ok, I laughed, even though the jokes went on a little longer the they should have. The only losers are the ones that buy their shoes at foot locker.

A friend of mine snuck out of gym class and used an eyedropper of that stuff to dab classmate's shoes in the locker room. Great stuff.

This probably requires some background. The details of the story are not totally clear, and won't be pending an investigation. The facts are that Jonathan Martin left the team after what was described as a "breakdown" in the cafeteria. Apparently the team was pranking him by banding together and refusing to sit with him. This is the sort of behavior you see. Afterwards allegations of physical beating and voice mails were revealed that suggested Richie Incognito (I know, ironic name) was the primary perpetrator of the abuses.

Focus has been on the use of the racial epithet in question. Frankly, I think this is a red herring. I, like many of you, don't really care about the use of that word. That said, I think Shannon is correct in stating there are signs of something deeper here. That is, real actual issues of race relations.

You've heard here that Incognito is thought of as an "honorary black" in that locker room. More background is that Jonathan Martin would have been the third generation in his family to graduate from Harvard, but he decided to go to Stanford instead. It's been suggested that Martin was ostracized more for this reason than anything. He just came from a completely different place than most of the other guys playing. At its root, the allegation is that they made him feel uncomfortable for coming from a wealthy black family.

What I find much more upsetting than any epithet is what I interpreted to be a continuation of the sort of attitude Shannon was talking about. By implying he had used an incorrect word rather than emotionally flubbing its pronunciation the implication, to me, is that his intellect is not being respected. Since this clip is most definitely about race, and that is a common stereotype about black men, I couldn't help but wonder if his skin color biased your judgements. That, to me, is much more troubling than throwing around nigger, fag, or kyke with your friends.

In the end, I think this whole story will blow over. It's just as likely to me that Martin was replaced as a starter, and is now trying to lawyer up (call his parents) to cash out his career. We won't know until they look into it. Still, in this context, I was surprised people here of all places would belittle this sort of commentary, and by extension the commentator. It's disrespectful to the message if nothing else. If you don't find discussions of race relations worth being dignified then I guess I think you're kind of a dick even if you aren't a bigot.

The fact that race is the central topic in this discussion is exemplary of how far off the mark it is from identifying the real issue.
Just because the buffoon perpetrating this cultural misbehavior was white, and was slinging racial slurs in complete ignorance, doesn't mean it's an issue OF race. He's racist, and he's an asshole, but the cultural element is the problem, not one fools personal behavior.

The entire "locker room culture" perpetuates bullying and inequality well beyond racial borders, and encourages the ego-centric narcissism that's the real root of the problem. Eliminating racial slurs here is about as useful as making the forest fire no longer produce smoke. You have to smother the blaze with a blanket of individual humility and accountability to extinguish the problem at its source.

(Is it me, or are my analogies getting worse?)

While he has an important message that he is trying to get across. This "culture" they are arguing about goes far deeper than anyone realizes. Vocabulary should be the least of anyone's concern. For a side note about the vocabulary used, the word in question has lost its meaning as he is stating. Can it be a powerful word when used in a demeaning and demoralizing context? Absolutely. However, the blatant use and misuse of the word by everyone, blacks, whites and everything in between, has changed the meaning of the word. It is similar to the word fag. It has been years since I have heard the word actually used as a vicious attack towards a homosexual. Can it be? Absolutely. It is commonly used as that? Not even close. Words change meanings over time and especially over generations.

This is not the case here. The "culture" they talk about starts with teenage boys. Walk into a high school locker room. The threatening messages these two dolphins players sent each other are the same ones kids use. Martin even sent a text message to Incognito apologizing for the situation and that he doesn't blame him or they interactions. They are still friends. That says more about the whole situation than anything. They are still friends.

This "culture," yes I'm using quotes for a reason, is being founded in these men from the time they are boys. I was in locker rooms through high school and college. Have I used all the words they refer to? Yes I have. Do I hate anyone I was talking to? Not in the slightest, but it still happened because boys are boys. They don't know any better. That is the real issue. Coaches at the high school and college level are failing their players, not in a sport sense, but in a "how not to be a condescending piece of shit asshole" way. The morals I learned from my parents and family were not taught by many of my coaches. I had one coach who would bench you for this type of behavior. He did not care if you were the star or a third stringer. He did no care if we lost. He said he was more interested in teaching the kids how to be real men than to be football players. This was a great college coach and a great mentor.

This falls to them and to parents to try and teach at a young age this is not socially acceptable behavior. If they don't, they grow into men like we have on the dolphins, and then we have news stories like this. If these announcers think this isn't what EVERY single NFL or NBA locker room is like then they are even more delusional than I first thought.

Seconded.

If your "Thats racist!!!" comment requires the qualifier "because he's black", you're wrong. You're an asshole and you're just wrong.

TBH i didn't even notice the slip-up, because unlike "epithet", "epitaph" is not part of my vocabulary and i just immediately understood him.

but why in god's name would anyone let private locker room exchanges damper their faith in our nation's progression towards equality for all?
There are so many many hateful & bigoted actions committed every day, and you want to soapbox about some guy playing it loose with offensible language...

Just to take it a little bit too far, which of these men is letting skin color more strongly influence the judgements they're making?

Edit: full disclosure i have no idea who any of these people are, what rumors they are talking about, or what is a football

Edit2: just saw the voicemail message LOL HOLY SHIT it is 4chan worthy! racial slurs aside it is the most verbally abusive thing i've seen in a long time (but i still don't know them, so thats just how it feels to me). if i got a message half that severe, i would probably shit myself on the spot (but im not a big tough footballist)

Ya, Barry found one in a locker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkYM5n41Uxs

I grew up on a farm, and like many/most such kids, went through the experience of having "pet" chickens, pigs, and even a cow or two that ended up on our plates. I think that the key is to explain verbally that such animals are being raised to be food, and then using your best judgement about when they are ready to see something small get slaughtered and butchered.

For me, it was when I was about 6. We had an old rooster (we mostly had chickens for eggs, this fella was a 1-off), and I was a few feet away when my dad held it down and hacked off its head with a hatchet. Got to watch it run around headless, etc. Then I had to help (a little) in the plucking and processing. If you don't regularly do those things, you don't know the little tricks and they take FOREVER. We put way more hours and dollars of toil and effort into plucking, skinning, and preparing that old chicken than it would have cost to buy 10 whole rotisseried chickens from KFC or something. And he was too old to really provide good meat. BUT - I learned something and appreciated the food more, which was the point.

Later in life I was involved with the raising of pigs and cows for meat. I helped feed them every day, and then would help get them into a trailer and deliver them to the meat locker when it was time for them to be slaughtered and butchered. I didn't witness that in person, but I was old enough to fill in the gaps between putting that animal in the trailer and then eating a steak or pork chops a few days later. I think that if my parents had wanted me to have the experience of actually seeing the slaughter, the locker would have easily obliged. Not sure if the same would be true today.


OK, I've been rambling but I'll throw one more thing out there. Now I'm living in Thailand, where a lot of food is purchased in small farmer's market kinds of places, and some is slaughtered and prepared right in front of your very eyes. I love eating fresh Tilapia fish here (the "farm"-raised and frozen fish back in the US always tasted like algae to me, but the fish here don't have that taste at all) and they are alive in tanks when you order one at a market in Thailand. Within 45 seconds, they will pull out a fish of your selection, smack it on the head with a blunt instrument to kill it, rasp off the scales, gut it, put some slices into the sides for even cooking, and hand it to you in a bag to be cooked at home. Sometimes they flop around in the bag a bit (not alive, just muscles unwinding/relaxing) like a headless chicken. I think that will be a similar growing experience for my daughter that she'd be able to witness at a much earlier age. Then maybe when she's 5-6 like I was we'll watch a chicken get the axe.

Your right but in Zimmerman neighborhood there have been break in by young black men. Hence young black thiefs' set the precedent for Martin to be followed.


If it were young white kids doing the break ins then Zimmerman would have followed them.

Its been later found but not allowed in the trial ( rightly so) that Martin had burgles tools and pot items in his locker, Woman's Jewelery. Also the pictures of him smoking pot and the gun photo on his phone and apparently he took a Swing at a bus driver.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2120504/Trayvon-Martin-case-He-suspended-times-caught-burglary-tool.html



In the end Martin is a young man embarking on his criminal carer and decided to teach Zimmerman a lesson and lost.

Fuckin with me 'cause I'm a packer;
With a little bit of cheese and 'bout 3 Ritz crackers!
Searchin my locker, lookin for the product, thinkin' honky-5th-graders bees sellin' narcotics!

I'm oldschool: JDownloader.

Works like a charm with file lockers and video hosts.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Shot, Lucky, Locker' to 'Shot, Throw, Toss, Lucky, Locker' - edited by calvados

Your video, Locker shot, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

awww man, now see?? That's the kinna shit that I sabotaged bullies locker's with rotten lunch bags for in Junior High!!

I was raised around guns, I've been trained with guns through the Hunter Core program. Purely for hunting game. (not human targets on the shooting range - mostly tin cans and paper circle targets.)

I've seen rampant gun use by teens because they thought guns were cool. I've seen my dog get his eye shot out because the neighbor kid didn't know the gun he just loaded was loaded. I've seen powder burns up the arm of a friend who thought it would be cool to saw off a shot gun and fire it. I was standing there when a good friend fired a rifle and the barrel exploded showering us all in shrapnel as it ripped apart his ear drums.

I was trained to handle guns, how to hold them, and all the safety and respect that anyone needs to handle guns. But that doesn't change the fact that they can be dangerous.

I live in Canada, yes, I could go out and get a gun any time I wanted, but our culture on guns is different. I don't feel the need to own one and I know the guy next to me isn't holding a concealed one. I have never let my kids have any toy gun that looked like a gun. (Nerf is ok) Guns are never toys - ever - and I've taught my kids that their entire life, just like matches and fire aren't toys. You just don't mess around with them.

I don't own a gun now nor do I ever see myself owning one. I like the culture of not needing to own one. I can understand a rifle and a shotgun for hunting (locked in a gun safe when not used.) I don't understand and cannot support the necessity for handguns and automatic weapons. Even semi-automatic weapons are unnecessary. Having an Uzi is just plain ridiculous as it's only intended use is for killing humans. That's just how I feel.

On the flip side....

I do understand the need for a militia. They are an integral part of a free society. the last defense against invasion and more so against government forces when the military is turned against the people.

I just don't believe military weapons should be kept in a home environment. There are any number of places they can be stored but at the very least - a proper gun locker with a lock is the only alternative. I don't care whether you have kids living in the home or not. I also don't think anyone should be in possession of military weapons unless they are registered with the militia.