The Tale Of A Hypocrite

Jemele Hill. She is an ESPN Page 2 columnist, and I use the term columnist in the broadest sense of the term. Frankly, she is terrible. If anyone has ever read her garbage you would understand, and if you haven't here is a link to read her writing. I know you'll agree. Now I'm not normally the guy to criticize someone, I have many flaws of my own. But at some point people have to be responsible for their actions. Heres what went down...

In a recent article about the Boston Celtics she says, and I quote, cheering "for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim." I mean, I'm pretty sure that isn't any better than what Don Imus said. Frankly, I think that should be the end for her, but not just because of that comment. Here is why...

Jemele Hill is constantly writing about race. In fact, it is very rare that she writes about anything else. Any time there is an issue about race she manages to beat it to death. She was one of the people calling for Don Imus to be fired after his "nappy headed hoes" comment, and she manages to insert race into issues that have nothing to do with the matter. In fact, a direct quote from her is "now, the killer for me is that I'm a double-minority. On any given day, I either don't know anything because I'm a woman or I'm a affirmative action hire because I'm black." She also admits to constantly writing about race, stating "Just because I've written extensively about race doesn't render me incapable of making the same mistakes as the people I've written about." She was one of the first ones jumping on golf announcer Kelly Tilghman after her remarks about Tiger. So clearly I think I've established the fact that she puts race in just about everything, including describing herself.

She also is just a terrible columnist. After reading her articles for ESPN's Page 2 I wonder if maybe she blackmailed them into hiring her somehow, because there are so many better writers out there. And I'm not the only one who believes this. If you look at the comments readers put at the end of her drivel you'll see that maybe one out of every fifteen is actually a positive comment, the other fourteen are calling for her to just stop writing altogether. She often defends people she considers "friends" while hating on people that she doesn't. In comparing A-Rod to Kobe Bryant recently she said "say what you will about Kobe Bryant, but at least he's not a mercenary who wants all of the money, but none of the pressure, and doesn't perform in the playoffs. In other words, at least he's not Alex Rodriguez." Now, I don't enjoy defending A-Rod here, but Kobe threatened to go to the Clippers, the team playing in the same building as his own, until they upped their ante. He also ripped into his teammate Andrew Bynum during the off-season, and repeatedly stated he wanted out of L.A. By the way, he makes over 33 mil. after endorsements and salary. A-Rod makes 28 mil. He also resigned with the Yankees for what many people considered a "good deal" at the time. Never mind the fact that teams could pay A-Rod as much as they want, while teams have strict salary limits in the NBA.

Heres the last part of my rant. Her apology was terrible and hypocritical. She couldn't even go one article without contradicting herself. " Real apologies don't mix with rationalizations, so I won't insult your intelligence by offering you any." Later in the same article; "it doesn't matter that my intent was to use hyperbole to bolster the humor." Sounds exactly like a rationalization to me. Then she actually takes another shot at the same people she is supposed to be apologizing to when she says "I learned some good and some not-so-good things about people during the week of my suspension. I've learned who my friends are. I've learned Boston Celtics fans sure do know how to make the most out of e-mail." By saying that right there, in her apology article no less, she shows she is not apologetic at all. She then goes on to say that "when it comes to race, uncomfortable is best." No Jemele, it's the opposite. The world will be the place we want it to be when we are all comfortable with each and every race, with each and every person. People being uncomfortable with race is exactly what is wrong with our society. But, I guess if we were all comfortable with each other you would have nothing to write about would you Jemele. Your writing oftentimes isn't even good enough to get into my local newspaper in Maine, let alone be posted on "the worldwide leader in sports." If ESPN was smart, they would cut ties with you here and now. And not because of your comment. No, because, even if you were a good writer at one point, you are not anymore. The comment you made may be racist, it may not be, it doesn't matter. I guess it's all in your perspective. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter. You don't deserve the position you are in, never have, and if this is what it takes to justify your release then so be it.

So there it is. Count me among the "haters" if you want Jemele, but the only thing you ever had going for you is playing the race card, and now that the race card is coming right back at you you don't know how to deal. You aren't a good writer, very few people read your articles and the ones who do mostly hate them. Furthermore, you have just proven yourself to be a hypocrite multiple times in one article.

I'll leave you with this from Ms. Hill; " I'm not going to stop writing about race. It's just that the next time I do, I'll be carrying an enhanced perspective." And the one trick pony trots on...

~Aaron Jackson