not concerned about that? He is some kinda racist or something?

Big Bill said...

What with all the Africans penned up in that desert concentration camp in Israel, this would be an excellent opportunity for Mike Wise to head back home to his motherland and see if he can gin up some interest for a Black Israeli Winter Olympics team.

Then again, maybe the Summer Olympics would be better.

Harry Baldwin said...

. . . the Opening Ceremonies’ Parade of Nations is as white as a von Trapp family reunion. ...

As white as Obama's campaign staff. As white as the SEALs that killed Bin Laden. As white as the editorial staff at the Washington Post.

Dan said...

Highly recommend Dark Albion by David Abbot.

A cockney version of Camp of the Saints.

A Wiseman's paradise and an Englishman's hell.

hardly said...

I'm from a very warm part of the world and I detest the cold. I hate going to mountain resorts, winters make me want to kill myself. I'm wondering if there isnt something biological in Caucasians that draws them to snow sports. Or makes them better at it. Perhaps tibetans would provide stiff competition at some point int he future. And Andean Indians.

Anonymous said...

weather is 'racist'. no snow in some countries.

how about eskimo doguestran sport?

Anonymous said...

Mr. Wise will no doubt lead a protest of the lack of diversity on college and pro basketball teams, trying, no doubt, to get the leagues to push for inlusion of Asians and whites.

Chicago said...

For the past two days the evening television news of one of the local stations has given extensive airtime at the beginning of the broadcast to black skater Davis. Yesterday it was all about what he was going to do, today about how he's got all kinds of fans no matter what the results may be. Not much about any of our other athletes in the same news broadcasts. He's the only one who counts, apparently.

Eric Ruttencutter said...

Good luck getting black people to go off the ski jump.

Anonymous said...

Eric Heiden, Bonnie Blair, DanJansen....Mr. Wise doesn't think these skaters brought "love and attention' to a deserving sport?

What a tool this guy is.

Anonymous said...

http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom/2009/12/pinker-round-two-.html

lol

Auntie Analogue said...


When I was teen and I expressed dissatisfaction to my parents about some obligation they, or some other adults, had laid on me, or about some circumstance I disliked, my parents asked:

"You don't like it?

"No!"

"You know what they say in Russia, don't you?"

"No."

"TOUGH SHITZKY."

Anonymous said...

The biggest lack of diversity and disparate impact in America is in the media.

Anonymous said...

http://www.chaunceydevega.com/

Bob Arctor said...

Probably the most laughable part of that big wall of nonsense was his classification of Tatars as "Caucasian" instead of "Central Asian", which is what they actually are over here on Planet Reality. He writes about Russia for a national paper and has apparently never heard of the Tatar Golden Horde, which only ruled most of Russia for hundreds of years.

Sequester Grundleplith said...

Sure, he's an idiot, but he gives great feels.

Anonymous said...

Africans? In MY Caucasus?!?

Anonymous said...

Several observations:

1. Wise's decision to combine Russia, Europe, and European-Americans into some hideous mass of undifferentiated whiteness is sickening.

2. Contrary to his assertion, Jews are neither “white” nor “Caucasian.” Many of the Jews who are participating are from the Jewish apartheid state of Israel, which is located in the Middle East. They, like Asians, should be counted as non-White and therefore “diverse.”

3.. Perhaps it would be best if White athletes simply stopped representing the US and started representing our ancestors' countries of origin.

Of course, I remember what happened last time a group of White American athletes seriously considered competing in the Olympics under a foreign flag: President Carter sent the Secret Service to warn them that, if they did so, he would revoke their passports (thereby trapping them in Moscow), seize their assets, and criminally prosecute them for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Act of 1979. These penalties would be imposed, the Carter administration warned, on American athletes who went to Moscow under any foreign flag, even that of a “neutral” or non-aligned country.

Anonymous said...

I nominate this diverse gender neutral LBGT friendly mutual admiration society to look into who/whom to punish for this olympiads total failure. Warning - really large image. Warning footnote - HuffPo approved.

Wait, someone else uses joyous pickle? I need a new id.

Anonymous said...

Uh, don't look now, Mr. Wise, but baseball is and has been for some time been becoming less and less diverse ( according to <black = < diverse) and it's hardly a sport learned only in affluent environs.

BTW, Mr. Wise, do you believe all people with white skin have the same culture? Are you suggesting all subpopulations of people with white skin think alike, act alike, look alike, and are biologically alike?

Sounds as if you are quite the dumb shyt.

Anonymous said...

BTW, Steve, the Russian pair figure skaters, trying to return the gold to Russia, performed to "Jesus Christ, Superstar."

Another Russian poke at the West and Obama?

Anonymous said...

http://feministchallengingtransphobia.wordpress.com/

Pc chain reaction

Bob Loblaw said...

And yet despite the surfeit of homegrown stars, the Dutch have a special place in their hearts for Shani Davis, the misunderstood American skater who is so very good at what he does.

Yeah, well, that special place in their hearts didn't keep them from kicking his ass by 3/4 of a second, which is an eternity in speed skating. Mr. Misunderstood managed to take 8th place.

Anonymous said...

Imagine that. He goes to the Caucasus and complains he is surrounded by Caucasians. Just another spoiled American expecting everywhere to resemble home.

Peter the Shark said...

I have to say, this is why the Winter Olympics is one of my favorite sporting events.

Anonymous said...

http://progblogofdummies.blogspot.com/

dumb prog blog update

JeremiahJohnbalaya said...

In a future, sane (but by no means perfect) world, no one will think it odd that people who evolved in the jungle and desert might be underrepresented in a winter sports festival.

And I will be living my dream of having a harem of Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.

So it goes.

Anonymous said...

http://www.avclub.com/article/rip-miklos-jancso-awardwinning-hungarian-director-107434

Passing of a giant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DzCL4kKb0Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-unXUdLn_74

Anonymous said...

"I have to say, this is why the Winter Olympics is one of my favorite sporting events."

Well, I don't think we have to worry about a Richard Sherman moment when a competitor wins, not even in hockey, that most ferocious of sports.

Maybe that's another reason blacks don't like winter sports--no history of in-your-face-slam-dunkin' no 'yo momma be a ho'" trash talkin'.

Might be even simpler, though. In college, I went skiing for the first time at Alpine Meadows near Lake Tahoe. Two were expert skiers who invited four other novices, including me, along. I recall two black girls who lived on the same dorm floor with us being asked to go and w/o hesitation they answered, "Snow? Not us. Too cold."

JeremiahJohnbalaya said...

I don't think we have to worry about a Richard Sherman moment when a competitor wins,

I've watched two things in this olympics: The bearded Canadian dude winning gold in some speed skating. And Shawn White losing the half-pipe (or what-the-eff-ever event). Either of them could have gone Sherm-Dog on the world....

Black Sea said...

"Look, I don’t care about the color of the competitors."

Every sentence of his article contradicts this claim. Pretty basic stuff.

Anonymous said...


Anonymous said...
Holy cow. My tv is on the Olympics and I just saw the German pairs figure skating team. I think Mr. Wise should check it out. The male half of that team is a Wise family dream.
___________________________
Some things are predictable, unfortunately:

from Wiki--

"Szolkowy was born in Greifswald, Rostock district, East Germany. His mother, a nurse, met his father, a Tanzanian medical doctor, when the latter was a student in Greifswald. Although he had seen photos of his father, the two did not meet until March 2008, in Vienna, Austria."

Anonymous said...

Steve, kinda off topic, but someone needs to write a piece about what the NAMs are doing to disaster preparedness:

People Are Abandoning Cars On Snow-Covered Roads In North Carolina

I can attest from eyewitness experience that this stuff is caused by NAMs in 2WD cars waiting until the last minute to go home, and it doesn't take more than a handful of NAM 2WD cars [stuck on a hill and spinning their wheels] at major chokepoints in order to bring an entire region to its knees.

I don't know how a private citizen could get ahold of the data, but I guarantee you that the insurance companies and the highway patrol have demographic numbers on precisely which races of fools are causing these disasters.

The general population simply was not so hopelessly moronic when I was a boy.

And I mean HOPELESSLY.

Prep. PREP. PREP!

Anonymous said...

Also, when the Police Departments [patrol cruisers, traffic cops] and the Public Works Departments [plow trucks, salt trucks] are staffed and supervised by quota-hire NAMs, then you might as well be looking to retarded children for any signs of initiative in a disaster like this.

Again, from personal eyewitness experience today.

Anonymous said...

Living in South Africa obviously implies that almost all sports that are followed are summer sports. However based on my own observations, the people that change the tv to casual observe the winter olympics are always white, when I ask some black colleagues what they think of the winter olympics there is zero interest. This could be dismissed as purely anecdotal, but if you go to the few places one can ski in Lesotho, it will again be mostly whites. This can also not be simply dismissed as "white priviledge", the total number of wealthyish blacks is higher than the number of whites, yet one will usually see that place being visited by whites.

The same demographics can be observed in things like computer gamers getting together or comic book/D&D fairs, they are not even close to the scale of overseas, but based on what I have seen on Youtube the demographics look similar. It is very rare to come across a black nerd, even with the population being more than 70% of the countries total.

Anonymous said...

P.K. Subban is a future gold medalist at the Olympic Games. He's as black as they come, both in look and mannerisms.

It's an open secret that most of the Canadian hockey team don't like him.


Most of Montreal doesn't like him either.

Hunsdon said...

Wise, eh?

Where's my shocked face.

Anonymous said...

As a White man, I think it's awesome to watch sports where all the competitors look like me. Don't get to see that much, other than hockey.

Anonymous said...

Everyone knows about the African slate trade to the New World, but few seem to know about the Arab slave trade and the huge slave trade carried out by Muslims like the Tartars to take white slaves to the Ottoman Empire. Read the trilogy by Henry Sienkiewicz or watch the movies based on his trilogy to see how some of the main booty sought out by the horde was large numbers of slaves, hence the name for the Slavic peoples. Arab Muslim slave traders probably had something to do with those Africans ending up in Russia.

Joe H.

Anonymous said...

Somehow, some way, 99% of the world gets through the day without dealing with any African Americans. I know it'll be tough, but you can do it, Mike!

Dan said...

Oh, check out Dr King Shultz.

No shit Sherlock!

Anonymous said...

Well, perhaps some good might come out of this truly idiotic article. It might make people realize that using "Caucasian" to mean White is about as retarded sounding as using Mongol to mean East Asian.

Then again, maybe not. Wise somehow managed to keep using Caucasian for White while being in the freaking Caucasus-You know, the place whose inhabitants actually are Caucasians.

Anonymous said...

RE:Caucasians,


MMMMM, perhaps we need a Stephen Jay Gould type mantra on the subject. Mike, try saying this 5 times before breakfast everyday: Caucasians are people from the Caucasus. Caucasians are people from the Caucasus. Caucasians are people from the Caucasus. Caucasians are, etc.

If you want to talk about people from the Western half of Eurasia/North Africa , try one of these less retarded sounding substitutes: Caucasoid (see, using the "soid" form tells us that you are not referring to people from the Caucasus), White, West Eurasian, etc.

Anonymous said...

RE: Caucasians,

Perhaps a simple formula might help Mike:

Caucasians ( meaning people from the Caucasus) are White. But not all Whites are Caucasian.

Henry Canaday said...

The author of a recent book on Fox News and the archfiend Roger Ailes revealed to a rapt Local Lefty Bookstore audience that Fox News appeals mostly to an older, white audience. Of course, the LLB audience, composed of third-alphabet Northwest DC liberals, was 100-percent white and averaged at least 65 year in age.

Liberals may watch Stephen Colbert a lot, but apparently irony is not their long suit

ben tillman said...

P.K. Subban is a future gold medalist at the Olympic Games. He's as black as they come, both in look and mannerisms.

It's an open secret that most of the Canadian hockey team don't like him. They had to put him on the team though, otherwise Team Canada would have come across as racist.


H ha. He's a healthy scratch for the first game.

Mr Drab said...

White people! Congregating together! Without a sufficient number of non-whites! Yuck!

Call the Racist People. Winter sports are racist!

I wonder if the author of this silly column will be also be complaining about the lack of racial diversity at the next All-Africa Games.

Icepick said...

Look, I don’t care about the color of the competitors.

After nine paragraphs demonstrating that he cares about nothing else? Do they have any editors at the Washington Post with any reading comprehension skills at all? Or is their expected audience really so dumb as to buy into this drivel?

Anonymous said...

"story about the gay NFLer who just came out and is probably now sore as hell"

I really wish I didn't read that.

peterike said...

Whiter than "Downton Abbey"?

Well of course, caving in to the multi-cult pressure, this year's show features a very pretty young white girl getting it on with a very black jazz musician.

So far it's been all setup and we haven't had the great preachy moment that is sure to come. But I'm this close to not watching anymore of this because, well, I'm a racist and it disgusts me.

Anonymous said...

In 2006 Bryant Gumbel declared the Winter Olympics a little too white for his tastes.

Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them... try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.

Anonymous said...

"Whatever, this place is whiter than an episode of 'Downton Abbey.'”

Replace with: "Whatever, this place is blacker than an episode of “Good Times.” ..."



"Look, I don’t care about the color of the competitors. And I don’t think the paucity of black or Hispanic athletes should cheapen any gold medal. . . ."

Replace with: "Look, I don’t care about the color of the competitors. And I don’t think the paucity of white athletes should cheapen any NBA championship . . . . "


"[T]he Opening Ceremonies’ Parade of Nations is as white as a von Trapp family reunion. ..."

Replace with: "[T]he Opening Ceremonies’ Parade of Nations is as black as a Mills Brothers family reunion. ..."


"Is it more troubling for the Winter Games to be the province of the white or of the rich? "

Replace with: "Is it more troubling for the NBA Playoffs to be the province of the black or of the rich?"

"Otherwise, these Games are going to continue to resemble the inside of a giant snow globe, forever powdery white."

Replace with: "Otherwise, these NBA Playoffs are going to continue to resemble the inside of a jar of Ovaltine, forever cocoa black."

Anonymous said...

http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/james-delingpole/9136061/the-martyrdom-of-mark-steyn/

Anonymous said...

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/02/13/gay-psa-taking-hits-for-making-fun-of-olympics-2-man-luge-100505

Anonymous said...

NJ is corrupt cuz of land density?
Then why not Vermont.

Me thinks too many goombas.

Complaining about Mike Wise said...

I spent the first 30 years of my life in DC and still read the Post (aka Pravda on the Potomac) sports page regularly to follow the futility that is Washington pro sports.

Wise is BY FAR the worst sportswriter at the Wash Po, now that they managed to get rid of the execrable Christine Brennan. He is Exhibit A in Steve's theme that sportswriters can be the most severe PC enforcers of them all.

Now that Professional Black Issues Complainer Mike Wilbon has moved on, Wise inherited the role of "touch lightly on sports while complaining about race/gay/PC stuff".

He almost never writes about the sports aspect of sports. Most of his columns are either complaining about the name "Redskins", complaining about there being too many whites someplace, complaining that there are not enough blacks someplace, or complaining about somebody somewhere not worshiping gays enough. Always with a leftist sneer.

Major league baseball is bad because there are too many whites/not enough blacks.

Football is good because there are a lot of blacks, but not great because "Redskins" is racist and there are no black owners.

The NBA is great because there a lot of blacks, but there are not enough black owners. Plus they oppress blacks by not letting them fight each other and taunt their opponents. Etc etc. Rinse and repeat.

Interestingly Wise seems to be in no hurry to give up his Professional Complainer role to one of the younger black writers at the Post. You'd think Tarik El Bashir would be good - except that he's a black guy that is the beat writer covering the Washington Capital and not only does a good job, he doesn't complain about the lack of "diversity" in the NHL...where the players hail from about a dozen different countries.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

""Wise was raised in Northern California and Hawaii and is a graduate of California State University, Fresno." (Via WIKIPEDIA)""

Cal State Fresno, eh? Further proof that our boy Mike is not exactly an intellectual ball of fire."

It's been awhile since I lived in the Golden State: is Cal State Fresno the backup for people who couldn't get into Cal State Chico, or vice-versa?

Anonymous said...

Actually, this entire rant isn't anything new. A few yrs back around 2002 or 2006, Gregg Gumble lamented on the same theme: "How come there's such a lack of black athletes at the Winter Games?" The WashPo is simply recycling a now traditional theme to riff on "no blacks = no diversity = possibly some racism going on."

But it never ever seems to occur to these people always asking the question that the answer may simply be that black athletes simply aren't as good as whites and asians at winter sports.

After all, in the US, blacks do very well in certain sports. Therefore, they AUTOMATICALLY SLAM DUNK MUST OBVIOUSLY be the best at every sport on the planet.


Its magical thinking.

While Gregg Gumble would appear to be at least perceptive enough to recognize that yes, it is possible that whites are better than blacks at winter sports, he will never publicly admit that. To do so would bring humiliation and loss of cred among the community.

"What? There are things we simply can't do! That's racist!"

Hence the magical thinking.

Anonymous said...

http://www.amren.com/news/2014/02/malaysias-ethnic-tensions-rise-as-its-economy-declines/

If Mallies did this to Jews than to Chinese, Malaisia would be hated more than Russia.

Anonymous said...

Steve,

All you HBD people have been exposed:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markshea/2014/02/a-reader-writes-of-his-experience-among-the-dark-enlightenment-types.html

It's time to close up shop and head to the hills!

Steve Sailer said...

Mike Wise and Mike Wilbon aren't the same Washington Post sportswriter? Who knew?

Anonymous said...

Anonydude said: "It's been awhile since I lived in the Golden State: is Cal State Fresno the backup for people who couldn't get into Cal State Chico, or vice-versa?"

I moved away about 3 years ago, but at the time Chico State was the bottom of the barrel for whites. I think Fresno State is more...diverse. Plus who wouldn't rather live in Chico (nice Sierra foothills vibe) than Fresno, aka Fres-wreck?

I'm sure you know but CA has a two-tier system. The UC's and then the Cal States. The worst UC is better than the best Cal State. I believe the "best" Cal State is either Long Beach or Fullerton. As silly as Fresno State is, there is still Stanislaus State, Sacramento State, etc.

Mean Eugene Robinson said...

Steve Sailer said..."Mike Wise and Mike Wilbon aren't the same Washington Post sportswriter? Who knew?"

Mike Wilbon writes about politics under the name Eugene Robinson. Just kidding. But the themes are the same. There are two types of places/ political parties/ sports/ etc:

1) Good places
2) Places that don't have enough blacks

Anonymous said...

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/24694482/2014/02/11/sheriff-looks-to-black-leaders-for-state-fair-help

Teens

Anonymous said...

If Shea takes post down, there are copies here:

http://occamsrazormag.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/the-dark-enlightenment-exposed/

and


here:

http://www.xenosystems.net/lord-of-the-trolls/

.


.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

Steve,

All you HBD people have been exposed:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markshea/2014/02/a-reader-writes-of-his-experience-among-the-dark-enlightenment-types.html

It's time to close up shop and head to the hills!"

That was a hoot. "Sith Lords"! Mark Shea must be one credulous fool to have bought that story. If any of that even remotely happened to his correspondent (doubtful), then it wasn't neo-reactionaries he fell in with, but rather he fell in with a bunch of queer LARPers.

pate357 said...

In school, I learned that the all the peoples of the world fit into one of three categories: Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid. Somehow only Caucasoid(or Caucasian) is still used.
I guess the Winter Olympics would be a lot more exciting with rampaging gangs of youths, like at your average American state fair.

Modern Abraham said...

Sochi is one of the most multinational cities in Russia. There are ethnic Russians, about 70 percent of the population, Armenians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Greeks, Circassians, Belorussians, Tatars and Jews — which create roughly a, oh, 100 percent Caucasian stew.

In 1914 a member of the About-as-far-as-you-can-get-from-white Hand assassinated the Archduke of White-stria and Palegary. The Archduke's uncle declared war on the assassin's home country, causing the White-zist monarch to declare war upon him, thus instigating his ally, the Kaiser of the Honkey-ian Reich, to preemptively invade the White Republic, one of whose national symbols is the lily.

This was more than Albion (Latin for...) could stand, and soon it was ferrying troops past its chalky white cliffs to the equally chalky and white fields of Flanders. And Ned Flanders, we all know, was the whitest whitebeard dork ever to defile the annals of primetime television.

Several years of stalemate trench warfare followed, despite efforts to effect a breakout by the introduction of such terrible new weapons as Offwhite Gas. The din of battle also erupted in the skyies as the Vibrant Baron and his Flying Circus fought for mastery of the air.

Just as the Pale-lies seemed on the verge of collapse with the start of the Whiteshevist Revolution, the (Pillsbury) doughboys arrived in mass from across the ocean to finally turn the tide. With victory at last achieved on the battlefield, all eyes turned to the Privileged States of America, whose President offered a 14 Point Peace Plan so magnanimous that even the Kaiser was heard to explain, "That's mighty white of you!"

And so as 1919 began, a continent ravaged by 4 years of war and the White Hispanic Flu, white-white, white-white-white-white, whitey-white white white white....

Anonymous said...

""""I'm sure you know but CA has a two-tier system. The UC's and then the Cal States. The worst UC is better than the best Cal State. I believe the "best" Cal State is either Long Beach or Fullerton. As silly as Fresno State is, there is still Stanislaus State, Sacramento State, etc"""""




Hold it, hold it, hold it. Hang on a second.

Then which system is Berkeley a part of? UC or Cal State?

Because aren't the Golden Bears nicname also "CAL"????

So if Berkeley is NOT part of the Cal State, its part of UC, right? If that's true, then why's Berkeley's sports teams nickname also CAL???

Seriously, for an out of stater, reading that was certainly confusing.

Berkeley's UC but its also called "CAL"???? Which is it then??? Are you saying that Berkeley's really part of the Cal system??

Anyone?


PS: Hey, Chico's the home of Sierra Nevada Brewery. Awesome craft beer! They're the Sam Adams of crafts right now and are growing every yr. in production. Awesome craft beer.

Anonymous said...

It's kind of nice having a major sporting event not dominated by black people. What's the big deal?

And the fact that low income levels correlate with Winter games participation doesn't have anything to do with the fact that lower income countries are often in much warmer climates. Nah.

peterike said...

Well it didn't take long for the first "hero" to come along for the ride on this gay NFL dude thing. Oddly, he manages to make good points while simultaneously being total oblivious to reality.

http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-media/2014/02/watch-dale-hansen-michael-sam-gay-nfl-commentary-dallas-anchor

Currently exploding on a Twitter feed near you.

Anonymous said...

>>peterike said...
""Well it didn't take long for the first "hero" to come along for the ride on this gay NFL dude thing. Oddly, he manages to make good points while simultaneously being total oblivious to reality.""


NOTICE an important part of the equation. That the sports commentators from DALLAS, THE SOUTH, Red State Christian America. The dude probably attends a church regularly.

Had this sports dude been a liberal NY type, well then, it doesnt carry as much weight. That's too obvious.

Time for a Seinfeldian observation of the whole thing.

Ever notice that most gays, the vast majority tend to be white with a few Asians thrown in. Why is that? It's like 90-95% of gays are white. Why is that?

Why are gays not accepting of black people? Where is the diversity among gays and why are so many tend to be white?

That's not very diverse like of them.
Is it?

Harry Baldwin said...

Henry Canaday said...Liberals may watch Stephen Colbert a lot, but apparently irony is not their long suit

Recently Jon Stewart did a riff on Fox's "The Five," talking about how four of the panel members were some variety of Republican while there is only one Democrat. This from the guy running a show with an all-liberal line-up, with no perceptible self-consciousness.

Anonymous said...

It seems the Shea Hoax was by Occcam's Razor:

http://occamsrazormag.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/the-dark-enlightenment-exposed/

See updates at end of post.

Anonymous said...

Bring back European imperialism. It sure created diverse empires.

He says he grew up in diverse Hawaii, but ask any Hawaiian and they'll say diversity was forced on them by white imperialism and yellow migration(under white imperialism).

Gosh, Vietnam used to be more diverse under French rule. But now it's a sea of yellow. Bring back imperialism!

Anonymous said...

Winter Olympics should be seen as affirmative action for white folks.

Since blacks are naturally faster and stronger, white folks need stuff like winter games to win medals too.

And would an Asian woman have won at track? But one won the 500 m speed skating race cuz the ice is a great equalizer. Even if she has short legs and stocky body, if she makes the right motions, she can glide on ice. She would never won a track sprint event though.

So, winter games is affirmative action games for whites and yellows. And nothing with affact.

UC Otis said...

Anon said "Then which system is Berkeley a part of? UC or Cal State?"

Berkeley (also known as University of California) is a UC. Yes they're the "Cal" Golden Bears. I'll give you three guesses what the "C" in "UC" stands for.

"Seriously, for an out of stater, reading that was certainly confusing."

Michigan/Michigan State. Oklahoma/Oklahoma State. Florida/ Florida State. Kansas/Kansas State. Are you getting the hang of this?

"PS: Hey, Chico's the home of Sierra Nevada Brewery. Awesome craft beer!'

Also the hometown of all-universe quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Who, if you look closely, is white (despite being named Aaron). He grew up in Chico because his Texas-born father played football for...wait for it...Chico State. Extra points if you can guess if Chico State is a UC or a Cal State.

Anonymous said...

UC Otis:"Also the hometown of all-universe quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Who, if you look closely, is white (despite being named Aaron)."

Are Blacks using Aaron, now? All the Aarons that I know are White, and on the SWPL side at that.

Cail Corishev said...

It's like 90-95% of gays are white.

Are they, or are those just the ones presented to us in the media? Does anyone actually know enough gays to have an educated guess?

Anonymous said...

What's this clown's problem? Do I complain about there being too many blacks when i watch an NBA game? Do i say the NBA is hideously black? Maybe blacks just are not that into skiing and skating. And so what if there not? And is something only "diverse" when it includes blacks? And why is diversity some universal good to be championed at all costs? Can't some groups just gravitate to some things and not others? Is there a conspiracy to keep whites from being under-represented in the NBA? Such drivel....

Anonymous said...

>>UC Otis, (Although, I don't see him) said:
""Berkeley (also known as University of California) is a UC. Yes they're the "Cal" Golden Bears. I'll give you three guesses what the "C" in "UC" stands for.""



From an academic smarts high IQ level, CA has a big three: Stanford, UCLA, and Berkeley. (California Institute of Technology or CIT in obviously included as an exceptional school but for this discussion is not included. Also, its a more selective/restricted school)

Otis, Otis, Otis.

There is a world of difference between schools like Stanford and Berkeley and dumb jock state schools (e.g. USC; Irvine; Chico; etc)

Ironically, UCLA and Stanford are numbers one and two all time in most Div1 NCAA championships overall. And those two schools along with Berkeley have an exceptional academic reputation. If they threw out their sports programs they'd still survive on their academic reputations.


The other commenter was saying that Cal and UC system schools are different. I pointed out that its confusing for out of stater to see "Cal" Golden Bears are NOT part of the Cal system.

And good thing too, cause Berkeley's way better than that inferior academic quality stuff.



""""Also the hometown of all-universe quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Who, if you look closely, is white (despite being named Aaron)."""""


Now what kind of comment is that? Aaron's a white name. I've met far more whites named Aaron than who are black. Very few blacks named Aaron. It's a bible Old Testament name, and give you THREE GUESSES which tribe (as an ethnicity) that Aaron is from? Seriously, I've met more rabbis named Aaron than brothers.








He grew up in Chico because his Texas-born father played football for...wait for it...Chico State. Extra points if you can guess if Chico State is a UC or a Cal State.


I dont think much of Chico or Chico state, and for good reason. The schools not all that.

Berkeley, however, IS all that.

Wait for it...Alex Morgan. US Women's Soccer team.
SHE attended Berkeley AND graduated in three years with a full degree in Political Economy. She made the NCAA's all academic team and you can't say the same about special admit Aaron Rogers.

The point is, she attended and graduated with a legitimate degree, unlike you special admit Aaron Rogers.

But what field did that come out of? Dude, Aaron's a white name. Especially in this era considering what the bros are being named. That's like saying that Eric's not a white name? Huh?


But if its between Chico State, I'll pass. Berkeley's where all the smart high IQ folks attend. And Stanford. And UCLA.

QED

Anonymous said...

"He says he grew up in diverse Hawaii.."

Hawaii is 1.6% black according to Wikipedia. In other words its 98.4% NON-BLACK! Probably not that different from the winter olympics.

Anonymous said...

How come there is so little interest and coverage of Asian Olympics in the West?

Why isn't the Western media celebrating diversity?

Anonymous said...

Russia should have allowed itself to be raped more and longer by Mongols. They would be more diverse.

Russia, like Brazil, should have imported 3 million black slaves. It would be more diverse.

Diversity! Yeah!

Anonymous said...

>>Cail Corishev said...
""Are they, or are those just the ones presented to us in the media? Does anyone actually know enough gays to have an educated guess?"""


No, most gays are white. Pure and simple. Again, about 90-95% of gays are white with the rest being hispanic and some Asian. There are very, very few blacks who are gay.

Put it this way. If you go just by public professions, and then correlate it with IQ as well. There are almost as many Jews who are gay as there are in total number of blacks who are gay.

Gays tend to have a higher IQ than average, so that alone would tend to rule out.....some folks.


To that dude who commented around 1:00:


Why can we just say that blacks in general may NOT be all that good at doing some things well? Why can we say it? Its a fairly accurate statement to say.

Blacks don't gravitate to some things in a large part because they also aren't very good at it.

Remember, blacks used to play baseball in large numbers and were quite good at it. Then all of a sudden they stopped gravitating. Why? Why'd they stop playing baseball in the numbers that they used to? They're still quite good at the sport. Something changed.

But if blacks were to suddenly decide to start going into winter sports, they first have to be pretty good at the sports. And right now, they're not and never have been. There are some things that they can't do.

Just sayin'.

Anonymous said...

"What's this clown's problem?"

It's not a problem. It's a posturing(of the narcissistic sort).

Despite his yammering about diversity in Hawaii and DC, the fact is he grew up in and lives in overwhelmingly white communities. In other words, he SAW than LIVED diversity. In Hawaii, he surely hung around other whites even though he SAW other races. And we all know DC has been getting whiter and whiter as blacks have been driven out by gentric cleansing.

So, Wise surely feels a certain insecurity. He's supposed to be Mr. Diversity but he mostly and hypocritically lives in the white world and works in a largely white/Jewish profession of journalism.

So, when he goes to Russia, he makes a lot of noise about how his country is so much more 'diverse' than Sochi and the Winter Olympics. (Btw, maybe Alabama and Texas whites should pull this shtick with Vermonters and Maine-ians who live in overwhelmingly white states. "Man, your liberal blue states are TOO white. We got lots of negroes and mexicans where we live.")

Also, he seems to be part of the neo-cold-warriors who want to make Russia out to be evil cuz it is now the 'white nation', as opposed to US that is 'diverse'. Russians are bad guys cuz their nation is 'too white', but white guys like Wise are good whites cuz they SEE non-white people in Hawaii and DC.

Rather odd. Hitler tended to see Slavs as Asiatics and not white enough, but Wise sees nothing but a sea of whiteness in all Russian ethnic groups.

Anyway, it comes down to "I'm a better white than you because, where I live, I SEE non-white folks."

jody said...

"Look, I don’t care about the color of the competitors."

lol.

DAJ said...

Stephen Crockett, Jr from The Root online site calls the Winter Olympics the "privileged" games and therefore refuses to watch them. He gives such gems as:

That's because the Winter Olympics aren't a display of all nations. They're a display of rich, cold nations that can afford ski jumps and luge practice centers....

And it will continue to be this way unless one day it suddenly begins to snow in Ethiopia or the Winter Olympic committee decides to build a luge facility in the Dominican Republic. Until then, I will continue my protest against the 'Fabulous Display of Worldy Whiteness.'

His class envy and resentment run thickly all over the article. It is the Ice People versus Sun People dichotomy that Steve Sailer often discusses.

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/02/why_i_don_t_watch_the_privileged_olympics.html?wpisrc=newstories

Harry Baldwin said...

Are Blacks using Aaron, now? All the Aarons that I know are White, and on the SWPL side at that.

For blacks, it would be A'A-Ron.

Anonymous said...

Is Batumi Russian for Detroit?

Anonymous said...

It is interesting to see all this negativity about the Winter Olympics. They complain about it being a rich, white event. But outside of Americans, is it really so?

The Russians, as we are being told, are poor, backward white trash. Yet they seem to field a pretty impressive team. I also saw a gal from Belarus win gold. Belarus is a lot of things. But rich isn't one of them. The same goes for Slovenia and dozens of other nations that are represented.

So it appears we have the makings of an internal battle among lefties in the US. On the one hand they lament the lack of diversity and the privilege associated with being able to compete in winter events. But on the other hand these events are a SWPL's dream. And they are popular among Western Europeans which is double-plus-good.

This just goes to show how fragile the left's coalition really is.

Snowy White said...

There is a black snowboarder called Stevie Bell. He's not at the Olympics and probably isn't one of the sport's true elite but he's very good. It can't be all that easy for a black to break into the world of snowboarding, but I'm sure it's easier than it is for a white to break into pro basketball. Snowboarders are an easy-going bunch. Also, how many young black men are named Stephen these days? I suspect he's from a good background.

Why wouldn't a sporting festival based on mountains, ice and snow be dominated by the races that have spent hundreds/thousands of years evolving in those environs? If there's a lack of Swiss and Austrian sailors in the Americas Cup, isn't that just kind of natural?

Diversity = absence of white people.
Racist = white.

Not new observations by any means, but they're hardening into literal definitions rather than wry observations on internet blogs.

E. Rekshun said...

And there probably won't be even one Knockout Game played at these Winter Olympics.

Survivor said...

Like the world cup?

This is the only real global sport. It's dominated by Latins, occasionally Germans. Blacks show up here and there but collectively they never seem to have the brains or patience to win.

ricpic said...

How is lack of diversity a problem in anything? That our glorious national parks are of no interest to blacks and hispanics makes them a paradise where I can escape diversity, if only for short periods of time. If, God forbid, diversity is injected forcibly into those same retreats they will be forever lost to me and my descendants as the last places of peace and unmarred happiness.

E. Rekshun said...

I've been reading the same article since the '76 Innsbruck, Austria Winter Olympics.

"...Winter Olympics has too many White people...Winter Olympics needs more black people..."

Snowman said...

"It is interesting to see all this negativity about the Winter Olympics. They complain about it being a rich, white event. But outside of Americans, is it really so?"

Rich people do snowsports for fun, they don't tend to do them competitively. My vague impression is that most winter olympians come from lower middle/upper working class backgrounds (using the British definitions). The British ski and snowboard slopestyle competitors are mostly from humble backgrounds and learnt their skills on plastic slopes in unglamorous English cities such as Halifax and Gloucester. They haven't needed wealth to do this - just perseverance.

The sports played at the winter Olympics are, on average, more expensive to play than those at the summer Olympics, but they're not insanely expensive - they can be afforded by working people who are prepared to dedicate a reasonable amount of their disposable income to them. Many people would rather not spend money in this way - which is fine. It's common for people in mountainous countries to learn how to ski. It's just what they do.

Anonymous said...

"Look, I don’t care about the color of the competitors. " - "which is why I wrote this article."

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

Berkeley's UC but its also called "CAL"???? Which is it then??? Are you saying that Berkeley's really part of the Cal system??

Anyone?"

Berkeley is called "Cal" as it was short for "University of California", and dates from a time when there was only one state-run university. There may have also been a normal school - there usually was - and it probably became one of the State U's. Eventually the two-tier UC / Cal-State system was set up (actually three tiers if you include the Cal Polys and the community colleges).

By the way, you are confused about the nature of USC. It is a private school, not a public one.

Meet the New Otis, Same as the Old said...

Irony and Reading Comprehension Challenged said ""Otis, Otis, Otis.

There is a world of difference between schools like Stanford and Berkeley and dumb jock state schools (e.g. USC; Irvine; Chico; etc)"

Yes, I know. I said the worst UC is better than the best Cal State. Nobody said anything about Stanford or USC which I assume you know are private schools. UC-Irvine isn't a "dumb jock" state school. No I didn't go there and don't have a dog in that fight.

"Ironically, UCLA and Stanford are numbers one and two all time in most Div1 NCAA championships overall. And those two schools along with Berkeley have an exceptional academic reputation. If they threw out their sports programs they'd still survive on their academic reputations."

Why is this ironic? Do you know what ironic means?


"The other commenter was saying that Cal and UC system schools are different. I pointed out that its confusing for out of stater to see "Cal" Golden Bears are NOT part of the Cal system."

By "Cal system" you mean "Cal State" system. It's not confusing to people that understand the name "California" refers to a very large state. Or that understand other states having land grant universities, etc.

"And good thing too, cause Berkeley's way better than that inferior academic quality stuff."

Berkeley is a loony bin with some excellent graduate programs and a smart but often hopelessly confused student body. It lives off a past reputation for excellence, like much else in California.

Anonymous said...

"Hitler was not a white supremacist. He was allied to Japan."

And Hitler wasn't anti-communist from 1939 to 1941 because he was allied with Stalin.

And Stalin wasn't anti-capitalist because he was allied with UK and US during WWII.

Anonymous said...

White pride for white Liberals is that being white in America means you get to SEE more non-whites.

"We got more flavors of ice cream even though I generally stick to vanilla."

Anonymous said...

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/pk-subban/
PK subban of the Canadian hockey team.
Still don't think he qualifies as African-American? (oh you mean black? yes, he's black)

Reg Cæsar said...

Like the world cup?
This is the only real global sport.
--Survivor

How "global" is a sport which is important to a mere three of the world's ten most populous countries?: Brazil (#5), Nigeria (#7), Russia (#9).

It's a minor (spectator) sport in the US, and Japan and China discovered it the day before yesterday. In India, Pakistan and Bagladesh, "the World Cup" is something you bring a bat to.

Five-eighths of the world's people live in Asia. What's the top "global sport" country? Iran? Saudi Arabia? Korea? Koreans also discovered it the day before yesterday, but they did get good fast.

Anonymous said...

>>>>Meet the New Otis, Same as the Old because no one could see him and so he went and changed his tag line, but do carry on, sport. That new Otis said:

"""Yes, I know.""""

No, I don't think that originally you did, until it was kindly pointed out. It didn't sound as if you did, truth to be told.





""""Nobody said anything about Stanford or USC which I assume you know are private schools."""""

Duh. But do continue.




""""UC-Irvine isn't a "dumb jock" state school.""""

Yes it is. Is it part of the UC system? Very few UC's that aren't academically challenged. Continue.




""""No I didn't go there and don't have a dog in that fight.""""

Whatever, dude.





"Ironically, UCLA and Stanford are numbers one and two all time in most Div1 NCAA championships overall. And those two schools along with Berkeley have an exceptional academic reputation. If they threw out their sports programs they'd still survive on their academic reputations."


"""Why is this ironic?""""

Otis, Otis. So much like the elevators of yore. Up and down with whatever thought pulsates thru the head. Let me help you here.

IRONIC, because while MOST (said most, most) NCAA Powerhouse Schools tend to be academically challenged overall, the top 2 leaders in total championships also happen to be academically excellent, the direct opposite of the typical dumb jock, party hardy, NCAA sports oriented school.

There. Now come back down from the top floor, Otis. We know that the 'vator's supposed to go all the way to the top floor, not sure if yours completely does, but anyways....



""""By "Cal system" you mean "Cal State" system. It's not confusing to people that understand the name.""""


Yes, to those in-state, exactly. Not so to OUT of staters who aren't familiar with the whole Cal/UC system.




""""Berkeley is a loony bin with some excellent graduate programs and a smart but often hopelessly confused student body."""""


It is STILL an academically superior school. We may not like the university's personal politics but as a whole it is still in considered to be in the top 2% of academically superior schools. In CA it would trail only Stanford and (arguablly to some) UCLA in overall academica quality.

If you don't like the verdict, take it up with US News and World Reports School Rankings.



""""It lives off a past reputation for excellence, like much else in California. """"


I'll leave that for those in-state to decide for themselves how their own state is run.

Anonymous said...

UC Berkeley's average freshman SAT score on the 1600-scale is a 1400. That's quite strong, although not Ivy League level. Suggests an IQ about two standard deviations above average.

Anonymous said...

Could they start a new "Knockout Game" event? Maybe call it "Polar Bear Hunting" to correspond to the season?

Jacob C. said...

" Maybe it’s because I spent my formative years in a real melting pot: rural Oahu, Hawaii, where diversity in ethnicity and culture are part of island life."

If he did live in Hawaii he should know first hand how much non-whites value the diversity of having whites around.

Jefferson said...

Liberals judge how diverse a place is by the percentage of Blacks that inhabit that location. The higher the percentage of Blacks, the more racially diverse it is in their eyes. By their logic, Detroit is the most racially diverse big city in America.

I have seen many liberals on the internet say that my hometown of San Francisco is not racially diverse because only 6 percent of the population here is Black. Apparently all of those Asians in San Francisco do not count as vibrant diversity. Trayvon Martin is more racially diverse than Amy Chua.

Anonymous said...

""""UC Berkeley's average freshman SAT score on the 1600-scale is a 1400. That's quite strong, although not Ivy League level. Suggests an IQ about two standard deviations above average""""


Exactly. But, would it be strong enough for Richard Sherman to attend? Well, he was a special admit to Stanford so Berkeley probably would've let him in as well, of course their football team has seen better days so its all moot.

Berkeley probably has their own special admits as well.

Dan said...

Do a few google searches on the Calcutta Derby.

Also research viewing figures for the EPL. Then take a look at viewing figures for the World Cup in India for South Africa 2010. You are out of date.

AMac said...

Mike Wise SWPLbrags: "I spent my formative years in a real melting pot: rural Oahu, Hawaii, where diversity in ethnicity and culture are part of island life."

Diversity. Uh huh.

Dan said...

Opportunism knocks.

What is capitalism anyway? Ceding Eastern Europe to the USSR?

Harold said...

"Are they, or are those just the ones presented to us in the media? Does anyone actually know enough gays to have an educated guess?"

According to inductivist’s querying of the GSS

Percent gay or bisexual

Males (sample size = 7,753)
Whites 3.4
Blacks 4.4
Mex-Ams 4.5

Females (sample size = 8,694)
Whites 2.7
Blacks 3.0
Mex-Ams 1.8

http://inductivist.blogspot.com/2011/05/racialethnic-differences-in.html

Reg Cæsar said...

Stanford or USC which I assume you know are private schools.""""" Duh. But do continue. --anon vs anon

Don't assume folks will understand the vagaries of university status outside their corner of the country. My uncle spent his career in Midwestern academia, yet in his fifties was stunned when I told him New York University was a private school.

On the other hand, I was surprised to learn that Midwesterners held their public "flagship" schools in higher regard than their private colleges. That sure wasn't true in the Northeast, where the state U's are Johnny-come-latelies.

Reg Cæsar said...

Do a few google searches on the Calcutta Derby. --Dan


OK. Did just that. Looks to be a horse race, won most recently by a creature named Snowdrift.

Snowdrift!! Look for this word to eclipse "wheatish" in the marriage and sperm donor markets. That's the real national sport.

Anonymous said...

"Exactly. But, would it be strong enough for Richard Sherman to attend? Well, he was a special admit to Stanford so Berkeley probably would've let him in as well, of course their football team has seen better days so its all moot.

Berkeley probably has their own special admits as well."

Every D-I school has special admits--even the Ivy League, which do not provide athletic scholarships. They still loosen the criteria for athletes, often significantly. (Berkeley is noted as having one of the worst academically-performing football programs in the nation, actually. They're also among the worst on the field.)

Richard Sherman would almost certainly have gotten into Berkeley if he wasn't a football player by the backdoor affirmative action the UCs practice. Berkeley and UCLA are forbidden by Prop 209 from looking at race, so they admit the top few students from every public high school, regardless of SAT scores, including, uh, vibrant high schools where it is possible there is not a single truly qualified student. Richard Sherman, despite his 110 IQ, was the salutorian of his high school, so he would have been in regardless.

Anonymous said...

So the Summer Games are superior because they are more diverse. But would the Summer Games even take place if it weren't for European peoples? Would the diverse peoples of the world be able to organize and execute such a comprehensive tournament even if you assume they could afford it?

I imagine the NE Asians could, but somehow I think they are only interested in it because Europeans like it. If Euros did not participate, I doubt the NE Asians would deem it worthy enough to pursue.

As for the Winter Games, I say cut it some slack. The same people who make the Summer Games possible are behind the Winter Games. If one is truly a sports fan, you should enjoy the great variety and diversity of contests that one doesn't often get to see in a sports world dominated by four team sports.

Anonymous said...

"""""Richard Sherman, despite his 110 IQ, was the salutorian of his high school, so he would have been in regardless.""""""


Now that's a lie. Determined by his wonderlich test score, his IQ is between 106-108.

Also, Stanford is a private school and not necessarily have to follow the UC state requirements.

Bottom line: Sherman was a special admit no matter how you slice it. He was one of the top recruits in US, he would've gotten in somewhere.

Berkeley's FB team's dreadful academic performance isn't any worse than the SEC players, let's get that straight. But certainly it speaks to a larger issue and bigger picture. These DIV1 NCAAers are NOT there for academics. They're there for their sport and a chance to play in NFL or NBA, PERIOD.

But otherwise, Sherman would NOT have been a slam dunk into Stanford. That's a private university and don't have to follow those state regulated guidelines on diversity.

But it is interesting to note: Schools like Stanford's and Berkeley's (and of course the Ivies) their special admits are going to be far different academically (read: somewhat higher in IQ and test scores) than most other DIV1 conferences as say, the SEC.

Anonymous said...

Diversity Alert:

50 Shades of T:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FACEBOOK_NEW_GENDER_OPTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-13-13-02-56

Cail Corishev said...

Would the diverse peoples of the world be able to organize and execute such a comprehensive tournament even if you assume they could afford it?

There's a Pan-Am Games, right? Is there an African Games?

Anonymous said...

There's a Pan-Am Games, right? Is there an African Games?

Yeah, I've heard of the Pan-Am games. Are they organized by Europeans in the New World, such as North Americans and White Hispanics? Or are they organized by the more vibrant communities the Western Hemisphere?

But it is good you bring up the Pan Am games. I don't seem to recall these being that big of a deal on American TV. You'd think all these people complaining about the lack of diversity at the Winter Olympics would be huge fans of the Pan-Am games. But I would be surprised if they've even heard of them.

Anonymous said...

Everyone knows about the African slate trade to the New World, but few seem to know about the Arab slave trade and the huge slave trade carried out by Muslims like the Tartars to take white slaves to the Ottoman Empire.

Doesn't the work 'slave' come from the word 'Slav'?

Dan said...

No it isn't.

It's a very well attended football match.

What trollery.

Willis said...

Oh, The Unbearable Whiteness of Skiing. That was a great movie.

I used to ski about a dozen times a year. A few hundred days of my life, total, have been spent on the slopes. Every ski trip I would see one black guy or girl. No more, no less. Blacks don't ski.

Anonymous said...

Does this guy even realize we only have the Olympics because a white people, Greeks, invented them?

Dave Pinsen said...

Some of the winter Olympic events (speed skating, bobsledding, some of the skiing events) require a lot of strength.

Dave Pinsen said...

Also, check the crowds when EPL teams do summer tours in Asia.

Reg Cæsar said...

Yeah, and the NASL drew massive crowds for international "friendlies" in the 1970s, as did the odd NFL exhibition at Wembley later on. After which the locals went back to discussing draft picks (NFL), relegation (FA), or whatever they do for/to last-place clubs in India. (Reincarelegation?)

Association football isn't "global", it's tribal.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Who wants a global sport, other than globalists?

Mr. Anon said...

"Willis said...

Oh, The Unbearable Whiteness of Skiing."

Hah! That's good.