Coach McMakin's joke then apology

[Walkoff Balk]

http://www.khon2.com/news/local/stor...BpbIN6Dww.cspx

I am shocked! Shocked, I tell ya for a football coach to use that word.
Am I missing something? Why did he have to apologize? He used the word to describe a pussy rather than a person's sexuality. I don't think there's a pussy around during gay male sex.
The ones who would complain will display "fake outrage."

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

I am shocked! Shocked, I tell ya for a football coach to use that word.
Am I missing something? Why did he have to apologize? He used the word to describe a pussy rather than a person's sexuality.

If Coach MacMackin was talking about the Notre Dame players performing a dance that he thought was effeminate, then he should have used a term (wimpy?) to denote that rather than a gay slur. We're well into the 21st century now, where it is unacceptable for public officials (including NCAA coaches) to use homosexual slurs, just as it has been inappropriate to use racial slurs under any circumstances. There's no "turning back the clock" on this.

[TuNnL]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

The ones who would complain will display "fake outrage."

I have to disagree. In Hawai‘i, we are far more tolerant of racial and sexual humor than any other state in the nation (i.e. Frank DeLima, Rap Reiplinger, Mel Cabang, etc.). In some places, you can get shot dead for that uttering that type of humor.

Coach McMackin has to learn to recognize the audience. This is not “The Coach Mack Show with Liz Chun.” Greg is a public figure, and there is no brighter spotlight for a collegiate head coach than a media preview for a D-I football conference. Yes, there will be a recording of what is said... even if only a single reporter shows up and he or she happens to work for a newsprint rag.

I like Coach Mack. He seems like a really nice guy, albeit a little overpaid. But I’m going to have to chalk this one up as pure stupidity. Mack forgot to put his game face on, plain and simple. Guess what? Former UH Athletic Director Hugh Yoshida did something eerily similar to Mack just a few short years ago. Remember how UH dealt with that incident?

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

I have to disagree. In Hawai‘i, we are far more tolerant of racial and sexual humor than any other state in the nation (i.e. Frank DeLima, Rap Reiplinger, Mel Cabang, etc.). In some places, you can get shot dead for that uttering that type of humor.

One big difference: Greg McMackin is a public employee. The other guys you mention are comedians who were never on the state's payroll and hence, can legitimately get away with saying many things that a public official like McMackin cannot.

Guess what? Former UH Athletic Director Hugh Yoshida did something eerily similar to Mack just a few short years ago. Remember how UH dealt with that incident?

Or for that matter, then Wahine v-ball asst. and current men's v-ball head coach Charlie Wade.

http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache...&ct=clnk&gl=us

During that ceremony, attended by 500 invited guests, assistant women's volleyball coach Charlie Wade also alluded to the rainbow's gay theme.

"I can't be certain, but I think that the rainbow had something to do with a flight attendant giving me his phone number one time," Wade told the audience.

[Amati]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

http://voices.idahostatesman.com/node/20709
Here's a link that includes a few more details, and also the audio. For those who are wondering just what was "the word", it starts with an F and rhymes with maggot.

According the the article (above link), this is not the first "slip of words" that McMackin has had, "Last year, the first-year coach let slip the name of a committed recruit whom he was not allowed to talk about. He immediately realized his mistake and the reporters covering the event agreed to let that go.".

This time the reporters did not let it go unnoted.

[SusieMisajon]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

Jeeze! What a bunch of PC idiots Americans have become!

[leashlaws]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

"Cry me a river"

[LikaNui]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

And here's the news... Coach was suspended for 30 days without pay. More news at the link.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

"Cry me a river"

Yeah, those pressure groups acted like crybabies in order to get some money for the penalty of saying a word. The cliche that parents and teachers taught kids of, "Stick and Stones" should be changed. The new version is, "Stick and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt my feelings." In the words of Tom Leykis, "This is the pussification of America."

[Jim75]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

I know zero about this coach. He sounds like a likeable enough character. But here's a few random thoughts about this item.

Growing up in wild and wooly western South Dakota, I don't recall knowing anyone who was gay, or at least openly gay. As kids, we'd played rough ballgames called 'smear the queer' and calling someone a faggot was about as big a put-down as you could level, especially if you were serious. An old expression was 'That guy's as queer as a nine dollar bill'. We had a guidance counselor who was effeminate. I don't know if he was gay or not, but we referred to him as Jolly Rolly. It was assumed he was gay and he was discounted because of it. We weren't the center of enlightenment by any stretch of the imagination.

When I went to grad school at the University of Wyoming, I still had never met a person who was gay, as far as I knew. At a gathering of the PhD program students I was talking to this girl and somehow we got into talking about how difficult it could be for a gay person in Wyoming. I remember saying to her something to the effect of "Why would a gay person want to live in Wyoming? Why not just go to San Francisco to live?" It was an honest question. I later learned that she was gay. I liked her a lot. She was very cool. It turned out that maybe three or four other students in the program besides her were gay and one of the professors. I had no idea. But I knew them as people before I found out they were gay and I liked all of them. That was a revelation for me. Here were all these gay people and they were just like everybody else. That might sound ridiculous to you, but I literally had no idea. The professor apparently had some kind of a double life going on down in Denver and one day we learned that he had picked up some guy in a bar down there and was found dead by the side of the road in Denver, murdered. Shortly after I completed my on-campus requirements, I had left to take a job in another state. Right around that time was when two young rednecks from the wrong side of the tracks left a Laramie (home of the University of Wyoming) bar with a young gay man named Mathew Shepard. They drove him out to a remote location and tied him to a fence post and brutally beat him and left him to die, which he did.

So while the coach may think his remarks are cute or harmless, they are not. They promote and preserve the kind of ignorance that fuels hatred and results in real consequences. He's essentially a faculty member of a University. How many gay students and professors do you think there are at the University of Hawaii? How do you think they feel about this? What if he'd said 'They do that little nigger dance'. Can you imagine that.

By the way, I'm not gay. If you stand up for gays, some people assume you must be gay. I don't want to be misidentified and I don't want the hate. Neither do I want to live in a society where haters and bullies are considered cool. They're not. They're weak. Someone who is truly strong doesn't belittle other people. They don't need to. They're secure in themselves and don't need to try to prop themselves up at other's expense. People belittle others because of their own insecurities. When you hear someone belittling another person, you can say to yourself 'Hmmm . . . there's an ignorant, insecure person'. But people can learn and grow. I did. There'll always be another step up the evolutionary ladder for each of us.

[tutusue]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

Great post, Jim. I remember the Matthew Shepherd story and how absolutely heartbreaking it was. Still is.

I have gay family who I'm sure would giggle over the coaches faux pas. But my 2 guys are so evolved and secure with themselves and each other that they see the humor in just about everything! Except politics. One's a republican; the other's a democrat! Anyway, when (my) Jim beats me in a game of cards I call him a dirty little f****t. If I win he calls me a shi**y little p***y! We love each other!

[anapuni808]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

Jim75 - that was very well said. It stressed how just a label can cause real harm & damage to real people, in the real world - without going all "PC Correctness" silly in making your point. Coach Mack has a reputation for being a very kind, nice man - this incident goes to show that even nice folks can make a mistake. He could have used another word to make his point - he didn't. He made a mistake and because it was sooo very public, UH officials really didn't have a choice but to punish him. If they didn't, it would seem that they condone usage of these terms.

What I have a problem with is all the folks in the audience who laughed after Coach made his remark. I hope they are also feeling ashamed now and making apologies. Though I doubt it, because they weren't caught on video/audio. These are the ones who help perpetuate the use of this name-calling and these are the ones who need to look inside themselves and ask each other why they thought it was funny.

[TuNnL]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

...two young rednecks from the wrong side of the tracks left a Laramie (home of the University of Wyoming) bar with a young gay man named Mathew Shepard. They drove him out to a remote location and tied him to a fence post and brutally beat him and left him to die, which he did.

So while the coach may think his remarks are cute or harmless, they are not. They promote and preserve the kind of ignorance that fuels hatred and results in real consequences. He's essentially a faculty member of a University. How many gay students and professors do you think there are at the University of Hawaii? How do you think they feel about this? What if he'd said 'They do that little nigger dance'. Can you imagine that.

This is the essence of McMackin’s folley. As I mentioned earlier, Coach Mack failed to realize who his audience was. Frankie’s Market seems to disagree that Mack couldn’t “get away” saying what he what did because he wasn’t a comedian. Well, that’s simply untrue. If Greg had a different venue, say a taped interview with Robert Kekaula, or even one with Neil Everett on ESPN, it’s a one-on-one interview where the reporter has developed a close enough relationship with him to forgive him on certain things. This might very well have been one of them. And the problem would be “solved” by simply “editing that part out.” No one would be the wiser.

The key point in all of this is Mack was NOT doing an exclusive interview, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least a journalist or two in that room who was meeting McMackin for the very first time. Talk about first impressions. Clearly, Greg was not on his home turf. Frankly, he’s very fortunate to receive only a 30-day suspension and a pay cut. Rex Johnson got a stiffer sentence for a bunch of e-mails.

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

A look into Coach McMakin's history might answer as to why he said that word. Coach McMakin was an assistant coach at the University of Miami at Florida. They were the heated rival of Notre Dame. This rivalry was called The Catholics vs. The Convicts. There was even a fight on the field before the game started. There must of been a lot of trash talkin' with people's ancestry and sexuality being discussed.
If Coach McMakin was raised here instead of the South, he might have used the word "panty" instead of the f-word.

[sansei]

Re: Coach McMakin's joke then apology

hi,i imoh that coach mac said an inappropriate slur only i as a viewer when it come's to the game's is able to forgive him,it's one error he'll never make again and when he was remorseful in apologizing,i agree with the term's that the U.H. shared with him and if another culture many year's ago,

when they shared their thought's on the aja's when they came off of the bus and they said a racial slur,they should also apologize,i wont harp on it only they who said it should truly and humbly apologize to the aja's who were offended.

Well thank's for your time