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I will gladly call Bill Romanowski a "THUG" or even Jeremy Shockey, Marcus Vick, etc, etc. I don't care if they are black or white, that has nothing to do with it, at least not from me.... Some on here may be racist, don't know many of them personally so I couldn't tell you, all I can speak for is myself, and that is definately not the case with me.
Not all of what he said was aimed at the masses. You could pick and choose within those categories depending on the person. Given your screen name & past history of posting when it comes to Virginia Tech football, I would easily chalk it up to school affiliation. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
Some people belive that The Babe was Black so you are a racit for calling him a Jerk.....Unless they are wrong then it is OK to call him out
But is there any doubt that Ty Cobb was a Jerk?
Maybe, but I can name some thugs from UT too...... Just don't like people slingin mud and calling people racist and so on..... And yes, you could say I don't like VT, that is pretty much a given [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beer1.gif[/img]
Good point and by the letter of the law this thread is getting off topic (I am as guilty as anyone for this) if someone wants to start a thread about preceved rasisiom on the fourm it needs to be started on the non-sports fourm
i think its wrong to call Mike a thug. I'm not exactly sure what one has to do to be labeled that, but I dont think he has done it. His brother, probably. If arrests, and guns and underage sex is part of being a 'thug,' then yes.
Whats getting forgotten here is the class factor, as in acting classy. IMO, just of what i know, Mike acts better than his brother. But the tech program has been labeled thugs from time to time. is this saying that they all get arrested and such? no. Here is the BIG point. A lot of people equate 'lack of class' with 'thug,' rightly or wrongly. By that standard, on the field incidents such as excessive trash talking, unsportsmanlike penalties, and personal fouls/late hits classify has thugish.
With Mike, if 'thug' is classified as lawbreaker, then he is no thug. But if 'thug' is a general lack of class, then I would be more inclined to agree. Take the middle finger incident. I dont think anyone can say that wasnt a lack of class/good judgement. And i dont think anyone can say he had to 'learn that lesson.' A 25 year old man KNOWS that flipping people off, especially in public, is wrong. An apology after that incident and one saying 'ive learned my lesson' is fake to me. There is no lesson TO learn, you already know it, you just broke the rules (this comment about apologies applies to all grow athletes/people, im not jsut hacking on Mike).
My point is, the finger incident is an image damager. That incident was/is in the back of ppls minds when the bottle story broke. Many people will make that jump, then, from a classless act, to an incident, then to a 'thug.' And that's probably an unfair jump, but all that has to happen is for it to be true of one instance of another person, and ppl will be more willing to make that jump on someone else, like they have on Vick.
The bottom line, i think his image was hurt by the finger, and that in turn lead to doubt which lead to ppl jumping on him so quickly for the bottle. Had the fingers not happened, i really think this situation would have unfolded differently. When one exhibits a lack of class, that doesn't help them against further charges of indecency/immorral/unlawful/inappropriate behavior down the road, whether those further charges be legit or not.
agree or disagree, vthokie22?
if you follow the "perception is reality" train of thought, then yes i'd agree with you...but i'm more inclined to look at what else he's done as far as charity work, and giving back to the ATL, Blacksburg and Hampton Roads communities...all stuff that doesn't get the lead on Sportscenter, or that big headline in the newspapers
but at least you have a sound argument
Juhan, I know I'm probably going to get pounded again for even coming back to this thread (feel free, I'm not going to reply to any more harsh criticism), but you absolutely positively nailed it.
What you said was exactly what I was trying to get across with my discussion with Hokie22 a bit up the page. Specifically this part of your post is what I really wanted to get across, but unfortunately didn't:
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The bottom line, i think his image was hurt by the finger, and that in turn lead to doubt which lead to ppl jumping on him so quickly for the bottle. Had the fingers not happened, i really think this situation would have unfolded differently. When one exhibits a lack of class, that doesn't help them against further charges of indecency/immorral/unlawful/inappropriate behavior down the road, whether those further charges be legit or not.
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So basically I know that he ISN'T a thug in terms of being as bad as his brother or an absolute law breaker, but his image over time is basically what causes that misconception.
dont mean to start an argument with you or anything but if sportscenter or magazines and newspapers dont publish the acts of kindness that michael vick does then how do you know [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]
As far as charity and giving back to the community, I am in the investment field, and you can find these good deeds are done by anyone making a huge amount of money like this...They have a simple choice, #1 give x-amount away as a charity and recieve tax breaks, #2 Loose more than x-amount in penalties on taxes while saving none on taxes...Don't chalk any sports figure up as a hero for giving money to charities, because trust me, the are only looking out for number one...You can admire them for where they choose to give it, like the Jones's whoom a believe choose to give some of theres to Wise Co. schools. But none of them are giving out of generosity, they are giving to save, if that makes any sense. When is the last time you heard one of these guys who just signed a contract for 40 million, with a 10 million signing bonus say: well I want to help the community so much, I think I will give all of this away except 1 million, cause that should be enough for me to live on???? Never, and you won't, All the Charity is a scam to save on taxes, so don't chalk any of that up as the good the athelete has done, If you had his money, you'd be forced to give away some too! [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]