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Sox Shuffle Continues
Chicago Bulls player - and reigning NBA Rookie of the Year - finds himself in a new controversy over a photo (above) that allegedly shows Rose flashing gang signs. The photo's been circulating over the last week on several sports blogs and today the Tribune takes up the issue.
A Chicago Bulls team spokesman said Thursday that the team is aware, but unconcerned, that there is a photograph circulating via email and now on some Websites that appears to depict Bulls star Derrick Rose flashing gang signs.The spokesman said the activity shown does not square with the Derrick Rose they know.
The undated photo depicts Rose, who grew up in one of Chicago's most violent and gang-ridden neighborhoods, seated with his hands raised and fingers crooked in the "pitchforks" sign of the Gangster Disciples Nation. It is unclear whether Rose is expressing a gang affiliation, or he was just joking with his friends at a party. An unidentified man is standing behind Rose, grinning, with his own hands showing gang signs, according to a police source.
Rose's name has come up a lot lately in connection with allegations of wrong-doing at Memphis and allegations a grade was changed for him while at Simeon High School.
No word if the mainstream media will investigate the plight of white girls flashing gang signs.
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classic. no mention of what appears to be smoke in the air and the leaves on his shirt? surprising since it's such a hot topic and an easy target for those opposed to the wonder plant.
Nothing wrong here, its not like kids on the street are dying due to gang violence. No children are in wheel chairs, etc. Honestly this country would be better with out sports. I hope that dude's career ends because of gang violence, F*cking fool!
I am so with you on the sports thing, Spook.
Yeah, because at no time has sports ever taught kids such positive values as teamwork, discipline and hard work, nor provided something better than sitting around the house all day in front of the TV.
Yes, we put too much stock in pro sports, but let's not trash the entire pursuit, either.
Sports are awesomely good fun, when you're playing them 'for fun'.
Today, sports don't teach good sportsmanship and teamwork and all that other good moral building stuff. They're all about making money. There is no team loyalty...there is 'I go to whoever is going to pay me the biggest bucks'...and to be worth that kind of cash maybe I should shoot up with steroids too.
When I say I don't like sports, this is what I'm talking about. Getting together with friends to play some pickup basketball or stickball or capture the flag...THAT is fun and that's where you learn how to play nice with the other boys and girls.
Not in pro sports, or even little league teams where you have moms and dads beating each other up, screaming at the kids to win win win and making that trophy what it's all about.
And anyway, if the schools put as much money into the arts as they do sports, I think we'd have much better citizens in the end. This is why I staunchly believe that sports should be community ran and not in the schools. Why are the arts always the first to lose funding, never, never the precious sports?
We need a whole shift in consciousness regarding sports. They should be fun. Not about blood, guts and money.
Listen, I agree with much of you say, including about arts.
But this is way too general, and extremely unfair:
"Today, sports don't teach good sportsmanship and teamwork and all that other good moral building stuff. They're all about making money. There is no team loyalty...there is 'I go to whoever is going to pay me the biggest bucks'...and to be worth that kind of cash maybe I should shoot up with steroids too."
Really? All sports? All leagues? Are you sure about that? I can think of a few players from St Louis, for instance, who for one reason or another basically accepted less pay to stay with the baseball Cardinals. Rare, perhaps, but it does happen. And fans notice, too.
As well, in pro sports, there's never really been absolute team loyalty, not when a person is making money. In the past, what one might think was team loyalty often was an owner forcing certain players to stay put.
As well, I see nothing wrong with professionals trying to make the most of their careers, whether that includes, saying, trying to a spot with the Yankees, or holding out for big bucks. Lawyers, teachers, cops, etc. do the same thing. Who cares? You can be sure that as much as players make--and god, they do make obscene amounts for playing games, don't they--the fat cats who own the teams make even more. What's wrong with players benefiting from their labor? Clearly, the market supports the pay (though, of course, I don't think taxpayers should subsidize sport stadiums, but that's another issue).
Remember, I agree there needs to be more focus on non-sport activities. The best scientists and artists should be like rock stars or, at the least, strong role models alongside jocks (and this does happen more often than you seem to think). But let's not paint all sports with the same broad brush, either. It just doesn't make sense.
Besides, sports will never go away. Sports fulfills a basic human need to compete.
"Really? All sports? All leagues? Are you sure about that? I can think of a few players from St Louis, for instance, who for one reason or another basically accepted less pay to stay with the baseball Cardinals. Rare, perhaps, but it does happen. And fans notice, too."
I would say the bad stuff happens enough to turn me off. And because a couple of guys decide to stay with their chosen teams and only made 10 million a year instead of 15 million... Wow. Big sacrifice. How does your lifestyle change for the negative when you're only making 10 mil instead of 15 mil? Poor guy.
But I know, I'm in a minority on this issue. Dropping a ball into a basket, in my opinion, is not worth the gazillions of dollars these people make. I think the whole culture is just insane.
Little kids on the street don't want to grow up to be good sportsmen...they want to make that kind of cash and become big shot stars. The way I see it, this is the influence...the money and celebrity...not good sportsmanship.
And, yes, I am quite aware of the fact that nothing about this is ever going to change. My only outlet is to kvetch about it on this blog...it's not like I'm going to go out and start a picket line at Wrigley Field.
Well, then your beef is with society, not sports, Ingrid.
If you would change your target, I'd probably agree with your ideas here.
Well, I think that was pretty clear when I said previously that I love playing sports...I just think they should be community based and not in the schools.
@bluefairline...I see what you're saying. And believe it or not, I get caught up in the excitement of the Superbowl and I got goosebumps when the Red Sox won the world series...and I love watching the World Cup, but I could seriously live without all that.
I could never live without art...and society couldn't either.
We would be dead inside without art.
There are plenty of other ways to bond with your sons (and daughters :) besides pro sports.
The way you and I might feel about art is the way many people feel about sports, Ingrid. You don't seem to give that reality its proper acknowledgment. And many people have strong feelings about both art and sports.
Well, there have been studies about what happens to inner city children when they are exposed to art...how much it improves their outlooks on life.
Now, these kids are exposed to sports on a daily basis...but when art was brought into their lives, everything changes. I could go on about that forever.
I understand that many people are obsessed with sports and feel strongly about them. But society could live without pro sports. Society could not survive without art. I'm not making that up, this is not some random or original statement from the nether regions of my illogical brain.
Sports have just taken too big a role in our society.
I think society would be just as dead without sports as it would be without art. As matilda said, sports fulfill a primal need to compete, something we'll always have. Sometimes, it's all that keeps us from beating the heck out of each other. (World Cup doesn't count on that one.) And yes, there are other ways to bond with your children ... which doesn't detract from the value of this way.
Another value of sports to society ... they can help bring about necessary social change. If you haven't already, you should read the story of Jackie Robinson, who integrated baseball 18 years before Martin Luther King marched from Selma. Robinson's entry into the major leagues served as the first opportunity for many people to see a black man working side-by-side and competing at an equal level as his white counterparts. (Actually, he was better than most of them.) It was an incredibly important step to set up what came later.
Ok...again...I'm not advocating for the elimination of sports from this world. I got lots of enjoyment from playing them myself.
I just wold like to see pro and school sports take a less prominent role.
What's so wrong with going out with a bunch of kids and playing capture the flag? You ever play this game? Talk about burning calories, learning how to plan and connect with team mates!
Or just a neighborhood game?
There is just too much focus on pro sports, college sports, etc. and winning at any cost and money, money, money. That's what I think we could all live without.
Nothing wrong with getting off one's ass and playing ball, but there is so much wrong with sports today. That's all I 'm saying.
Oh, I more than agree that kids need to get out and play capture the flag and such. I used to love roaming the neighborhood when I was a kid. But I don't think professional or school sports are to blame for kids' reluctance to do that sort of thing anymore. I think it has far more to do with television and computers and facebook and twitter and video games and all the other media crap absorbing their attention. The existence of professional sports doesn't keep kids locked in front of their TVs. The kids make that choice, and their parents foolishly let them.
No, no, no...that's not what I'm saying.
I'm not blaming professional sports for kids not going outside to play (there are a whole host of other reasons for that)...I just would like to see sports (n the schools, colleges and pro) take a less prominent role in our society.
In high schools, it's STILL "jocks rule"...even though the nerd culture has come up a few notches. I feel that all sports should take a less prominent role. Physical activity should not take a back seat, but the whole jock culture should be taken down a few pegs.
Cancer Curers...not ball players should be idolized and making huge money. I wonder if that shift will ever occur?
Well, I don't think "jocks rule" will ever change, no matter how much you lessen the importance of sports. You could get rid of school sports entirely, and the strong and pretty would still always trump the smart. It's an unfortunate but permanent part of the human condition.
Although, when I was in high school, I worshipped Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein, and I wasn't alone. There are science superstars and arts superstars for kids who choose to devote their attentions that way. No, they didn't get the attention Michael Jordan got, but they were still idolized. And I don't think Stephen Hawking is a poor man.
I feel you may be giving professional sports a bad rap, castigating it more than it deserves and ignoring any possible value. I'll grant that the money side of sports can be unseemly, but I think a big part of that owes to the messiness of living in a capitalist society. It's merely a reflection of the fixation on money of society as a whole, something far too many of us regular folks share.
Here is my personal experience with professional sports. For most of my life, I paid no attention to it at all. But when I moved to Chicago, I decided to go to a few baseball games. I found them surprisingly entertaining, so I started paying attention to baseball. I began following the teams, and reading books on the subject, and learning the subtle nuances of the sport. And I found that in many ways, it can be very intellectually deep. Thinking about baseball can lead to thinking about philosophy or history or ethics and morality or even ordinary math. I don't find it an empty pursuit. I feel baseball has enriched my life. It's added a new dimension to my thinking.
Just as there is value in the arts, there is value in sports. There is release from constant stress and worry. There is companionship. It can help build relationships. Few things are better than a beautiful evening at a baseball park with your son sitting next to you, talking about nothing more important than whether Jim Thome will make it to 600 home runs. It doesn't matter what you're talking about, just that you're talking. You're building memories together in a simple, comfortable place.
Yes, many of the athletes are only interested in the money, and some of them go to disgusting lengths to make that money. But many more still love the game. There are still good people out there playing, giving it their all, never giving up despite the fact that their team's mediocre and they're probably going to lose. There are good stories, and I feel they contribute something essential to American culture. We shouldn't discount professional sports simply because they have a bad side. There are few things in the world that don't.
"The spokesman said the activity shown does not square with the Derrick Rose they know."
yea, a sambo who just plays basketball, that's all they care about, just a high priced commodity to be bought and sold
Tons of kids who grew up in Rose's neighborhood turn to gangs out of a sense of desperation and a need for some form community, regardless of how sociopathic that community may be. I can understand the appeal to a kid who feels as if all society is against him, and I can forgive him the stupidity of allowing himself to be drawn in. This doesn't mean I'll forgive him when he participates in the things gangs do ... just that I understand how an impressionable kid can get started. It's not been suggested that Derrick Rose did anything illegal, just that he was an impressionable kid in a rough part of town. Unless we learn otherwise, we should let this go.
Yea, I cut inner city kids some slack too, even slack to those who murder. But when some one is making a gazillion dollars a year, then I draw the line. To whom much is given, then much is expected.
No excuse to risk the lives of some many others when he dosen't have to swim in the same sewer! And for the Bulls not to acknowledge the rank stupidity of a player flashing gang signs when kids are dying in the streets is more than wrong!
The kid was not a role model to anyone when he flashed those gang signs. He was an unknown kid. I hate to think any of us should be judged forever by what we do when we're kids.
So do you think kids who fall into the gang trap should be branded for life, that they should never have a chance to leave that behind? Should we tattoo a big, red "G" on their foreheads, even at the merest suggestion of gang association?
p.s and then the "smoke in the air and the leaves on his shirt"!
Cornel West said that Black kids use to be able to turn on the TV and see some body that loved them, that would
sacrifice for them ie.Muhammad Ali, MLK, etc, Now we got roll models flashing gang signs and preachers getting rich like Jesse Jr
All I want to know is why is Chris Tucker there?
This just in, professional athlete does something stupid, regrettable.
Film at 11.
They hired him to play ball. They didn't hire him because he has a spotless background.
Cut the guy some slack. Seriously, who cares.
Also I would have took him for a GD, not Folks.
I mean, anyone who's anyone knows that Folks can't play ball like GDs can.
As a gangster from chicago i wanna bring a few things to light, first of all Matty ur an idiot. GD's which is what Derrick Rose is supposedly representing are folks. Now the other dude he's representing UVL, Unknown ViseLords which are the enemies of the GD's which make me believe Derrick Rose is not hooked uo and is telling the truth about it being a joke. Its normal for guys who grew up in the City around Gangs to not be in that gangs but are effected by the life style.
Fifty cent said America got a love for this gangster shit. Do your thang D-Rose you dont got to apologize as long as you play the game with all you got and practice to be the best you can then thats all you owe us as fans.
@Ingrid (Well, I think that was pretty clear when I said previously that I love playing sports...I just think they should be community based and not in the schools.) I taught in the CPS for several years at a community high school, and in my experience, sports is what keeps a lot of kids in school. If they didn't have the opportunity to play soccer or wrestle, they would not bother showing up.
My school didn't have winning teams, but the kids thrived on being part of a team and having somewhere to go after school.
Even when you're in school, you have to keep your grades at a certain level or you're not allowed to participate in sports.
Same could be done in community based sports. If you don't go to school, then you don't get to play. Simple as that.
Education should always, always, always trump sports. So, I stand firm with community, not school based sports.