George Mason's Drunk White Fans

[bigunreal]

I went to the George Mason-Tulane game last night, and witnessed one of the most fantastic displays of Pavlovian mob behavior I've ever seen.

Tulane started one white player, a forward named Daniel Puckett. Except for a large Ukranian who saw a few minutes in the first half for George Mason, he was the only white player to get playing time in the game. I thought the kid played pretty well, but he didn't stand out in any way and had a minimal impact on the game.

Imagine my shock then, when halfway through the second half, when this lone white player picked up his third foul (or course, like all white players, every time he attempted to play defense he was whistled for a foul), the GMU fans, as if they were prompted by some invisible hand, started chanting "PUCKETT" over and over again. At first I couldn't believe what I was hearing, because this kid only took a handful of shots, did not get to touch the ball that much, and so there couldn't be any reason for opposing fans to ride him like that. Except for the most important reason, that is. They kept it up long after he'd fouled out (shocker there), and it was amazing to me that he didn't gesture to the crowd from the bench.

Just to make sure he wasn't the star of the team, who mysteriously was only touching the ball a minimum amount that game, I looked him up when I came home after the game. Sure enough, he is nothing more than a typical token white role player, a senior who averages about 6 points per game. So, there was no logical reason, other than irrational group hatred directed at the lone white on the court, for these nearly all white fans to be chanting this kid's name derisively.

I'm going to try and contact the president of George Mason, and complain about the racist behavior of the crowd. I don't expect him to respond, but if he does, I'll let you know what he says.

I can't imagine how it must feel to be one of the handful of whites who are permitted to play basketball at the highest levels nowadays. It's bad enough to deal with the typical frustrations that go along with playing with four black teammates; not getting passed to, being chewed out for any mistake, a minimal amount of shots no matter how hot you are, coaches ready to bench you at the drop of a hat, referees not allowing you to play defense, etc. However, when you have to hear the wrath of opposing fans, who don't even know who you are, it must be a real nightmare. I remember what J.J. Reddick went through at the hands of drunk white fans, but jumping all over some unknown random white player is completely ridiculous. Edited by: bigunreal

 

[bigunreal]

I'm surprised that no one has responded to this thread yet. There seems to be a lot fewer replies to almost all posts here lately, as a matter of fact. I know it's been commented on before, but I have definitely noticed the decrease in traffic on Caste Football. Whether or not Google's censoring is the cause, this is really a shame. Caste Football is one of a kind, and an invaluable resource for everyone.

I emailed the athletic director at George Mason (couldn't find an email for the president), and he has already replied. Predictably, he danced all around the racial issue, claiming that this sort of thing was "common" and had nothing to do with racism or hatred. I'm still thinking out my response, but I am going to tell him that I'm dissatisfied with his answer, and will boycott GMU games until he issues a strong public condemnation of those drunk white fans.

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Yeah the caste system is alive and well in basketball. I remember I was at a Nets' game and Nets' fans used to cheer with sarcasm "every single time" Brian Scalabrine touched the ball when he first started out. Scalabrine was screamed at and all the fans would chant "Veal". I'm serious that it was every single time he put his hands on the ball. It's amazing he ended up having staying power in the league after that.

He's doing fine now with the Celtics as a "role player". There was truly no reason for fans to mock him and cheer like idiots when he is just a solid big man and role player. It's no surprise that "Veal" plays a lot better now that he's not in Jersey. He's only getting limited minutes though. Scalabrine would certainly be a solid role player or sixth man type for any team that doesn't have depth like Boston.

Something else to note is that David Lee is not on the NBA.com Center All-star ballot when clearly he is in the top 3 centers in the east hands down. Lee is making 56% of his shots and scoring 14.4 points on only a mere 10 shots a game. He is mad efficient and should be shooting more. Lee also is grabbing 10.6 rebounds and playing great D. He's playing big minutes now and is getting double-doubles just about every game.

The only guy who you could argue who is a better Center right now in my opinion than Lee in the east is Dwight Howard. Chris Bosh, Kevin Garnett etc. are all forwards. How the hell is Lee not on the all-star voting ballot. You could only write in his name it was not listed on the options.

But get this: Yi Jinlian of China was listed on the ballot to appease the Chinese fans; even Stephon Marbury was listed. Any player will get hyped, but a white guy! I'm sure Jinlian is going to be starting now for the east team with the Chinese voting being opened up. This is a complete joke!

 

[Don Wassall]

I see the DWF white-hating syndrome as basically a two-part phenomenon. It's firstly a reflection of white self-loathing and taking out white people's confusion, angerand frustration on innocent, undeserving, "safe" targets. And the "safe" aspect explains the other part: the fear and reluctance of whites to treat blacks with the same (despicable) standards with which they treat themselves. Black athletes are only booed when they are incredibly awful, or when they are certifiable villains. Even in the case of the latter, i.e., Barry Bonds and "T.O.," the booing is restrained. Owens was mildly booed by the Dallas fans in his first game after his racist attack against Romo and Witten, but as soon as hemade a catch all was forgiven.


I've written about my memories as a young Pirates fan in the '70s, when the team started seven black every day players and one white, 3B Richie Hebner, who was a good looking kid from New England with an outgoing personality and who hit around .300. But he was the one player the Pittsburgh fans booed after every out he made or fielding mistake. None of the black players were ever booed. And this was in "racist" Pittsburgh, still proclaimed as such during the '08 presidential campaign by withered Johnstown Democrat Congressman John Murtha. Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[ToughJ.Riggins]

Yeah the safe target thing is absolutely spot on. White fans would be afraid of getting the racist label if they came down on a black role player for no reason the way they did that random white from Tulsa.

I found an interesting post on a message board yesterday and should have copied and pasted it here. It is a little off topic as it relates to football, not basketball.

A kid said he had on his #2 McGuffie Michigan jersey on Michigan Campus and was walking to class and then there was a group of black kids one of who played on the team I forget which (he was an offensive skill player) who booed him when he walked by. This guy said he was offended that the player would put down his own teammate like that by booing his jersey.

That just shows that whites are a safe target for blacks, but not vice versa. You can even boo your own teammate if you're black with no fear of people questioning you at all, especially if he's a white RB and you're a black one! Can you imagine this kid approaching that black player (might have been Terrance Robinson if I recall) and saying "You suck, McGuffie owns you!" He might have gotten punched in the face.

The black player is not a safe target; Sam is! I am now again leaning more in the direction that there were components of the black veteran RBs from Michigan not liking a white "True Freshman" coming in and getting the carries as well as family concerns. They probably made him feel uncomfortable and Sam is a quiet kid anyway.

It would make sense that they'd take it as an insult for a white True Freshman to start in today's climate of 100% blackness at the position; when they have less years of eligibility left to try to make the NFL. It's all about the money nowadays in sports.

I'll try to find the post I am referring to tomorrow. Now I gotta catch some shut eye.

 

[Liverlips]

At least you took some action, bigunreal, by contacting GMU. More of us need to do this.

 

[GiovaniMarcon]

First, I agree with you on the whole picking on the lone white guy thing.

I remember when the Lakers were NBA champions in the early 2000s, people in LA would sarcastically cheer Mark Madsen in a patronizing way. He would only get garbage minutes but the cheering for him wasn't genuine -- it was mean-spirited and mocking.

The great mass of people in general, whether they're white or not, have various frustrations and nervous, pent-up energies, and releasing hatred at random unknowns makes them feel better (The whole "my boss yelled at me today so I'm going to kick a dog" syndrome) They can't boo the black players because that would make them racist, so they boo the white players because white players are the only ones with the maturity and toughness to shrug it off, and keep going.

Typical example of this -- if you booed Larry Bird in Philadelphia he'd light you up for about twenty five, plus hand off a lot of assists and basically laugh in your face.

If you booed Reggie Miller he'd have a crying fit. If you booed John Starks he'd lose composure and basically brick a half dozen threes in the fourth quarter and cost the Knicks their chance at a Jordan-era title.

Nobody booed Jordan because he was God. People boo Nash because they're jealous of him.

If a black person gets booed it's because of racism. If a white gets booed it's because he sucks.

Sad to say, whites are becoming a race of cowards and fat cows.

Whites are at once a strong and a weak race. We can endure struggle and achieve despite others' incompetence, yet we don't seem to have it in us [anymore] to eliminate the cause for our struggle or remove incompetent people from their controlling position over our lives. We endure a sickness instead of trying to eliminate the sickness or question ourselves as to why the sickness is there. We blame ourselves for getting sick instead.

As for the slow-down of the site, I attribute it to:

1 - holiday season (at least recently) taking up people's time

2 - economic troubles give people more worries and less free time to hang out on the internet

3 - economic troubles curtailing internet access for working families (compare this of course to the 100% of illegal aliens who seem to have HBO)

4 - a growing fear among many whites that things will never get better anyway so why complain about discrimination when your own white neighbors would call YOU a racist for pointing out THEIR racism

5 - a growing disinterest in football or in other sports because of the poor quality of the product


Like the man once said, "you're all my friends when I throw a party with free booze, but will you loan me your pickup and help me on moving day?"

The few who show up at the crack of dawn -- t-shirts, jeans, workshoes, and a sixer of beer for after we're all done -- those are your real buds.