Bryant Gumbel: "The Olympics Are Too Darned White"

[Shlep]

I came across a videoclip while browsing iFilm of some closing comments on HBOs RealSports program where Bryant Gumbel offered up his take on the 2006 Winter Olympics. Didn't hear about it? Neither did I...and I kinda have to wonder why.

Here's a transcript of the comments in question:

"Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing.

The ancient Greeks did, howver, bar women from competing, fought to the death in Pankration matches, and had the athletes compete naked. I think they also only featured Greek athletes. Should this be brought back that we might have Olympic competition as the Greeks intended?

BUt that's nothing, here's more:

So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.

Got that, everybody? The people competing in Turin right now aren't really all that great when it comes to sports because not enough of them are black. Rather, they're a bunch of ofay losers competing in a collection of non-sports.

I also think the crack about the Winter Olympics looking like a GOP convention is horribly unfair. To their credit, the Republicans have been very conscientious at their past couple of conventions about strategically placing minorities where the TV cameras will find them in order to give the appearance of actually giving a shit about people who aren't white, just like the Democrats.

Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ...

"Pseudo-athlete"?

So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin."

You got it, Bryant: let's hurry up and give these honky pseudo-athletes the moment in the spotlight that they're been training for diligently almost their entire lives so that we can move on to a *REAL* sport like basketball-- one that's got lots of brothers in it.

Is this assclown for real? Never mind the fact that this smug prick has unilaterally insulted scores of people who've poured their heart and soul (don't worry, Bryant...I'm not claiming that the lily-white pseudo-athletes have *that* kind of soul...) into competing in the events they're in right now by dismissing the specific areas of competition they're in. Never mind that the title of the show, I thought, was "HBO RealSports" and not "Bryant Gumbel Decides What Are or Are Not RealSports."

Am I the only person who remembers what happened to Rush Limbaugh when he mentioned Donovan McNabbs' presence and alleged media relevance as a black man in a positiong generally known for its "paucity of black people"? Not that I'm really that outraged, since it was a stupid comment and furthermore I have no idea what a dipshit political idealogue is doing giving color commentary on a Sunday morning NFL show.

Considering that Bryant Gumbels' presence on a talk show has previously tended to have the same effect on that shows' ratings as tying a cinderblock to your ankle has on your ability to swim, I'm amazed he even has the job. And then he goes and shovels *THAT* load of shit. Am I the only one wondering what would happen if, say, Terry Bradshaw or Howie Long mused on the air that they wished the NBA playoffs would hurry up and finish since b-ball isn't a real sport as evidenced by the fact that it has a paucity of white people that makes the court look like NAACP convention?

What a jerk.

[Groove Holmes]

I think Bryant was simply trying to shift focus here, so that viewers might forget that he's "too darned white".

[gwar469]

seriously, wasn't Bryant Gumbel half the reason that In Living Color created the Brothers Brothers?

"well, golly gosh darn heck!"

[yoshomon]

"Wayne Brady makes Bryant Gumble look like Malcolm X."

[REMgirl]

That was a really good post, Shlep! :cool:

[Shlep]

That was a really good post, Shlep! :cool:

Thank you, ma'am. :)

[JSpaceman]

To their credit, the Republicans have been very conscientious at their past couple of conventions about strategically placing minorities where the TV cameras will find them in order to give the appearance of actually giving a shit about people who aren't white, just like the Democrats.

Ha ha- sorry to nitpick here, but how is that "to their credit?" :confused:

[Shlep]

Ha ha- sorry to nitpick here, but how is that "to their credit?" :confused:

I was being a wee sarcastic. ;)

[The Ugly Thief]

Ha ha- sorry to nitpick here, but how is that "to their credit?" :confused:
because when they take the time to deceive us with clever editing techniques it only shows that they care :)

v

[BigSugar]

Bryant Gumble is black????! who'dve known.

[monkey neck]

Bryant Gumble is black????! who'dve known.

Agh! Beat me to it! :D

[akip]

oh c'mon...somebody's actually offended by that?

i'm pretty sick of white people too.

[purple_octopus]

Babe, this story is like sooooo last week.

[akip]

Babe, this story is like sooooo last week.

they were yammering about it on bill maher.

[markalot]

Basketball is way to black


and too tall.

[akip]

baseball is too fat.

[GQuagmire]

"Peter, the Gumbels are brothers."

"Oh real nice, Lois. So we can't learn anything from them because they're black?"

[Homsar]

Yeah, too bad he forgot Shani Davis.

[The Ugly Thief]

who cares ? Gumbel's a twat.

v

[jneale]

Today I was told by an employee who has license to use the slang word that is verboten to those of my ethnicity - to paraphrase:

black people don't swim and they don't ski

[The Ugly Thief]

black people don't swim
i think you meant skate (?)

too kold in torino

v

[jneale]

i think you meant skate (?)

too kold in torino

v

no - we were talking about the news - his point was his people don't play in the snow or the water - he said you won't see them in the summer olympics swimming either, he said some other stuff today that would get lost in translation, he had me in tears.

[akip]

i don't think it kills white people to be reminded that there's a culture out there that's different than ours. not a bad thing.


edited to add--even though we think we already know black culture 'cause we've seen it on mtv.

[akip]

he said you won't see them in the summer olympics swimming either

city kids don't learn to swim. my urban-ethnic husband moves his arms like he's doing strokes, but he's got feet on the bottom of the pool.

[DaHood]

Racism: It isn't just for white people anymore.

[akip]

Racism: It isn't just for white people anymore.

that's right. even blacks have the right to make generalizations.

[DaHood]

that's right. even blacks have the right to make generalizations.
Everyone has the right, but that doesn't make it 'right'.

[akip]

Everyone has the right, but that doesn't make it 'right'.

but we all know that blacks feel suspiciously toward us and vice versa.

so why does a rather innocuous, obvious statement change any of that? just a "gotcha" moment?

look, racism is deeply entrenched in the american psyche. the only thing we (blacks v. whites) really differ on is a certain aspect of the definition.

[DaHood]

but we all know that blacks feel suspiciously toward us and vice versa.
True. I try to not be that way myself. I don't like to make statements like 'I have a friend who's black', I'd rather just have friends.

so why does a rather innocuous, obvious statement change any of that? just a "gotcha" moment?
Yeah that's pretty much it. Doesn't change anything.

look, racism is deeply entrenched in the american psyche.
You got that right.
the only thing we (blacks v. whites) really differ on is a certain aspect of the definition.
Certainly true as a generalization, but I think there are more people now than in the past, both black and white who don't feel this way. Still it doesn't seem like there'll be an end to racism anytime soon. Perhaps the Bulworth solution is right.

[markalot]

When racism is gone, really gone, then a comment like Bryant made will seem like a funny and that's it.

There are mostly white people at the winter olympics.

[Shlep]

i don't think it kills white people to be reminded that there's a culture out there that's different than ours. not a bad thing.

You're right; there is a whole profusion of cultures in the world, most of whom are well-represented at the Winter Olympics. Trouble is, that in Bryant Gumbels' world, apparently, anything without lots of black people in something that just needs to have a giant shit taken on it.

In fact, it sounds all the world to me like it's Bryant, not his pigment-challenged viewers, who needs reminding that there are other cultures. After all, the rest of the world seems to think that holding the Winter Games is a worthy endeavor. I wonder how they like being regarded as pseudo-athletes competing in a bunch of non-sports, as evidenced by the fact that they're not sufficiently dark (despite what Bryant seems to think, Asians and, for that matter, different types on non-black/non-brown people are "ethnic" too).

In any case, his stupid rant exposing his colossally ignorant attitudes towards a subset of sport is hardly befitting the host of a sports program.

As for the bit about black guys not being able to swim: I heard this first in the Marines. Part of boot camp involved having water safety training (Marines, as you may now, spend lots of time around water) and passing a test where you had to use tactics you learned to stay afloat for something like 5 minutes.

The black guys in my platoon started bitching and griping that they were never going to graduate boot camp. When I asked them what they were talking about, a couple mentioned that "brothers can't float." When I indicated that I was sure they were pulling my chain, it gradually became obvious that they were quite serious.

Sure enough, over time, the group of recruits who had to keep going back to try and pass swim qual consisted of all black guys. Though I recall they all eventually passed.

[akip]

Certainly true as a generalization, but I think there are more people now than in the past, both black and white who don't feel this way. Still it doesn't seem like there'll be an end to racism anytime soon.

the way i look at it, however, is hostility a big part of what fuels humor and other forms of creativity, and is undeniably one of the reasons blacks have contributed so much to american culture.

if i were to adopt the "white" view that blacks dissing whites is racism of an equally toxic nature, and i wanted to be consistent, i'd boycott black comedians and a lot of black music.

but in fact i support all that.

also, there's a big difference between just calling "a spade a spade," as in an accurate observation of the racial composition of the athletes in the winter olympics, and bryant gumbel saying, "let's kill all the white people."

[akip]

i'm late so i've gotta get back to the rest of you honkies later. :p

only kidding.

[Shlep]

the way i look at it, however, is hostility a big part of what fuels humor and other forms of creativity, and is undeniably one of the reasons blacks have contributed so much to american culture.

if i were to adopt the "white" view that blacks dissing whites is racism of an equally toxic nature, and i wanted to be consistent, i'd boycott black comedians and a lot of black music.

but in fact i support all that.

also, there's a big difference between just calling "a spade a spade," as in an accurate observation of the racial composition of the athletes in the winter olympics, and bryant gumbel saying, "let's kill all the white people."

Well, yeah. Humor that pokes fun at the idiosyncracies and foibles of ones' own group (be it racial, ethnic, country of origin, social background) or others has been a part of the American comedic tradition for about as long as one has existed.

There's also a huge difference between making comments in jest, or using humor as a spoonful of sugar to help people swallow difficult ideas and topics as guys like Rich Pryor, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock have often done, and saying "______ sucks because not enough _______ people do it."

[DaHood]

the way i look at it, however, is hostility a big part of what fuels humor and other forms of creativity, and is undeniably one of the reasons blacks have contributed so much to american culture.

if i were to adopt the "white" view that blacks dissing whites is racism of an equally toxic nature, and i wanted to be consistent, i'd boycott black comedians and a lot of black music.

but in fact i support all that.

also, there's a big difference between just calling "a spade a spade," as in an accurate observation of the racial composition of the athletes in the winter olympics, and bryant gumbel saying, "let's kill all the white people."
I hear where you're coming from but:
Well, yeah. Humor that pokes fun at the idiosyncracies and foibles of ones' own group (be it racial, ethnic, country of origin, social background) or others has been a part of the American comedic tradition for about as long as one has existed.

There's also a huge difference between making comments in jest, or using humor as a spoonful of sugar to help people swallow difficult ideas and topics as guys like Rich Pryor, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock have often done, and saying "______ sucks because not enough _______ people do it."
What he said.
i'm late so i've gotta get back to the rest of you honkies later. :p
"It's all right, 'cuz it's allll white." :p

[ICONOCLAST420]

I guess Bryant Gumbel didn't notice the black speed skater that won a gold medal.

Maybe if they had slavery in Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland there would be more blacks in downhill skiing, curling, and ice dancing.

[george]

Did anyone notice that NBC kept noting that Davis was the first African-American to win an individual winter olympic gold?

This made me wonder whether he was the first black American to win a gold, or whether NBC was referring to all blacks - regardless of nationality - as 'African-Americans,' which would be pretty funny.

[BigSugar]

no - we were talking about the news - his point was his people don't play in the snow or the water - he said you won't see them in the summer olympics swimming either, he said some other stuff today that would get lost in translation, he had me in tears.

exactly....i was always told that if you were chased by a swarm of black people, that you should jump in the nearest lake or pool to avoid being stung......

no, wait.......that was bees. oops! continue.......

[justa bill]

Did anyone notice that NBC kept noting that Davis was the first African-American to win an individual winter olympic gold?

This made me wonder whether he was the first black American to win a gold, or whether NBC was referring to all blacks - regardless of nationality - as 'African-Americans,' which would be pretty funny.

he was the first black person to win an idividual winter olympic gold, i heard. so probably the first african-american...

because, all african-americans aren't black. in college, i knew a guy who grew up in South Africa before his family moved here, and he became a citizen. he sure wasn't black, but technically... isn't he an african-american. :confused:

as well, most Americans originally from Morocco or Egypt aren't "black", but if they're US citizens... :confused:

[ICONOCLAST420]

i knew a guy who grew up in South Africa before his family moved here, and he became a citizen. he sure wasn't black, but technically... isn't he an african-american.
I think we had a thread about a student at a school in N.C. who was elected "African-American Student of the Year" who was a white born in South Africa, he was not allowed to recieve the award because he was not black.

[DaHood]

in college, i knew a guy who grew up in South Africa before his family moved here, and he became a citizen. he sure wasn't black, but technically... isn't he an african-american. :confused:

as well, most Americans originally from Morocco or Egypt aren't "black", but if they're US citizens... :confused:
Doesn't that demonstrate why the term "African-American" doesn't really live up to it's original intent? It's just a bunch of PC drivel, probably started by a white person.

[george]

he was the first black person to win an idividual winter olympic gold, i heard. so probably the first african-american...

because, all african-americans aren't black. in college, i knew a guy who grew up in South Africa before his family moved here, and he became a citizen. he sure wasn't black, but technically... isn't he an african-american. :confused:

as well, most Americans originally from Morocco or Egypt aren't "black", but if they're US citizens... :confused:


Yeah, I saw in the paper the next day that davis was the first black to win. What I wondered is whether NBC was using "African American" interchangably with "black." They said "African American" so many times, without ever pointing out that he was the first "black" to win, that I seriously wondered if they understood the difference. After all, it would seem that being the first black to win would be a much greater accomplishment (and worthy of note) than simply being the first black American to win.

If the first black man had been a German, I wonder if they would still have referred to him as an "African American."

[justa bill]

Yeah, I saw in the paper the next day that davis was the first black to win. What I wondered is whether NBC was using "African American" interchangably with "black."

oh, sorry. but NBC is so messed up, they would probably do that.

because of that network, i don't even try to watch the olympics which is kind of a shame, but NBC is so stupid. saturday, we had the tv on in the back ground, and they spent a good 30 minutes showing a cross country skiing race from 1990 or something... like 12 or 16 years ago.

it's like: ok, if it was an important race, spend maybe 3 minutes on it, but there has to be a current competition of some kind going on right now... so show it. :rolleyes:

we left right after their little show about that race ended, so i didn't hear anything that was going on in the present olympics. whatever...

[Shlep]

I remember when Charlize Theron hosted Saturday Night Live and mentioned how proud she was to be the first African-American woman to host the show.

I find the term "African American" to be a bit...I dunno. For one thing, it's more likely than not to be applied to someone who is, say, Haitian or West Indian than someone born in Africa. Also, from what I've seen/heard/read, actual Africans find the term "African American" to be quite odd, and get downright irritated when black people in this country say stuff like "I'm not African American, I am an African who just happened to be born in America!!" People in Africa consider black people here to be about African as I am.

[drworm8]

white? I guess....I always just thought the Olympics were too gosh-darned boring.

[berzerker]

Doesn't that demonstrate why the term "African-American" doesn't really live up to it's original intent? It's just a bunch of PC drivel, probably started by a white person.

There's probably not as much uproar over the fact that Russians are Asian.

[miami2112]

You're right; there is a whole profusion of cultures in the world, most of whom are well-represented at the Winter Olympics. Trouble is, that in Bryant Gumbels' world, apparently, anything without lots of black people in something that just needs to have a giant shit taken on it.

In fact, it sounds all the world to me like it's Bryant, not his pigment-challenged viewers, who needs reminding that there are other cultures. After all, the rest of the world seems to think that holding the Winter Games is a worthy endeavor. I wonder how they like being regarded as pseudo-athletes competing in a bunch of non-sports, as evidenced by the fact that they're not sufficiently dark (despite what Bryant seems to think, Asians and, for that matter, different types on non-black/non-brown people are "ethnic" too).

In any case, his stupid rant exposing his colossally ignorant attitudes towards a subset of sport is hardly befitting the host of a sports program.

As for the bit about black guys not being able to swim: I heard this first in the Marines. Part of boot camp involved having water safety training (Marines, as you may now, spend lots of time around water) and passing a test where you had to use tactics you learned to stay afloat for something like 5 minutes.

The black guys in my platoon started bitching and griping that they were never going to graduate boot camp. When I asked them what they were talking about, a couple mentioned that "brothers can't float." When I indicated that I was sure they were pulling my chain, it gradually became obvious that they were quite serious.

Sure enough, over time, the group of recruits who had to keep going back to try and pass swim qual consisted of all black guys. Though I recall they all eventually passed.


http://www.focus.it/images/2002628231234_10.jpg

anthony nesty: black gold medal winner of the 100 fly in the 1988 summer games.

that's a culture thing - "brothers dont want to float".

[REMgirl]

Let's not forget this, either:

Debbi Thomas of the United States won bronze in women's figure skating, becoming the first black athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal.

That was in Calgary, 1988. :cool:

[akip]

Let's not forget this, either:

Debbi Thomas of the United States won bronze in women's figure skating, becoming the first black athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal.

That was in Calgary, 1988. :cool:

i was just remembering her this afternoon. hope she's doing fine.

[Shlep]

i was just remembering her this afternoon. hope she's doing fine.

She's an orthopedic surgeon now...I'd wager she bides fine.

And she still looks well (*rowr*!) I swear, her showdown with Katarina Witt as a bona-fide Olympic Babe-Off. :D

[akip]

She's an orthopedic surgeon now...I'd wager she bides fine.

And she still looks well (*rowr*!) I swear, her showdown with Katarina Witt as a bona-fide Olympic Babe-Off. :D

that's who it was---katarina!! carmen. couldn't remember.

yep, the athletic powerhouse v. the flirtatious artiste. we were routing for debbie at my house, but i think she fell, didn't she.

[Shlep]

that's who it was---katarina!! carmen. couldn't remember.

yep, the athletic powerhouse v. the flirtatious artiste. we were routing for debbie at my house, but i think she fell, didn't she.

'Twas almost half a lifetime ago. I seem to recall the final showdown for the gold was so close it came down do carving figure-eights in the ice to see who could do the best one.

[akip]

'Twas almost half a lifetime ago. I seem to recall the final showdown for the gold was so close it came down do carving figure-eights in the ice to see who could do the best one.


http://www.harlick.com/img/gal/ice/debbie.jpg

and then remember the french skater surya bonaly...

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t265/T265504A.jpg


i think gumbel was on the today show back then, and probably sleeping...

[akip]

and then there's my kid's hero jerome iginla, on team canada:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/hockey/nhl/news/2001/12/04/nhl/iginla_sm-01.jpg

[REMgirl]

Surya Bonaly was great to watch. She was French, n'est-ce pas? I must say, she had some glorious costumes and an attitude to match. :p

I have to admit, she always looked like a stubby little fireplug out on the ice, compared to the slender, graceful skaters she was up against. But she was super athletic and fun to watch.

[purple_octopus]

and then remember the french skater surya bonaly...

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t265/T265504A.jpg


i think gumbel was on the today show back then, and probably sleeping...
But she's French, which I'm sure makes her "not really black" or something. I don't know, you'd have to ask Gumbel.

[Shlep]

and then remember the french skater surya bonaly...

http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t265/T265504A.jpg

I was rackin' my brains trying to think of her name earlier...thanks. :)


i think gumbel was on the today show back then, and probably sleeping...

Naw, just too busy to be bothered with non-athletes and their pseudo-sports. God knows there's no athleticism in a sport that requires supreme endurance, agility, balance, flexibility and not to mention guts (you'd not catch me doing no-hand cartwheels over a slab of ice).

[BigSugar]

would you all please quit messing up a perfectly fine rant by Bryant about race relations with all your facts and figures and pictures which completely contradict Mr. Gumball. sheesh! :D

[juggles]

Using Gumbel logic, I'm going to avoid the rest of the NBA season because not enough of the players are Scotch-Irish and 5' 6".

[akip]

But she's French, which I'm sure makes her "not really black" or something. I don't know, you'd have to ask Gumbel.

she was of african origins, adopted by caucasian french parents.

[akip]

would you all please quit messing up a perfectly fine rant by Bryant about race relations with all your facts and figures and pictures which completely contradict Mr. Gumball. sheesh! :D

take that!!

http://www.gg.caltech.edu/~jeff/images/surya.jpg

and that!

http://www.buzpateni.com/surya_bonaly.jpg

and that!

http://www.michaelcollinsenterprises.com/photos/mainsurya.jpg



http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/04/gumbel.cbs/story.gumble.jpg