The fact is Clark said something he knows he shouldn't have said, especially to a kid. The boy needs to do his job and give the ball back, but Clark is the professional and the adult. Even if it is out of character, the damage was done. Clark deserves a punishment and got one. Children are impressionable and the boy will probably remember the moment forever. As a parent I would teach my boy to expect that reaction from some people, but I wouldn't be happy that it occurred. I'd want my child to have thick skin, but don't want him to think that it is okay to go around throwing "hate-filled" slurs at people, even if it is just in frustration. I'm glad Clark apologized to the boy face to face because it shows an example that when mistakes are made, you should man-up to them. I'm also glad that there was a punishment, because it shows the boy that there are consequences. All-in-all, I think the situation was handled appropriately after the fact by both Clark and the league. Now let's move on to Chicago.
I wonder if Phil Anschutz secretly did a little fist pump when the news broke about Colin Clark's comment to the ball boy.
I have no doubt that the kid doesn't mind the word, or being yelled at by an opposing player. It's just not the way I want a guy representing my city behaving. I'm sure Clark is fine and just let his emotions get the better of him. Such is life. And Dom saying 'retarded' isn't much better in my book. Unless he was referring to the average speed of the defense considerably slowing after Waibel touched the field.
But when he goes to the kid right after the game face to face to make up for it, then gets' on twitter and says "damned, I screwed up, I'm sorry everyone", then let it go. Give him a 1 game suspension and tell him to send $1000 to some charity. The league is being draconian with this, as are some of the people around here (here as in BS, here as in Houston, here as in the GLBT alliance who called the Dynamo out, here as in the international media that has grabbed on to this with both hands). The only people still positing thier opinions are the ones who have nothing to do with it (yes, the irony of my saying that is not lost).
The media attention has definitely been over the top. But that is the way the world is when it comes to negatives. Those are always the ones reported because they are the most interesting. His humanitarian of the year award certainly didn't get the same spotlight, though it probably warranted it.
I have started a post in General MLS and trying to make light of MLS turning a blind eye to other similar prejudice that has gone unpunished. If people feel that discrimination is bad then let them know (right?), not just for the league/celebrity player preferred ones: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1924893 Hispanic fans, not just gay groups, have rights to correct discrimination against us!
He didn't yell at A CHILD(!), the Seattle fans on this site say they use u-16 academy players as ball boys. I don't know if you people are older than dirt or what, but I remember being a 15 year old kid who was a fairly accomplished athlete. I was a punk. Most of my friends were punks. I would have worn it like a badge of honor if I had been able to get under the skin of an opposing professional athlete like that. The horror and indignation that he yelled at A CHILD(!) would ring a lot less hollow if it were a 10 or 11 year old kid, but at 15, kids are worldly enough that nothing about that language is going to be shocking to them in the least. I think he made a poor decision, and that he should be punished for it. 3 games is way excessive in my opinion, especially in relation to the piddly, token crap that leg-breaking tackles get in this league, but whatever. However, let's not act like he was screaming at a toddler who had no idea what he was doing. The kid accomplished exactly what he set out to do.
If you talk at or otherwise mess with pro athletes and coaches while they are competing then you have no right to be offended by any words that come back at you. Period. Professional sports is a results business that is highly highly highly competitive. You should not be provoking or irritating folks who are that intense and focused. You have a right to say stuff -- but your still responsible for what you say and do. Now, nothing I just said forgives a player or coach from crossing certain lines including racial, ethnic, and homosexual slurs. The MHMR advocacy community would include "retard" in that line that should not be crossed. Just because a player crosses a line and should be accountable for doing so does not mean that you, the provoker, are an innocent victim. If you provoked, then your responsible as well. And if your SSFC and put a young man into a role impacting the competitors, then you, SSFC, are responsible 100% for the fact that you gave a kid the opportunity to provoke a verbal blast from a player. Clarks' words are wrong in any context. Period. The fact he blasted a kid is 100% on SSFC.
Probably the best comment in this long, long thread, and I fear it went over the heads of most of the people on here. But that guy is rich, so he can't be censored. We can't do the right thing when it involves stepping on the toes of someone who's money we want!
Well Dear, you provoke people and they are going to say things. Can't let it bother you. If it does, don't provoke em.
Recall Calero, the cafetero goalie from Pachuca encounters, going thermal with our very own ball boy behind the goal in '07...it pissed off many in the hinchada. So we focused our chants to him even more strenuously. Perhaps it is just me, but witnessing a teenager or pre teen get under the skin of a grown man is part of the ball boys role in pro soccer. How said pro footballer reacts is conversely totally on him as a grown adult. Thus, react like it gets to you, show those watching it bothers you. Fine. Or, just focus on scoring goals and winning the game. Yet in our guy's case, he wanted to have a verbal dig at the teen and hit below the belt.
That's The Legendary Calero to you, I always applaud ball boys for wasting time if they're helping out their home team. That's always shown me that soccer is still growing and winning the heart of our youth.
I was ballboy for the Houston Rockets for 5 seasons. I was a batboy in the Astrodome for two seasons. I was an asst. Equip Mgr. (unpaid ) for my beloved Houston Hurricane and Houston Summit Soccer for all of their seasons, working all home games and most training sessions in the locker room or on the bench. I know exactly how that ballkid was thinking. I would just be amazed if he was upset in the least. I would look down upon him for that and for being such a wimpy ballkid. Your mixed into ADULT professional athletes who are EXTREMELY intense. Stuff happens, words are said, it is all in the heat of battle. You take it like an adult. Again, the point is not to foregive Clark for saying something that is wrong in any context. It is say the whole thing HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE KID.
Or perhaps some folks agreed feeling no more needed to be said, or some disagreed and did not wish to get into a discussion over the philanthropy of Uncle Phil. I find his Foundation For A Better Life Commercials very inspiring myself.
Valid point, but the guy is very much deserving of a place in this thread. He's done far more harm to the cause of gay rights than Collin Clark, and I think that's an opinion that would be very hard to refute.
Westside Cosmo: Just wondering... do you think your friend Wynalda is using a name like Metrofan69 to post here? I hope this thread dies down soon.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/blog/post/2012/03/29/smorgasborg-ball-boys-need-grow interesting read-Borg has a point, we're the only ones that actually have boys affect the run of play. I'll go one step further-why do we even need adults? Do it lax style and have a soccer board ever ten yards along the touchline signage
IMO, this is an example of political correctness run amok: http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-ozzie-guillen-20120410,0,146145.story ironic that Cuban exiles in Miami are the ones that are outraged since they left an island that does not allow free speech to a country that does. ozzie guillen made similiar comments a couple years back:
I disagree, I think you can make a much better argument for the Colin Clark thing being a political correctness thing since he obviously said something in the heat of the moment, that (right or wrong) has commonly been used as a synonym for idiot/asssshole. I think his comments (including the ones from years ago) are deplorable. In my opinion, saying that you admire, for any reason, a person like Fidel Castro is a terrible mishap and I am surprised you can't see why Cuban Americans would be so upset. This is a man that they had to escape, they were not allowed to leave, they had to escape. They had to leave their family, they cannot contact their family or see them without risking jail/death. This man has basically been the reason behind many terrible things they have had to go through. While they might not be the same level of evil if he had said "I have always admired Hitler for his ability to inspire an entire country to follow him despite the rest of the world hating him, for that he gets my respect", that would be extremely hurtful to the Jewish community and they would have been up in arms. I see those scenarios as very similar.
Bingo! the fact that the loud mouth ozzie mentions his admiration for castro on more than one occasion proves he doesn't learn from his mistakes. not PC police on this one, just pure stupidity. this is a contrast with what Clark did. although both ozzie and clark appear to be emotionally immature, ozzie appears to be a higher class or moron than clark has ever been.
We are coming to a point in this country where certain speech can be penalized merely because a particular group with political or economic power finds it offensive. Guillen has an absolute right to voice his views and his detractors have an absolute right to make their feelings known through the use of their wallets by not purchasing tickets to Marlins games. But to call for his head, or to demand that he be suspended or fired by the team is ludicrous. Millions have come to this country to escape oppressive regimes that engage in censorship and suppression, those millions include folks from the South Florida area who fled the Castro regime, and they above all should see the hypocrisy of their demands. As for Colin - I don't think he is either emotionally immature or any of those other descriptives. He said something he regretted in the heat of the moment. I don't believe I have seen anything that would indicate he had a predisposition to those kind of utterances or has been accused of such in the past. If just one incident of an improper utterance or thought is an indicator of emotional maturity - then you're communicating with one of the most emotionally immature individuals ever to grace this board....me
Nigel with all of that said, it is also in the Marlins and MLBs right to punish him for what he said. We are not talking jail time or anything that would go against freedom of speech, but freedom of speech does not apply to the workforce. If I am an employee of some business and I do something to offend clients of said business, that would be grounds for firing.