When Bad Analogies Happen: Hitler and the Celtics
ESPN, REligion June 17th. 2008, 10:45am
So what’s the deal with ESPN employees and forgettable religious remarks? Remember when Gregg Easterbrook was fired from his Page 2 gig a few years ago for something he wrote about Disney CEO Michael Eisner? It has happened again, and this time, the writer who choose her words poorly was Jemele Hill: “Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim. It’s like hoping Gorbachev would get to the blinking red button before Reagan.” Say what? We’re not sure how this makes a dollop of sense – does this mean rooting for seemingly good guys like Ray Allen, KG and Paul Pierce, a trio that has never been embroiled in anything remotely close to what happened to Kobe in that Colorado hotel room, is wrong?
The Boston Herald notes that an apology has been issued, but so far, there’s no word of a suspension. Dana Jacobson was suspended for a week after her drunken roast remarks about Jesus. Ric Bucher was slapped on the wrist for some comments about Mormons. What will become of Hill?
ESPN.com apologizes for Celtics-Hitler reference (Boston Herald)
107 Responses to “When Bad Analogies Happen: Hitler and the Celtics”
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:48 am
“…Paul Pierce, a trio that has never been embroiled in anything remotely close to what happened to Kobe in that Colorado hotel room, is wrong?”
Paul Pierce’s face would like to remind you it was stabbed 9 times… just sayin’.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:49 am
if she replaced Hitler with southern plantation owners it would have been ok because Page2 black writers get a pass on race, but she uses Hitler and shit goes crazy
June 17th, 2008 at 10:50 am
But Boston is a racist city, you see, so her analogy is perfectly okay.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:50 am
I didn’t think Hill would be a likely candidate to invoke Godwin’s Law.
Not to mention her comments don’t even make sense. She’s trying to tell me that rooting for Kobe is better than rooting for Jesus and Smoking Paul Pierce? Hell, Pierce got stabbe 271 times several years ago.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:52 am
This is the same Jemele Hill that campaigned for Spurs/Pistons
June 17th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Pierce was at a club and got jacked.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:53 am
All this woman does is say things to stir up shit and get attention. She get’s the attention but I don’t think anyone really values or respects her opinion.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
to Kobe in that Colorado hotel room, is wrong?
taking shots at Kobe whenever possible TBL
June 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
It’s time for Jemele to go back to Orlando (say Hi to Irishmafia while you’re there!) I think writing for espn.com was too much too soon for her.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
They fired Easterbook? Who invited him back?
June 17th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I had to wait in line at the ATM today! Racism!
-Jemele Hill
The light turned red as soon as I approached the intersection! Racism!
-Scoop Jackson
June 17th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I think NASA probably invited Easterbrook back for his “knowledgable” tangents into science
June 17th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Kobe banged out a chick in a hotel room, I am sure the Big 3 have done that.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:00 am
If Easterbrook was fired then he is about to get rehired after these Hitler comments. Must keep competitive balance
June 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Ms. Hill is just angry that Ray Allen played a character named Jesus. That friends and neighbors blasphemy which is the highest of crimes.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
TBL, CRM, and Imig?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
the .com editor is a big Battlestar Galactica fan
June 17th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Jemele Hill meant to say that rooting for the Patriots and Bill Belichik was like rooting for Hitler!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:03 am
In this analogy, I’ll be playing KG. When the girls get there, I disappear.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Kobe banged out a chick in a hotel room, I hoped the Big 3 have done that.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I beleive she is from Eastern Michigan, I am sure she went to Michigan State. I don’t know where the Orlando thing came from. RE: the article, Is this really that hurtful? So you definately can’t write the word Hitler without being fired? I guess I don’t see what the big deal is i guess. Is everybody THAT sensitive?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Never heard of him.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Ray Allen only has sex on ferris wheels and in dorm rooms.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Easterbrook is “knowledgable” in science the same way Hitler was “knowledgable” in military tactics.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I don’t read Hill regularly, so I don’t know her writing very well, but wasn’t there another analogy she could have come up with here? What was she going for? The Boston racial history thing? Was she just trying to be edgy or political?
Because if you’re not good at writing with an edgy/political take, then this is the sort of shit that typically happens.
This incident doesn’t seem nefarious so much as it seems stupid on Hill’s part and I’m not sure it’s the same thing as the Easterbrook thing. Easterbrook went out of his way to make a point vis a vis the ethnicity of movie execs; he seemed to go out of his way to piss off the boss. Hill tossed off a really inappropriate analogy.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:05 am
She should be fired. Not because her statements are insensitive or classless, but just because it’s a horrible analogy that makes no sense whatsoever.
“Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim”? What does that even mean? That the Celtics are evil? Or that they’re the architects of the NBA’s mid-90s demise? Or that the act of rooting for them surrenders the Rhineland?
What exactly is she saying?!!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Here’s a question that I’d like to have answered: who is the editor that let that remark slip by? Since it was posted on a Saturday, did the editor even look at it?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Maybe she meant we should drop a bomb on Boston. The more I think about it the more I like where she was going with this.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Imagine the outrage if she picked on the blueberry harvest?
/Bill Conlin, author of such fine material as “The only positive thing I can think of about Hitler’s time on earth…I’m sure he would have eliminated all bloggers.”
June 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Not understanding a Jemele Hill column > understanding the usual crap that she writes.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
In all seriousness I don’t think there is any intended race or religion in here, especially because she chose Gorbachev instead of Stalin (though Khrushchev might have been a better choice). She isn’t using Hitler as an anti-Jew but rather as anti-American. I should read what she wrote in context instead of TBL’s blurb but I’m too lazy. I don’t see any issue with it except that her arguments always suck.
/end history major rambling
June 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
@ Maggs – She wrote in Orlando before ESPN.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Easterbrook was fired several years ago and then rehired. He’s had more online jobs than Whitlock.
Hill used to write for whatever papaer is in Orlando.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
The Boston Herald notes that an apology has been issued, but so far, there’s no word of a suspension.
Color me crazy, but aren’t their editors who vet this stuff? If she’s suspended, why wouldn’t the folks who let something inflammatory slide (again)?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I’ll never understand the re-hire of Easterbrook. If you fire someone for perceived racism, what kind of message do you send by asking them back after a year or two? And does this mean Harold Reynolds has hope?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:15 am
She’s the one who sits in for Jim Rome when he’s out.
She’s absolutely awful and always trying to be edgy but totally sucks at it. I hope she gets run out of town.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Irresponsible writing, but not a fireable offense… I don’t see anything overtly racist or anti-Semitic, it’s just a poorly constructed analogy.
Boston is pretty racist, though.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
If she said Idi Amin instead of Hitler, would there be the same outrage?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
true. but when your employer already has set a precedent for suspending/canning people for similar stunts, if hill doesn’t get suspended, it really opens up a can of worms.
(notice i didn’t write “opsn up a can of cyclon-b?”)
June 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Javon Walker, making it rain?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
It doesn’t bother me that she compared something as trvial as basketball to Hitler, it bothers me that it was a crappy piece, written to do nothing but stir things up and take the popular anti-Boston opinion.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Didn’t our beloved TBL interview Hill?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:18 am
gee. a writer for page 2 uses bad analogies? how novel!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:21 am
A bad analogy is a reason for getting canned? this is her job in which she uses to feed her family folks. I just can’t see how she should be fired for this. I have made a million crappy jokes that leave people feeling awkward, but I don’t expect to be canned over it. i realize this is more than a crappy joke, but it is a little irresponsible to fire someone over something like this in my opinion, a suspension? sure, but not fire her.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Agreed, no way does she deserve to get fired. Sheesh, people love talking about putting other people’s jobs in jeopardy.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Remember when everyone used to say that all of ESPN, especially Page 2, were Boston homers? This has just been a calculated plan by ESPN to combat that perception. Think about it, Hill, Easterbrook, Mike Fish, Mark Schlereth, Mike Greenberg, then the whole fued with Bill Simmons. I think their next move may be hiring John Tomase.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I say can her just cause she sucks and brings nothing, could care less about the comment.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
@fluffy
Honestly though, who since the great Hunter has brought anything over there?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
/more maggspropriate
June 17th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Not fire-able.
That is unless you want to say this is just the latest example in a long line of columns that are virtually unreadable because they are poorly constructed.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:30 am
@Magglio:
I am a big fan of LZ Granderson
June 17th, 2008 at 11:30 am
See, I always thought that was a good description of Jim Rome, so maybe she’s just doing a good job of filling in.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Just another egomaniacal sportswriter completely full of herself (himself). Mariotti, Lupica, Simmons, Hill — they’re all the same. Angry, bitter, jealous, minimally-talented, terminally egocentric twerps. They should all rot………
June 17th, 2008 at 11:32 am
So people think I am all Strahan’ed out on this site? Weird.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:33 am
It’s Rome’s Shtick though – there’s no reason to duplicate it in a female format.
Well any format.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Best.Analogy.Ever
June 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
So when is Le Batard coming on again, and breaking “Billy Wagner”?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Well, you are going on the sausage fest baseball trip…
Naw, just kidding, man. I’m sure you plowed through your fair share of homely, voluptuous chick at Michigan.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Rome is definitely not edgy or trying to take the counter argument side. That is Skip Bayless
June 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am
McGwire had more RsBI than hits in 1995, 2000 and 2001. Paul Sorrento did it in ‘95.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:36 am
T Minus 1:24 until people have to actually find real work to do.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I read Rome described once as “all schtick and no substance”. I love that, because I hate Rome. I believe it also applies to many other crappy writers, broadcasters, et al.
Rome
Hill
Mariotti
W.Page
(many, many others)
June 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
“RsBI”? Spoken like a true Vorpie.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Exactly. This is her job. She is a professional writer. She’s supposed to be able to use words to make her thoughts accessible to us, the readers. In this instance, she failed.
Again, what exactly was her point with that analogy?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am
An answer to a question from two hours ago and posted on another thread. You are tenacious in your desire to show your knowledge.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am
“RsBI� Spoken like a true Vorpie.
Makes a lot more sense than “Run Batted Ins”.
But: yes.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am
And the plural of RBI is RBI. Like deer, sheep, and eskimo.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:41 am
An answer to a question from two hours ago and posted on another thread. You are tenacious in your desire to show your knowledge.
Somebody asked a question, which I was curious of the answer to, so I looked it up and answered in a place where people who might be interested would see it.
So…sorry?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:42 am
No, no. Don’t apologize for your brilliance. You should be commended.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Vegas, he meant no offense. Much like Hitler was just being Hitler, Hef was just being Hef.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hef, being more of a prick today than usual. You’re on fire.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Hef is obviously sloshed on his tequila; the plural of eskimo is eskimi.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:46 am
How is that more than usual? That’s just about usual.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Thats because its suppose to be 113 degrees today in AZ. We are all pricks out here
June 17th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Speaking of eskimi, I just saved an octopus (pl. octopi) from dying on the beach. So maybe I should be commended too. Ribbons and medals for everyone.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:49 am
The Edmonton Eskimos politely disagree.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:49 am
a buck 13 in Arizona today? I think it’s gonna be like 60 here today.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Vegas: Thanks. I was very interested as to the answer to that question. Are those two the only players who have done it, or just the most recent?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Has someone from Edmonton ever been impolite? I once got into a fight in Canada and the guy kept calling me “sir” the whole time I was kicking his ass. (I later found out that he was a mountie and I was under arrest).
June 17th, 2008 at 11:53 am
McGwire and Sorrento both played in 104 games in ‘95. 2000 and 2001 were even shorter, more injury-prone seasons for McGwire. I wonder if anybody has ever done this over an entire season.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:53 am
@fetch – It might be flyover land, but it does have its advantages!
75° here today!
June 17th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Vegas will have your answer at 2:30 EST in the Celtics thread.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:55 am
That octopus most likely beached itself because it was sick and throwing it back in the water can potentially spread disease and bacteria to other octopi. Pour some tequila on your hand to kill the bacteria.
/just made that up to sound smart and bring Hef off of his tree-hugging high horse
June 17th, 2008 at 11:55 am
ESPN fired Rush Limbaugh for making a legitimate-yet-debateable observation about the media, yet Hill is given a pass (as she should have been) for this poor analogy. I guess the key is to either be a minority making the comment or have the comment make no sense.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Oh yea well its a dry heat here. So suck on that
/Sticks head in oven
June 17th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Welcome to the club. Did you know that most Native Americans welcomed white invaders because they didn’t want to keep living anyway? It’s science.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:58 am
That’s what we learned. We learned they hated Lewis and Clark for being peaceful.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:59 am
+100 Fetch.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I should have said that they like the logo I am so prominently displaying, chalk it up to the fact I just woke up.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Are those two the only players who have done it, or just the most recent?
I was just fucking around the B-R Play Index, and that’s all I found.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
@David B.
Rush also has a little history for saying stuff just to be controversial, was on a higher profile show, and was already controversial hire. He also waited all of a few months before starting in with a “liberal media” claim.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
You don’t hire someone that is controversial without allowing him to be reasonably controversial. And when he made the remark, the cast on the show weren’t offended. It was after they decided they didn’t like it and threw him under the bus.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
@ David B.
Agreed they never should have hired him in the first place, they knew he was going to say something controversial.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
NBC Sports still employs Keith Olbermann, right?
Okay, just checking.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Olbermann>O’Reilly>Limbaugh
June 17th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Hef, pretty good read on your boy:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_boyer
June 17th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I’ll give it a look. Thanks for the link.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
espn can keep hill…she sucked in orlando, was glad when she left.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I really like the Celtics.
/Hefler
June 17th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
@Roman: My family is from Boston so I used to watch them but not since the 80s. I’ve always been a bigger suns fan.
June 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Maybe this was Hill’s response to Reilly’s “like rooting for the salmon to eat the bear” column last week. Either way, this isn’t enough to fire somebody. It’s just another example of the pussification of this country if this woman is canned for this (thank you George Carlin).
June 17th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Jemele Hill is bad at her job.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
She used to work for the Orlando Sentinel.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Can’t wait to hear the asinine apology for this one. People, think before you speak, type, or whatever. Morons.
June 17th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
@Hef
Hannity>O’Reilly>Limbaugh>Olbermann
FIXED.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
In her defense, I toss out a lot of analogies that only make sense to me, but which probably seem nonsensical to others. In other words, where were her editors at ESPN.com?
June 17th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
It’s nice to know that I’ll never be as bad at my job as Jemele Hill is about hers. (wow, I wrote that just before seeing PurdueMatt’s comment)