DukeSox Likes Rick Reilly

nattysez

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The idea that he considered a weekly (if that) column and whatever ridiculousness he does on the TV side to be "full-time" work is just hilarious.  
 

donutogre

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Variety tells a slightly different story — doesn't sound like it was his choice. 
http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/espn-re-assigns-rick-reilly-brent-musburger-1201130468/
 
 
In a surprising move, ESPN has decided to demote a pair of veteran sports personalities.
Rick Reilly, the longtime journalist who joined ESPN from Sports Illustrated in 2008, will no longer write his column for ESPN.com; instead working on a part-time basis for television only. He’ll write his final column June 30.
 

Corsi

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So let me get this straight... Reilly gets demoted, and starts retweeting, en masse, people congratulating him on his retirement?  This guy's a piece of work.
 

Corsi

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Is Rick Reilly going insane?  His last two articles are borderline frightening. 
 
First, it was the creepy letter to Derek Jeter's unborn children, which included the line "Derek Jeter settling down? It was like an eagle deciding to take the bus. Glad he did, though, because genes this good shouldn't be wasted."
 
Then, this morning he publishes an excerpt from his upcoming book (kill yourself now if you're considering purchasing it) which is basically a eulogy to himself, replete with humblebrags about golfing with five different American Presidents and setting up a foundation to protect African children from malaria.
 
This guy is certifiable.  
 

SaveBooFerriss

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Corsi said:
Is Rick Reilly going insane?  His last two articles are borderline frightening. 
 
First, it was the creepy letter to Derek Jeter's unborn children, which included the line "Derek Jeter settling down? It was like an eagle deciding to take the bus. Glad he did, though, because genes this good shouldn't be wasted."
 
Then, this morning he publishes an excerpt from his upcoming book (kill yourself now if you're considering purchasing it) which is basically a eulogy to himself, replete with humblebrags about golfing with five different American Presidents and setting up a foundation to protect African children from malaria.
 
This guy is certifiable.  
 
I didn't read either piece, but I am going to go out on a ledge and guess he took a shot a Tiger Woods in one or both of them.  
 

Corsi

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SaveBooFerriss said:
 
I didn't read either piece, but I am going to go out on a ledge and guess he took a shot a Tiger Woods in one or both of them.  
 
*It'd be funny if Tiger Woods was there to shovel dirt on me, since I've shoveled so much on him.
 
 

Cellar-Door

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ESPN has been looking to dump Reilly for a long time was the rumor. They gave him a ton of money to come over from SI thinking he'd be the older voice to balance Simmons (the young voice at the time) and it never really worked, I mean the rumors about ESPN regretting his contract started as early as 2009. He was the Amare Stoudemire contract of ESPN columnists.
 

Rusty13

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Seriously, I would love it if ESPN "expedited" his "retirement" as the result of this. 
 

JohntheBaptist

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SaveBooFerriss said:
 
I didn't read either piece, but I am going to go out on a ledge and guess he took a shot a Tiger Woods in one or both of them.  
 
Wow, good call--it's the title of the book!
 
Can't believe a ballwashing Reilly obit appears and we don't get the benefit of him being dead.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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MyDaughterLovesTomGordon said:
Haha! He's murdering the field like his forebears murdered the Jews! It's so analogous!
 
That's fucked.  
 
Hitler/Nazi/WWII analogies are always lazy, and I would assume most columnists (especially with the amount of experience Reilly has) know to stay away from them. It's pretty clear he doesn't give a shit anymore and is looking to get the fuck out of ESPN.
 
Still, not sure why the immediate frothing at the mouth. He's clearly referencing the Invasion of Poland and not genocide. Again, it's lazy and is going to draw heat which is why this feels planned, but this isn't "Kaymer is German, German's kill Jews!". It's a sloppy "Kaymer (German) came out fast and strong, Germany came out fast and strong in the invasion of Poland".
 
Again, don't use WWII references (and definitely don't put anything German in a positive light unless you want your dick ripped off), but this isn't some huge act of bigotry. 
 

HurstSoGood

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Not to defend the chump, but I'm pretty sure he's referring to Germany's blitzkrieg across Poland to begin WW2. As in "winning quickly and meeting little resistance."
 
 
Edit: What Kenny said.
 

Corsi

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MyDaughterLovesTomGordon said:
Haha! He's murdering the field like his forebears murdered the Jews! It's so analogous!
 
That's fucked.  
 
Kaymer didn't kill himself in the bunker today though.
 

Leather

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Do you know the atrocities that the Nazis perpetrated as part of their "invasion"?  There were entire units that came after the vanguard who, for all intents and purposes, were there simply to rape, exterminate, and burn the entire country.
 
Saying it's just a military history reference is like saying Auschwitz is just a town in Poland.
 
Now, it might not have been his intention, but he shouldn't even have gone anywhere near that one.   Either through ignorance or willful insensitivity, it's a stupid simile for any journalist to use.   Given his recent history, I'm kind of surprised he didn't go with "Like smallpox through the Native Americans!".
 

Reverend

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So... we should wait and see what he does with his vanquished opponents before casting judgment?
 
First, he came for the caddies...
 

Reverend

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drleather2001 said:
Do you know the atrocities that the Nazis perpetrated as part of their "invasion"?  There were entire units that came after the vanguard who, for all intents and purposes, were there simply to rape, exterminate, and burn the entire country.
 
Saying it's just a military history reference is like saying Auschwitz is just a town in Poland.
 
Now, it might not have been his intention, but he shouldn't even have gone anywhere near that one.   
 
I think I might be OK with this at the Masters.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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drleather2001 said:
Do you know the atrocities that the Nazis perpetrated as part of their "invasion"?  There were entire units that came after the vanguard who, for all intents and purposes, were there simply to rape, exterminate, and burn the entire country.
 
Saying it's just a military history reference is like saying Auschwitz is just a town in Poland.
 
Now, it might not have been his intention, but he shouldn't even have gone anywhere near that one.   
 
I already stated that. He shouldn't have gone near it because it's stupid and lazy. 
 
He also shouldn't have gone near it because people are going to see it and say, "Do you know the atrocities that the Nazis perpetrated as part of their "invasion"?  There were entire units that came after the vanguard who, for all intents and purposes, were there simply to rape, exterminate, and burn the entire country."
 
We all know what point he was making and we can all agree that, as a professional journalist, it's sloppy and lazy. Anything more then that is looking for reasons to get pissed off. I don't want to get into a PC debate in this thread as well, so I won't steer it down that path. I also don't want to defend Rick Reilly, because fuck him in his stupid ugly face. 
 
I'm just surprised that immediately after the tweet was posted, the next 3 people here thought it was a fireable offense. We've gotten pretty quick to judge and go for the throat here, but this is the internet (and I'm in a crusty old man mood at 4:58 on Friday afternoon).
 

nattysez

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I agree that it's insensitive, but not a fireable offense.
 
I believe that most Germans (please correct me if I'm wrong) are pretty deeply offended if you liken them to Nazis in any way, so it's  a thoughtless thing to say.  And Reilly being such a smug a-hole kind of encourages everyone to go nuts when he does something like this.
 

Reverend

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I have had a number of German friends from different parts of the country and they don't find it offensive so much as they bristle. And they don't bristle about being called Nazis so much as at any references to Nazis. Basically, they are well aware that that wasn't their finest hour, and they don't take it likely, much less joke about it.
 
I'm now playing a game at home of what sorts of other stupid things might be said at sporting events. I've got a bunch of good planation master ones. I'm having trouble with the war in the pacific though...
 

Corsi

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Reverend said:
I have had a number of German friends from different parts of the country and they don't find it offensive so much as they bristle. And they don't bristle about being called Nazis so much as at any references to Nazis. Basically, they are well aware that that wasn't their finest hour, and they don't take it likely, much less joke about it.
 
I'm now playing a game at home of what sorts of other stupid things might be said at sporting events. I've got a bunch of good planation master ones. I'm having trouble with the war in the pacific though...
 
Hideki Matsuyama vs 1941 Pearl Harbor?  
 

mascho

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Reverend said:
I have had a number of German friends from different parts of the country and they don't find it offensive so much as they bristle. And they don't bristle about being called Nazis so much as at any references to Nazis. Basically, they are well aware that that wasn't their finest hour, and they don't take it likely, much less joke about it.
 
I'm now playing a game at home of what sorts of other stupid things might be said at sporting events. I've got a bunch of good planation master ones. I'm having trouble with the war in the pacific though...
 
The Bataan Death March might be a good (well, bad) place to start.  
 

Leather

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To be clear: I don't think it's a termination-worthy offense.  It's just Exhibit X as to why the guy is a fucking fraud.
 

Leather

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Reverend said:
I have had a number of German friends from different parts of the country and they don't find it offensive so much as they bristle. And they don't bristle about being called Nazis so much as at any references to Nazis. Basically, they are well aware that that wasn't their finest hour, and they don't take it likely, much less joke about it.
 
I'm now playing a game at home of what sorts of other stupid things might be said at sporting events. I've got a bunch of good planation master ones. I'm having trouble with the war in the pacific though...
 
"There's no defending this pass attack!  The defensive backs are completely unprepared! It's like Pearl Harbor out there!"
 
"The Tigers farm system in 2014 = Nanking, 1938"
 

Reverend

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mascho said:
 
The Bataan Death March might be a good (well, bad) place to start.  
 
"Much like the proud Choctaw Nation, the field field at the U.S. Open was unprepared for Kaymer's dominance as he drove them out of contention."
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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drleather2001 said:
 
"There's no defending this pass attack!  The defensive backs are completely unprepared! It's like Pearl Harbor out there!"
I'd laugh. Hard.
 

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drleather2001 said:
 
"There's no defending this pass attack!  The defensive backs are completely unprepared! It's like Pearl Harbor out there!"
 
"The Tigers farm system in 2014 = Nanking, 1938"
 
"Martin Kaymer v 2014 U.S. Open = Anakin Skywalker v sandwomen & sandchildren"
 

Leather

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Kenny F'ing Powers said:
I'd laugh. Hard.
 
Depends on the teams in question.

EDIT: No, I'd definitely laugh, after looking around to make sure I actually heard what I just fucking thought I heard.
 

Reverend

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drleather2001 said:
 
Depends on the teams in question.
EDIT: No, I'd definitely laugh, after looking around to make sure I actually heard what I just fucking thought I heard.
 
"Kaymer is sticking it to his opponents like P.C. is stifling the white man!!"