Good for you Felipe
I agree with Felipe Alou,manager of the
San Francisco Giants in turning down
Larry Krueger’s apology after what he
said about Caribbean Giants players
and talking about Felipe Alou
and in the same sentence Cream Of Wheat.
By Amaury Pi-GonzalezSo what is racist and what is not ?
If I make this following statement, would
you consider it a fact or a racist comment:
“the Oakland Athletics only have one
African-American player on their team”.
You can come to your own conclusion either
way. But I could follow up by saying, the
fact that of 25 men on the A’S only one is
African-American. That leads me to believe
anything. Right ? A fact is a fact, nobody can
dispute that, but then It has some kind of
racist feeling since it is frased that way.
But we all should agree that there is no
need for quotas in baseball. Baseball still
is the most racially mixed of any pro
sport in the country. What other pro league
in the US has such a mix of Anglos,Hispanics,
African-Americans and Asians ? Not the NBA
and definetely not the NFL or NHL.
When it comes to managing/coaching and
General Managers baseball still in the arrears
of the other pro leagues when it comes to
minorities. But like we say in the biz, that
would be…another show.
Regardless of what you think of what I have
stated is a fact, what Mr Krueger said over the
air has no place in this country and in sports
in general. Those were directly racist comments
of such magnitude that there is no escaping
the fact.
Sports is the one activity that should be
color blind. But specially in the progressive
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area as politically
correct as any place in this country Larry
Krueger should be fired for such remarks.
There is no room for this type of ignorance
or racism on the air when covering Sports.
The Bay Area would be the last place in
this country to find such attitudes.
A lot of my friends have asked me to say
something about this and all I can say is
that I would loose a lot of respect for
KNBR management If they decided to
keep Larry Krueger on the air.
A few days suspension is ridicolous and
I do agree with Felipe Alou that it is
nothing but a ‘slap in the hand’.
As a Hispanic I have experienced discrimination
in the first degree and you know it when you
are discriminated and you can tell when somebody
makes a racist remark or when it is just a
slip of the tounge.
When I first arrived in the US in 1961 I remember
in Miami riding the Miami-Dade buses and still
some African-Americans sitting in the back,
even though they could sit in the front. Most
of them were older people, people that have
been discriminated for so long that even when
they had the right to seat in front they still
did not dare to. I remember feeling an empty
sad feeling about this, the greatest country
in the world when I witnessed that. This the
greatest country on the face of the earth,this
the country I honorably served for 2 years
in the US Army. But today is 2005.
I do not blame Felipe Alou for not wanting to
accept Larry Krueger’s apology. Felipe was
discriminated when he first came to play
pro baseball in the US, he remembers that
and therefore he (today at the age of 70)
cannot believe that a young man in a progressive
city like San Francisco could make such remarks
on a 50,000 Watts 24X7X365 Sports format station.
If Mr Krueger thinks he can get away with stuff
like this then he is very stupid and very ignorant
and there is no way he did this for publicity,
if he thought this would be good publicity then
like the lawyers say” “I rest my case”.
Adios.
0 comments
Well said,Amaury. Kreuger’s so called suspension is a joke.
He was at the park yesterday. So much for suspensions.
His comments are reverberating around the whole country
as well as Latin America. I don’t know if firing Kreuger will
end such comments. What we should be seeking is an an end to racism. Martin Luther King, in his famous speech, said
that we should judge people on the content of their character
not the color of their skin. All players should be judged on their accomplishments or failures as individuals. White players throw to the wrong base or get picked off or do dumb things on the field. Are they “brain dead?’. Not much more I can say except that it is truly a sad day and that we
as a society have to continue to eliminate racism.
Jerry Feitelberg
Jerry,
Thanks.
I do believe in Free Speech, but we should expect
grown ups to do better over the air that what(he)
Mr.Krueger. If he is so upset about the Giants
play, then he should quit KNBR nobody is holding
a gun to his head ! But blaming the Giants play on Caribbean players is silly. How many Latinos are
in the starting rotation ?>
Saludos,
Amaury
Amaury:
Your last paragraph highlights the issue –Krueger has regularly chosen to take a harsh line on the performance of local teams — he is basically the only KNBR personaility who openly criticizes poor play and management, whether this is from station tenants Giants and Warriors or Raiders / 49ers. I think the station supports this position on his part because almost all the other on air people are cheerleaders, and someone critical is needed when poor play is consistent -to maintain some type of journalistic integrity–the point you make is that Krueger seemed to become comfortable that he could say whatever he wanted without recourse — and this comfort level caused him to let down his guard and do the unthinkable, and let out unprofessional and prohibited characterizations. This disqualifies him from access to a microphone as a talk show moderator or even as a caller.
Salvadore immediately defended Krueger’s job security, and I think this corporate declaration is what is enraging the Giants. Felipe Alou is a man of incredible dignity, and a man universally respected, and it is inspiring to see him face down KNBR so directly, so persistently, so completly.
Krueger himself appears to be a loyal and trusted KNBR employee, his previous programming content had to have the approval of the station managers — he screwed up big time in focusing on a few players when the whole team, the whole organization has been struggling with the Bonds disaster, and his specific comments about the manager and a few players have no place in broadcast or print journalism. For these reasons Krueger should not be retained, end of story –and yet his arrogance is so great that he goes into the stadium, apparently confronts the manager and players with apologetic words, assuming that this would be sufficient to stop their anger.
This may become a corporate stand off between the Giants and KNBR, and if it does, Felipe Alou and his players will still surely triumph –but the real problem is that this had to happen at all, that his beautiful game, so loved by millions of people, must be continuously plagued by the shadows of distractions, like drugs, racism, etc..
I cannot say “Good for you” to a man who has called another man “a messenger of Satan.” Krueger’s comments were ill-advised, but taken out of context. KNBR has shown through this situation to be a mere commercial for the Giants.
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