While King Felix is well on his way to ending Seattle’s skid with the Mariners comfortably ahead at Yankee Stadium, let’s hop in Anthony McCarron’s time machine and travel back to the Bombers’ Sunday loss to Tampa. From Monday’s New York Daily News :
Johnny Damon said he “had a pretty good bead” on Dioner Navarro’s third-inning homer yesterday as he leapt at the left-field wall and tried to bring the ball back, but he missed.
The wall wobbled when he slammed into it and shook afterward. Damon threw his glove down in frustration and later said, “Unfortunately, I’m white and I can’t jump like others.”
It’s the second time this season that a Yankee has made a self-deprecating joke that perhaps plays off the title of the 1992 movie “White Men Can’t Jump” or, some might say, perpetuates a racial stereotype.
When since-traded reliever Scott Proctor was still on the Yanks, he leapt for a bouncer over the mound in San Francisco in a June23 game and afterward said, “I jumped as high as I could. I guess if I wasn’t white, I’d have a chance of getting it.”
I applaud McCarron’s diligence in bringing Damon’s ill-advised remarks to the public’s attention. It’s disgraceful that Damon, even in jest, would perpetuate the stereotype of black, wall-climbing outfielders having an advantage due to their lineage.
Had he blamed his inability to throw a baseball more than 100 feet on being white, however, I’d have no problem with it. Or, conversely, I wouldn’t object to a statement like, “hey, it’s not like I can call Gary Matthews Jr.’s pharmacist.”
I think it’s also ok to say that Johnny D throws like a girl because he menstruates like a female…because he’s a pussy. That’s pc, right?
Oh, btw, Johnny D is actually wrong about his own heritage. His dad had the jungle fever and did it with an Asian woman and, thus, Johnny is a half-breed. That’s why he’s got such dark hair and some say he’s good at math, too (not leaving the extra 10 billion on the table to sign with the enemy, etc.)
Oh, and another thing, are you gonna make fun of Fat Roger Clemens getting lit up like Mike Mussina or what (as well as Mike Mussina getting lit up like Mike Mussina, for that matter)?
get over your self, if Gary mathews jr. said he jumped like a white guy, no one would care, they would think it was funny
Anthony,
Grow some skin.
Must be a slow news day.
Wow as a minority I think all this PC crap has gone way to far. It is not like he was using it to insult, he used it complementative. Everything anybody says now has got to be pc. Where has the humor gone in society? Why is everyone so uptight? That is why this country is where it is today, because everyone has to worries about what this one or that one has to say, man {opps lets be pc and not shovanistic, we would not want the other sex to be felt as they have been left out} man/woman/ or those whom are gender confused or challenged, just worry about yourself and your own and maybe we can get back to a place in society where people can have fun together. Where we are not living waiting for some rich or famous persons, slip of tongue or indescretion to entertain our quasi-pc emotions. I see and know black people that total hate, when a non-black person uses the N-word but will throw that word around all day, call his friends the n-word or dog, and refer to his woman and biotch or ho. Where is the PC in that? Same with white folks hate eing called white trash yet their kids talk to them anyway they feel like, trash talk everyone around them and act polite to their faces. Do not get me wrong, there is no place in humor for the n-word, especially by someone who is not black, but there should be no place in society for it if that is the way you feel. Double standards only enforce ignorance.Saying white men can’t jump is not the end of the world and is not meant to take a jab at black society. It is personaly just a jab at oneself more than anything. Stereo-types are based on some truths and without them there would not be one working comedian black, white, hispanic, asian, or anyother race. How many of you people up in arms about Damon’s statement get a little nervous, the slightest hesitation when getting on a plane, train, or walking into a building and you see an arab getting on or already there? That ain’t different, racists. I am a human racist I hate everyone the same.
perhaps I missed something elsewhere — who, pray tell, is seriously “up in arms” over Damon’s statement?
McCarron merely quoted Damon’s joke. Whether or not you choose to take offense is up to you.
jhorn, I don’t think there’s anything funny about Gary Matthews Jr. (hypothetically) saying “I jumped like a white guy”. If he said, “I jumped like a white guy — without a prescription from Signature Pharmacies”, well, it still wouldn’t be funny, but he might have a future in blogging.