The subtle art of racism

I've been wanting to do a piece on this absolutely insane A-Rod situation for a little while now, and I kept saying "Oh, it will be resolved soon, I'll comment on it then."

That was 3 weeks ago.

So in light of the fact that it doesn't seem to be going anywhere right now, I want to talk about something else that happened that bugged me a great deal.

This.

This is Riley Cooper, a wide receiver for the Eagles.  He is at a Kenny Chesney concert, and drunk as hell. 

This should not have become as big of a story as it did.

Seriously, check out this, this, and this.  That took me 3 seconds to find all these talking points on what he said.

As far as I'm concerned, this is not news.

I don't agree with anything Riley Cooper said, but it also shouldn't of resulted in the massive media lambasting he received, or in the fine he received from the Eagles (exact amount currently undisclosed, but the Eagles has said it is "substantial")

"My bad."

 I'm a very firm believer of freedom of speech, and that exists solely to protect that which we DON'T want to hear.  This clearly falls into that category.  Hell, the dude is hammered.  If I got held over the fire for every insensitive thing I said while drunk... hoo boy.  Now I'll give props to Riley Cooper here, he came out and said that yes he was drunk, but that "it was no excuse for what I said."

I would agree with that statement if he said "it was no excuse for what I did."  He didn't DO anything wrong, he said something stupid.  Move along with your lives.

There is someone else who disagrees with that sentiment.  Herm Edwards.

Yes, he is black.

Herm Edwards came out and said "He was drunk.  Everybody says stupid things when they're drunk."  Herm Edwards didn't care, because he saw this as what it is, a guy saying something stupid.  That's it.  I honestly think this became as big of a story as it did because it happened during the summer sports/news doldrums that always seem to happen.  Something had to be news worthy, it might as well be this.

 Because of this story though, I believe it led to this being a story as well.

A Missouri rodeo clown wore an Obama mask, and the announcers poked fun at Obama while he was in the ring.  As a result, the rodeo clown was banned for life from the Missouri rodeo circuit, and the announcers resigned in disgrace.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?

Jesus tap dancing christ people, take a god damn joke.  You don't have to like it, but then again, NOBODY FORCED YOU TO SEE IT.  Hell, I voted for Obama and I think this is funny.  They're simply playing to their audience.  That's it.  Seriously, is anyone shocked that a rodeo crowd in Missouri is predominatly Republican?  Hell, I live in Texas and am pretty left wing on most issues, and I see and hear stuff like this all the time.  But - shocker - I remember that we live in a country that allows people to have differeing viewpoints, and even one that allows us to say really stupid things, and I go on my merry way.

Is racism bad?  You bet.  But for the love of God, stop making everything a damn crusade.