Look, the whole deal was that Gilbert got to meet and interview Roger Clemens--his hero--on the field at Minute Maid Park, which is pretty cool if you think about it. I work for 610 and will be editing a video of the interview later on tonight up at the station. It will be posted on the station's web site (www.sportsradio610.com) probably tomorrow... If you watch the video, you'll see that John Granato, Clemens, and everyone else involved were nothing but nice to Gilbert (who is a little slow), but it was more of a fun thing that he got to do than anyone ridiculing him. Many of the team's players (Bagwell and Ensberg, among others), management (Jimmy Stanton with Media Relations), and others were nothing but accomodating and genuinely nice to Gilbert. Many of them stopped and posed to take pictures with him... Just wait until you see it to judge what the station was trying to do. Yes, there may have been some humor at his expense, but it wasn't meant to exploit Gilbert. Once you see the video, you'll know that. It's all in fun...
610 and anyone else who thinks making fun of mentally challenged people is cool are low lifes in my opinion.
Gilbert has pictures with friggin anybody you can think of. Muhammed Ali, Bush Sr, not to mention tons of other people he had in his photo book at the 610 "Bike for Gilbert/Ticket Attractions" road trip earlier this year. Dude's got the hook up everywhere and with everyone it seems. A friend of mine who works at Sun and Ski sports says that he would go in randomly like every day and just randomly start talking to her or any of the other girls at the store. Another person who will go unmentioned says he gets calls from Gilbert about 10 times in a 5 minute period. "I see the phone ring, I pick it up, press end, and put it down, then I count '5, 4, 3, 2..' and before I even finish it starts ringing again". I don't think I have much to add to this thread anyway, but well, I think I should be getting to bed anyway.
Don't want to start another 610 thread already - just wanted to mention that I DID try to listen to the Golf Hour again this morning. Christ. I want that hour of my life back. All Redstone talk, all the time. Harmon and his crony are two of the most pompous jackasses I have ever heard on the radio.
Morons in the Morning. Where have I heard that? I'm not as hard on them for the Gilbert thing, but I didn't like the way they were trying to explain it away. First of all its not P.C., it just decency. Second, yeah, Gilbert got to interview Roger, but you still put it on the radio because its funny.
I didn't think he was real. The couple of times I heard him I thought it Lance being a slow caller on a mobile.
ie. ripping off Phil Hendrie's schtick. I heard the interview. Man, Roger is a good sport. He was very nice to him and didn't even hint at disrespecting him in any way even though he could have.
He really is slow, it's not just some character they made up...he's been around for a while. 4-4? Yeah, enjoy that while it lasts. I thought I was lucky because I recently had a stretch of 2-7.
I need help. I've got a 75 MB Mpeg of the interview that I need to make into a smaller file. Can someone email me? I can post the 75 MB one on yousendit.com. It's the interview...
Is it a movie or mp3? if it's an mp3, mail me and I can try. If it's a movie, I don't have the stuff to do it.
Chance, is Gilbert really slow? Do you think it's appropriate to make fun of him because of this? I know you're not making fun of his condition, but you're making fun of what his condition causes (if he is really slow).
Bump. He was just on. I'm not seeing the humor in laughing at a slow person. Can someone enlighten me as to why it's funny?
It's not funny. Even if it is all in good fun and they are not lauging at his expense (which I'm not sure how they are not), it's still not funny. It's just annoying.
The Gilbert thing is more played out than "Move Steve to the 2" calls. I think it is a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees with John and Lance. The crap is old, people are calling telling them that and they totally ignore them. Lance has mentioned he is getting e-mails saying Gilbert is old. It is played out totally. If the listeners don't like it, you might want to think of cutting back on it. A guy called this morning and that was his first statement during his call so they totally brushed him off. Now the idea of laughing at a slow guy opens up an entire different bag. When I first heard it I was thinking it was a joke character, but the more I listened I figured out he was real. I mean, they are making fun of his speech, his situation of him riding a bike everywhere, etc. Basically making a joke out of his daily life. Gilbert might not care or might not understand that he is being made for a fool, but in my eyes it isn't right. I can see them making fun of me because of some behaviour that I choose to do, but everything they laugh at are things Gilbert has no control over. Kind of like laughing at the kid in elementary with a disability. That isn't right. The morning they had the "debate" with the guy who was offended was a total joke. The guy brought up all these good points, but all they could do was say, "Well, we got him an interview with Clemens," and "Well, we got him a bike." So f'n what. That gives you the right to make his disabilities the butt of your jokes? I lost alot of respect for John and Lance that morning. Like I said, maybe they are so involved in the situation, they can't see what they are doing is wrong. I deal with people with disabilities daily at work. I treat them as they don't have a disability. But I don't make fun of them or laugh at their disability. I don't like the Gilbert deal, I am not saying don't take his calls, but stop making a big production everytime he calls just to get some laughs. It is old, and the more I think about it, the more I think it is totally wrong. While I am on the topic of 610...can you guys replace Rich and Marc with a test signal or something? They have possibly the worst show in sports talk history.
