Bradley Sure He Can Handle Chicago Cubs Fans' Taunts (Milton: title, deal)

[Nauticadon]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

No, but it is relevant to the people making claims that "Cubs fans are racists."

Generalizations like that aren't productive, unless you want to extend the logic to "Chicagoans are racists," "Americans are racists," etc.

Context is important.

On the second point, well, that boils down to a level of trust. I'd trust a guy like Derrek Lee if he said these things had happened but had no evidence. I'd trust Baker as well, even though I thought he was a crappy manager, but Milton Bradley? I think he's just a whiner.

So we're picking and choosing who to believe based on our unhappiness with the person's attitude? Is that how it works now?

People must learn to differentiate between fantasy and reality. There's an enormous difference between a guy whining because he can't hit the ball and the same guy voicing concerns about being insulted by fans because of his race.

Spending $60 on a ticket does not give you the right to insult someone. No player should have to deal with that nonsense. If you think the guy sucks let him know but leave the racial stuff out of it.

[Brisklaw]

I noticed that ton of anti-white racists ganged up on Michael Barrett. I witnessed this more than a few times at games, as if they were taking glee in having one White player they could take out their racial frustrations on.

[whinniethezen]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

No, but it is relevant to the people making claims that "Cubs fans are racists."

Generalizations like that aren't productive, unless you want to extend the logic to "Chicagoans are racists," "Americans are racists," etc.

Context is important.

Just curious. Who was making generalizations? I think the ESPN story was about a trend in the bleachers at Wrigley, not about classifying an entire city as racists.

[whinniethezen]

Originally Posted by Brisklaw

I noticed that ton of anti-white racists ganged up on Michael Barrett. I witnessed this more than a few times at games, as if they were taking glee in having one White player they could take out their racial frustrations on.

Somehow I'd take the word of the 6 ballplayers and 1 manager over you

[whinniethezen]

Originally Posted by Nauticadon

So we're picking and choosing who to believe based on our unhappiness with the person's attitude? Is that how it works now?

People must learn to differentiate between fantasy and reality. There's an enormous difference between a guy whining because he can't hit the ball and the same guy voicing concerns about being insulted by fans because of his race.

Spending $60 on a ticket does not give you the right to insult someone. No player should have to deal with that nonsense. If you think the guy sucks let him know but leave the racial stuff out of it.

I agree, and it's confounded by the fact that Bradley is not the first to make such claims. There are at least 5 others, two of them from other teams who did not even play for the Cubs. Maybe it's the same racist biggot in the bleachers at each separate event? Unlikely.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by whinniethezen

Just curious. Who was making generalizations? I think the ESPN story was about a trend in the bleachers at Wrigley, not about classifying an entire city as racists.

This is your problem, IMO - you're taking a small (if not minute) number of incidents and you are projecting them on to several thousands of people.

Assuming that all of the incidents are in fact true (and disregarding the fact you continue to evade that plenty of similarly hued players have had no such problems), you are still talking about a fraction of 1% of attendees.

That's not a trend. That's not an indictment of Cubs fans, or people who sit in the bleachers.

I don't think anybody here is ruling out that you're going to have some garden-variety bigots going to Cubs games, but you are absolutely implying that there is some sort of larger culture of permissiveness/tolerance/support for the activity that is not there, and that's why people are taking offense.

I was at the game last night - did Bradley get booed? Yep. But that was it, just boos. I was in section 204, btw.

[Chi-town Native]

btw, maybe people are reading too much into your first post, but you stated: "But I can't remember another city with this many problems with fans."

to which I again have to say, is the handful of incidents you're describing really a reflection on the CITY?

[Grandata]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

I'm far more troubled by issues like banks redlining black folks, the unhealthiness of the food in the public schools, our loss of blue collar jobs, corruption-ridden contracts with City hall, an Olympics that threatens to bankrupt the City further, etc.

This is a joke, right? Redlining? Apparently you haven't the slightest knowldege of finance or economics otherwise you'd understand why Fannie and Freddie are insolvent and you'd know what the subprime meltdown means.

Chicago is far more bankrupted by a gigantic welfare class than it the olympic bid. Get real.

Scottie Pippen claimed racism at the very same time Michael Jordan was the most beloved athlete in Chicago history. This thread needs to have the term - alleged - in the title.

Chicago does have its racists though, it is home to Jesse Jackson AND Louis Farrakhan, what other city has to deal with that?!!!

[JoeyPants]

Originally Posted by whinniethezen

I don't think it's a common perception of anyone in particular. But there is more to the story than simply Milton Bradley's accusations...the title of this post is "racist comments toward another black athlete in Chicago" There apparently was a string of racist incidents like this over the past few years at Wrigley. Are you saying those incidents were not spotlighted in Chicago media or just nobody cared at the time? It's also a little bit disturbing that no one has responded here on the Chicago board to acknowledge the accusations of all those other players. They seem to only want to talk about Milton Bradley. I would think it would be more of a story that Tori Hunter had a no trade clause agianst Chicago because of the reputation of racism.

The fact is that allegations about racism at Wrigley have been expressed by others besides Bradley, Chicago Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell stated that fans called her an "Aunt Jemima" Defenders will argue that this is not a racist statement. Making the argument about Bradley steers the debate away from the real issue, the same way that Global Warming deniers focus on Al Gore's fuel consumption instead of Global Warming.

[Grandata]

Originally Posted by JoeyPants

The fact is that allegations about racism at Wrigley have been expressed by others besides Bradley, Chicago Sun Times columnist Mary Mitchell stated that fans called her an "Aunt Jemima" Defenders will argue that this is not a racist statement. Making the argument about Bradley steers the debate away from the real issue, the same way that Global Warming deniers focus on Al Gore's fuel consumption instead of Global Warming.

Mary Mitchell is not an objective source. You'll need to do better than her. Please. Actually, I think her story is an outright lie, that's how little I trust her.