Former Atlanta Braves superstar Chipper Jones has no sympathy for the Rutgers basketball players who were verbally and physically assaulted by head coach Mike Rice. In fact, he seems to blame the victim. From Twitter, in the last couple of hours:
I got cursed at and called names by a ton of people growing up. Were they fired? Nope! Do I care? Nope! What’s the big deal? Toughen up!
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 3, 2013
Yeah, been hit w/ bball equipment on purpose, been dragged around a football field by my facemask and ran suicides til I puked! I ain’t mad.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 3, 2013
So because an asshole coach threw a bat at Jones, he thinks it's OK that an asshole coach hit and threw basketballs at the heads of his players.
"Faggot"? What's the problem with calling someone a "faggot? I call people that all the time… You can hear the conversation going on in his head.
This "old school" thinking is, thankfully, being pushed out of sports.
Jones had already been accused of cyber-bullying in the last few days. This just adds fuel to the fire.
Openly gay former Rutgers swimmer Sean Smith, who sits on the board of GO! Athletes, was a bit more understanding in a statement:
“As a former athlete and coach at Rutgers, I know that Mike Rice’s actions and words are not typical of the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers has taken a stand and will hopefully continue to take actions to repair this situation and be a leader in how to make sports a safe space for LGBT Student-Athletes.”
