Wednesday, December 17, 2003 Barrow regrets comparing loss to 'being raped' Associated Press EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New York Giants linebacker Michael Barrow issued an apology Tuesday after having been quoted comparing a football defeat with the experience of a sexual assault. "Obviously, I am deeply sorry that my comments offended anybody, especially anybody who has been in that situation," Barrow said. "I am sorry that my remarks were offensive in any way toward anybody. I accept full responsibility for my poor choice of words, and I am sorry." According to a report in Newsday, Barrow said he felt like the team was "violated" by its 45-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints. "I don't know what it is to be raped," the newspaper quoted Barrow as saying. "Not to be insensitive to people who have, but to me, this is my experience to feel like they just held us down and did whatever they want to us." Coach Jim Fassel told the newspaper he wasn't aware of Barrow's full quote but planned to speak to Barrow about it. "Guys say things that I am sure they don't mean or don't want to say it that [way] or it is an emotional thing," Fassel told Newsday. --- I feel bad for Barrow. He is a public figure and should not have used slang knowing full well the media would take the word literally. The word has evolved into meaning basically you got your ass kicked (ex. the Wolves raped the Rockets), and that is how he meant it. Perhaps it should not be used in that way but unfortunately it is. IMO this was blown way out of proportion to be picked up by ESPN. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1688379
Silly me... I thought some long-lost document had been unearthed about Clyde Barrow's experience in Huntsville.
That's just stupid. I know this has been said enough, but I am so sick of everything being so politically correct.
Talk about a useless conversation. Fassel: We need to talk about your ill advised comments after we got our collective a**'s handed to us. Barrow: Shut the f*** up. Fassel: No, really, this is the second time you've refered to rape as a comparison to how you felt after a bad performance. Barrow: I said shut shut the f*** up. Your not gonna be here next year, why should I listen to you? Fassel: OK
It makes me wounder if some of these ballers even had home schooling at some point. side note: I didn't even get my GED untill the age of 31.
You know, I can't get upset with the guy for his use of the terminology, because I use it as a metaphor at least once a day in my life. HOWEVER, I can get upset with his irresponsiblity about using it in a public forum and to the media, knowing that every word he says to a journalist is open to scrutiny. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize when you are famous, you are held to higher standards and must watch your mouth. Even I, as a regular Joe in society, know better than to use the "rape" methaphor while out in public with strangers, colleagues, or on business meetings. There is a time and place for everything. What is acceptable with your "boys" is not acceptable at work (unless you work where I do, where anything and everything goes.) I feel the exact same way about Matt Millen's comments. I know I've used the term loosely, but I know NEVER to use it away from my "boys." It's unacceptable and irresponsible to say that word in public.
I agree drapg. What really compounds their stupidity is that they have both been repremanded for making stupids comments in the past. I'm sure that a lot of team owners would like to be able to desigant members of the organization as "Not fit for public interaction" and then all microphones would have to be kept 50 feet away minimum.
He wasn't really using the comparison idiomatically like you would when you say the Twolves raped the Rockets. He went into some graphic detail about being held down and violated. Plus, he put in a caveat acknowledging that it might be insenstive to rape victims. So, I don't really feel like he's really being misconstrued. And, I can understand that people who are sensitive to the subject of rape (understandable enough) would do a double-take at the simile. But, it doesn't seem to me to be a very big deal. Not a great PR move of course, but he was just making a comparison to illustrate how he felt as a player. Is he not allowed to feel as though he was powerless and was taken advantage of by the opposing team because other people have endured worse? On the football field, I don't know if there is a better comparison for a defeat like that. Nor was he betraying an underlying insensitivity in his heart for rape victims -- he thought of them as he was talking and recognized that it was a pale comparison he was making.
I get it, it's your dog. The point is that this was not a one time slip. He made almost the exact same statement last year and was told then that it was a bad idea. One time bad on me for not telling you "don't do that", two times bad on you for not listening.
