The Section 8 Chicago organized protest last night intended to force the Chicago Fire front office to address alleged racial incidents by Toyota Park's security firm resulted in ridiculous red herring quotes in the Chicago Tribune from Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
Blanco's "fans are garbage" quote was translated from the Spanish "el hinchada es pendejada" and as such may have lost something in the translation, but even if minimized to "the fans are stupid", the quotes stand up in absurdity to other infamous athlete quotes against the fans who pay their salaries:
Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers: "I don't feel I need to sell myself to the fans. They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut."
Charles Barkley regarding Dan Issel's fine when calling a heckling fan a Mexican: "I don't think he (Issel) should have been fined or suspended. Some fans just need to be beaten down!"
Rey Ordonez of the New York Mets about New York fans: "The fans here are too stupid. You have to play perfect every game. You can't make an error. You can't go 0-for-4. Are we like machines?"
Blanco reponding to allegations that Toyota Park security called Latino Fire fans derogatory racial slurs: “I feel that it’s possible that the fans at the time were inebriated,” he said. “When people are drunk, things can get out of hand and things can get crazy.”
Blanco again in today's Chicago Tribune: "The fans are [garbage]," said an annoyed Blanco, who blames fans for friction with security. "They get drunk and become insulting. It's the same way in Mexico. I don't think security has anything to do with it."
This whole drama is sad, because it is taking the focus away from the team, which is battling for the top spot in MLS and is tearing the soul out of a group of volunteers who have passionately and unselfishly given much of their lives to the Chicago Fire.
4 comments:
I'm assuming the choice to picture Blanco in a Cubs jersey was not made by chance.
Hmmmmmmmm.....i wonder...
;-D
Peter, I respect your opinion greatly, but a huge difference exists (to me) between some of the quotes you have and what Blanco said, only stupid Rey Ordonez had a quote approximating what Blanco said but his is still more acceptable since he was upset with the treatment he was receiving from fans. If fans were criticizing Blanco's play and he called said critical fans stupid, or crap or garbage I wouldn't care, it's a guy defending himself. Same thing when Todd Hundley flew the bird at Cubs fans years ago, it was stupid but it didn't bother me a bit since he was being mercilessly booed. Here though Blanco weighed in on an issue, called Section 8 fans drunks and then called us garbage, crap or stupid depending on the translation you want to use. As a section 8er it hurts to have your star single your group out especially when what Section 8 is doing is not only legitimate but the right thing to do.
Bialynia, i agree with you. i didn't mean to rank the quotes. Blanco's certainly appears to be the worst of teh bunch...though being a Brett Favre fan, i have special antipathy for the Aaron Rodgers quote.
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