BOTTOM LINE:While other Kansas City Star writers are in constant fear of losing their jobs by causing any controversy, columnist Jason Whitlock had no problems in sending a profanity-laced email to the editors at "Deadspin" attacking fellow columnist Scoop Jackson. 10-16-2008
SCOOP JACKSON'S COLUMN CONTINUES TO OFFEND; JASON WHITLOCK DEMANDS SWIFT EDITORIAL EXECUTION Scoop Jackson has once again sparked the ire of, oh, lots of people with this latest ESPN2 column about the Tampa Bay Rays' B.J. Upton. In it, Jackson praises Upton as the one MLB player who can "bring the game back to the hood" while using some undermining and preposterous logic to substantiate his point. Observe:
The fact that Upton's not perfect makes him perfect. His propensity to be lazy (as witnessed in August when he "decided" not to run hard on three different occasions), the fact that Maddon literally pulled him off the field after not running out a double-play ground ball, the meaningless error in the seventh inning of Game 4 that allowed questions about his lack of focus to surface. All display a flaw in him that almost works to his advantage when kids and wannabe baseball players look at him and say "I'm not perfect either, but look, he's still standing."
Now, granted, Scoop Jackson has clumsily attempted to establish himself as the columnist for a hip-hop generation since he's been at Page 2, and that has resulted in many more confounding and marginally offensive columns then positive ones. One of his biggest detractors has been the Kansas City Star's Jason Whitlock, who implored SOMEONE to stop Scoop. He volunteered his email for publication:
"Would someone please stop Scoop Jackson since the ***** editors at ESPN won't? Got damn, I don't read his **** but when he writes stupid **** like this people e-mail me and ask my opinion. This **** needs to be stopped. Read the dumb mother*****'s column and see how he equates black culture with being lazy and says Upton is going to make folks love baseball again.
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