Everything you said is true based on what we know. However, maybe it will lead to a little surprise out on the right side. It isn't as if Clark has been lighting it up.
Might I respectfully suggest that you modify your post as it might tend to offend those who are vertically challenged.
Wait until MLS finds out that I've called most of their refs that same word, as well as about 85 players from other teams when they were being...well, you know, that word. This is absurd. It's absurd that Clark even apologized, it's absurd that it became anti-soccer fodder, it's absurd that he's being suspended. If we're going to become moral police in this league now, then we are going to be left with about 5 players on each team that are not suspended at any time, and no coaches (Dom will be banned from being within 1 mile of a stadium!)
How can you be upset that he apologized? What would you tell your kids if they called someone something similar?
I am of the generation where that term was used interchangably with "idiot", "fool", "troll", etc. So, if my kid said that to someone who was being, well, an idiot fool or troll, then I guess I'd congratulate him on using an expanded vocabulary. It's important that kids have expanded vocabularies. I'm quite sure that Colin was not explaining to everyone that he actually thought that the young boy was a homosexual person. Quite sure. If he had called the kid an "f'ing idiot" then no one would have said a thing (well, except me, I'd call him out for having a weak vocabulary...).
So 3 game suspension. I'd say that is harsh and I hope that MLS will now start applying that standard to everybody that we can hear verbally abuse people. I have a feeling that the angle they are getting at is a bit different though.
I think you just gave a bunch of Rednecks an excuse to "Expand" their vocabulary. Not to mention the good folks in KC that allegedly made racist remarks to our Supporters will now be able to defend their actions by saying they were just using an "Expanded" vocabulary. Well done, where the hell is that head shaking emoticon when you need it.....
I'm tired of MLS using the Dynamo to teach the league lessons. I'm sure it's not the first time players have said things like that, in fact we know it's not. They didn't even take into account the fact he spoke with the kid and apologized after the game and immediately after that he apologized on Twitter, before most people even knew of the incident. Hypothetically, if one of the league's stars had done this (and I can see it happening) there's no way MLS would have done anything more than issue a stern warning.
Lee Nguyen called a teammate the same thing on twitter. Nothing happened except for a warning from the Whitecaps.
Wow, you gave me some incredible power! I GAVE a bunch of people all new rights? I'm freaking Superman! Oh, no, those rights just exist, in the same way that the SGs use those right when they start their chants laced with swears (what, you think all of the little kids that sit around me can't hear that?) Guess what, I'll support Clark's suspension when the SGs and all of the drunk college kids around stop using foul language at games. No more swearing, no more Brickwall chant with foul language, no more Spanish goal kick chants, nothing. THEN I'll take the mote of of my eye. Until then, I'll recognize that SGs chant swears, that college kids drinking at games will swear, and that players who are in the heat of battle will swear, and all are equal.
If MLS thought that comment was bad, wait until they hear what's gonna be all over the Chron comment section now that they put the suspension story "above the fold"... I do believe that every single person in the league (players, fans, everyone) has been called a gay slur by the Chron commentors...when will THEY be suspended??
If they give Clark a 3 game ban for calling someone a f--got then what are they going to give Fernandez for acting like one? Clark apologized, Fernandez didn't
i think we need to check ourselves as a fanbase..... we're not as special as we think. the word is unacceptable. the suspension is legit. this isn't about political correctness.
yeah I have no problem with the suspension at face value. I have problems with MLS and their backroom throw a dart at a board when it comes to consistency. Nguyen says worse via twitter where he is not in the heat of the moment three weeks earlier and gets nothing. It seems Garber does have it out for Houston if you look at reprisals on our players and fanbase as compared to others after similar actions.
don't buy the conspiracy theories whatsoever. we've deserved every punishment we've gotten. i think you would agree if you saw everything MLS has it in front of them as proof. let's say it is true, though. what's the genesis of it?.....
I hope that next time MLS or the Dynamo want Clark to go to a hospital visit or charity or other team deal that he tells them: "sorry, I have to spend more time at sensitivity and diversity training". MLS caved into pressure from the gay community (aka, Seattle Sounders fans). This is the same gay and merry group that complained about MLS partnering with the Boy Scouts because the Scouts don't let homosexuals lead groups. And the Dynamo club certainly didn't step up much IMO. They rushed out the "we're not anti-gay" message rather than just staying silent. Not sure I'd go into many tackles too hard for this organization. BTW, the lack of any soccer media or supporters standing up for Clark just furthers the notion that soccer fans and media are a bunch of pu**ies. Either that, or the soccer media and bloggers just write what they think people want to read for opinion, whether they believe it or not. Apparently, being the Rapids' humanitarian of the year and doing kids cancer work doesn't earn you much slack when you slip and use a COMMON LOCKER ROOM TERM. This may be the most overblown MLS incident ever. The queer mafia got all over this one.
Oh, I think it's at least partly about political correctness. There was no outrage from soccer bloggers when Nguyen used the same slur. The unwanted attention in Clark's case definitely influenced the punishment. If Nguyen's incident had gotten picked up by the media like Clark's did, he would have gotten more than a slap on the wrist from Whitecaps management.
I don't argue we deserved what we got. I argue that I don't see the same punishment levied for similar actions from other organizations.
i was commenting on the word as a 'whole'. the Clark situation may be in the end about being p.c. (who knows for sure). i was saying the word is unacceptable as there are fellow posters still arguing the other side of that argument. the word being unacceptable is not about political correctness, its about a common decency. our fanbase is composed of all types: even gays *gasp*. if you go by the 10% rule then at any game there can be a couple hundred of gay men, lesbians, etc. at a given game. just as there are blacks, hispanics, jews, muslims, asians, etc. what if he would of called the kid a "fcking wtbck"? how do you think i would of felt about wearing the orange? so if i have a right to be offended by the above term then its only right that i'm not a hypocrite when it comes to other words.
MLS announced a partnership with the Boy Scouts to help promote soccer and a group of what appear to be gay-rights Sounders fans criticized the league and a few blogs did too. Let me ask this, if Clark calls the kid a "cocksu**er", what if anything happens? And don't people like Art Vandelay come in here and tell me no one uses that term or its not used in locker rooms or elsewhere.
Bottom line is he said this to a kid and in this circumstance, it is always wrong (unless the kid is holding a gun to your head.)
I can't really hate on the decision. That F word goes too far. I'll add that Houston has a huge LGBT community. Dynamo might not want to alienate them. Dynamo have accepted the decision. Losing Clark 3 games is not the end of the world... I mean, Alex Dixon was responsible for ALL THREE GOALS in the reserve match (1g 2a) vs. SKC-R so he can step in at RW and rock the house. Maybe Ownby gets a look.