Throwing up an Air Ball
1
By The Spotter
The NZ Breakers badly botched their lay-ups and jump shots way before tip-off to their ANBL season last night. Because online comments made over the years by those associated with their chief shirt sponsor, Barstool Sports basically amounts to hate speech.
Barely a few days ago we get their CEO Matt Walsh trivialising it all as ‘satire’ and comedy. Was he in fact satirising himself with this response? Because it’s so naïve and out of touch, you’d almost think so.
Here was Walsh’s golden chance to state categorically that the Breakers organisation would never for a second condone the spiteful, misogynistic garbage that’s been spouted. But he didn’t. And he couldn’t really; not after making this comment about those who control Barstool, to the Herald: ‘At the core of them I know who these people are’. Whether he likes it or not, by dint of that statement Walsh makes himself complicit and inclusive of the beliefs and rhetoric of Barstool Sports.
What a piss-poor contradiction from a CEO and by association, his club. A club that has always babbled on about ’family values’. I wonder how the Blackwells are feeling. What a pitiful sell-out and what a crock. It’ll be hard to believe another word.
The philosopher, Nietzsche, said that people don’t like the truth because it ruins their illusions. In the case of Walsh and the Breakers, exactly right.
And really disappointing and concerning has been the seemingly wilful blindness and lack of courage around the whole issue. They’ve absolutely missed the buzzer on this and majorly blotted their previously good name.
-Paul Montague (talltree@xtra.co.nz)
To quickly add: Ben Stoyner made an excellent point via Twitter- the relative silence from a good few in influence has been pretty rank as well. Where is the courage to speak out? Sometimes a situation is so plainly wrong that all other things should be risked in fighting the good fight.
Thankfully, one of the Sky (female) journos had a bit of a go at them on NZ Press Box on Wed night. But it was surprising to see the host keeping mainly quiet- She’s a quality broadcaster, but were some ties with that team stopping her from saying much? Issues can be a big balancing act re. career etc., but surely one as bad as this deserves throwing caution to the wind a bit more?