Mushnick of NY Post:Ct Taxpayers/others worried about Ollies grammar

[nelsonmuntz]

As one of those "old white guys", I have no problem with Ollie's speech.

Nelson, for a supposed UCONN fan, you have more negative posts than anyone poster I know or have read. You have trashed Herbst and Manuel and now you go after Ollie. Who's next - Geno with his wise cracks and humor?

For someone that keeps track of my posts, you should know that my main problem with Manuel is the way he handled Ollie's contract. I think he should have given him a 3 year deal immediately instead of the public embarrassment of making Ollie dance for his job. I was also one of the earliest people on this board to jump on the Ollie bandwagon while other posters had dreams of Stevens and Smart in their heads. Now you are saying I have a problem with Ollie too? By that logic, you are saying I am angry with Manuel for not committing earlier to a coach I didn't want. Got it.

I have not trashed Herbst so much as pointed out that we lost out on possibly the last lifeboat to the ACC to a commuter school in Kentucky. Who should I blame?

 

[intlzncster]

This is quite possible the most pathetic strawmen I have ever seen. Can you please point to the post you are debating with the recitation of Ollie's resume?

It's funny how all the "basketball" fans on this board really want to just jump on a bandwagon and yell "UConn, F$#% Ya!!!" and then litter threads like this with strawman nonsense like this post.

This thread will blow past 100 posts and probably hit about 175, if not more, before it dies, but if anyone tries to have an actual basketball conversation, the thread is lucky to get to 40, and half the "basketball" posts this weekend will be from low post count posters who are just attacking the regulars for imagined slights against UConn.

Nelson, you've been a large part of extending this thread as well.

 

[RedGuerrUltra]

Can you please point to the post you are debating with the recitation of Ollie's resume?

I didn't quite a post because I wasn't responding to one.; I was making a general statement. I was just pointing out how some people make prejudicial assumptions about intelligence or competence based primarily on the person's diction. I've seen several posts on other basketball boards quoting Ollie to mock his grammar and implicitly question his intelligence.

 

[jibsey]

Mushnick's shot at our academics is a low blow. If KO's grammar is all there is to complain about it's not much but to some people it sounds wrong. 90% of it goes to "we was rather than we were". If KO were made aware it was brought up as an issue he could easily correct that if he were so inclined. I just don't think it's been brought up to him.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

This is quite possible the most pathetic strawmen I have ever seen.

I couldn't get past this line without tears of laughter clouding my vision.

The irony is so thick you couldn't cut it with a chainsaw.

 

[uc1974]

Mushnick is a pompous irrelevant idiot. As a Southerner I often speak in dialect English to that portion of my family that understands it and sometimes to the public when I forget to switch. I know correct English and once even taught freshman English at Maryland for a year (ugh). I write correctly-I have a BA from Duke, a JD from UConn, and an MPA from UHart and I can still diagram a sentence (a lost art). I am certain Ollie can use conventional English if he wants to, but, I don't think he should unless he is comfortable doing so. Ollie seems to be a great person, a fine coach, and a real role model. If Mushnick wants to be the language cop he should pick on the fact that most US ambassadors can't speak the language of the country to which they are assigned. He could next try real Scottish English, a real grammatical nightmare.

 

[2north]

For someone that keeps track of my posts, you should know that my main problem with Manuel is the way he handled Ollie's contract. I think he should have given him a 3 year deal immediately instead of the public embarrassment of making Ollie dance for his job. I was also one of the earliest people on this board to jump on the Ollie bandwagon while other posters had dreams of Stevens and Smart in their heads. Now you are saying I have a problem with Ollie too? By that logic, you are saying I am angry with Manuel for not committing earlier to a coach I didn't want. Got it.

I have not trashed Herbst so much as pointed out that we lost out on possibly the last lifeboat to the ACC to a commuter school in Kentucky. Who should I blame?

Is this proper grammar? Nelson, go f%ck yourself.

 

[David 76]

Foxon here. Momaguin? Cove? Central?

Center A little street called Richmond right off Hemingway. I'm old. Graduated EHHS in 72

So you were an "upstater" even then!

 

[Ohio UConn]

Ollie's communication skills are just fine. Just ask UConn team, coaches &opponents --- It is not a big deal. Mushnik is a media pot-stirrer. And for all NYPost racebaiterrs (readership is old white racist and other nonsense.....), if I recall 2 NYPost sportswriters picked UConn over #1 seed Florida and white Billy Donovan. Did the elitest faux intellectual NYTimes or Daily Snooze do so? Was NYPost racist then? So much Ollie envy......Mushnik can't handle it.

 

[RyMaN600]

Well, this didn't take much research time for me:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ay-z-nets-racist-new-york-post_n_1477927.html

Wow, Phil Mushnick. Just wow. And I'm reading that he's done similar stuff to Steven A. Smith and others. I just don't have the energy to look it all up...

Yeah, anyone who thinks this is a colorblind critique of imperfect sentence structure is being willfully ignorant at best.

This has nothing to do with improper grammar and everything to do with Mushnick's hatred and disgust towards the culture behind it.

This is a guy who literally thinks that black alternate sports uniforms are "gang-inspired".

Mushnick is a blatantly racist old fart.

 

[Dooley]

CT Taxpayers are concerned?? Really? I didn't read this BS article and won't read it. But from the title alone, it's all a bunch of a hogwash. I LOVE that KO speaks the way he does. I want our head coach to relate to the players, not taxpayers or "others" and certainly not to a stuffy writer at a hack paper.

I honestly can't believe that this was even printed. Kevin Ollie is a GREAT coach whose in-game adjustments in this tournament have been flawless. The players LOVE him. The university and alumni LOVE him. He loves his players and university. Honestly, this is one of the worst topics for an article no matter when it was written but especially on the eve of the National Championship game. More anti-UCONN BS.

 

[David 76]

The point is not that it wouldn't be even better if KO could command the King's English as well as street English. It is the timing, the low blow to UCONN and the judging of a man who seems almost too good to be true by this one minor imperfection. It is cheap, lazy and unprofessional.
Now I want to move on to winning the national championship and enjoying this great coach and team.

 

[whaler11]

It's not Mushnick's fault guys -he's just telling you what the taxpayers think!

BTW who is dumber? A guy who is an incredible leader who might not use perfect grammer and diction... or people who email their complaints to Phil Mushnick... or people that take the New York Post seriously.

(yes I'm sure these emailers are in Mushnick's head, but hypothetically)

 

[upstater]

Center A little street called Richmond right off Hemingway. I'm old. Graduated EHHS in 72

So you were an "upstater" even then!

No, I was Deer Run and EHMS '79-82 and then went elsewhere. I lived in a few big cities in the northeast (Boston, Washington, New York) but then went another route and have somehow become an upstater (Albany-Troy/Rochester/Buffalo).

 

[CTBasketball]

I love everyone and we need to destroy the Wildcats.

 

[Husky25]

Listen to Ollie's post game interview on the floor.

He has an accent, nothing more. I'm done with all the strawmen. I also think it is weak tea that the New York Post doesn't have a feedback or comments section, even if it's restricted to Facebook. I may have joined Facebook just to tell Mushnick what I think of his column and quit again (My wife and I might be the last Gen-Y'ers in America that do not currently have, nor not ever have had, a Facebook account)!!

 

[Kitaman]

Wow our Coach is coaching the biggest game of his life and we are talking about the way he talks.

Well apparently he talks better to his players than Izzo, Donovan and all the others in the graveyard he's built.

Actions speak louder than words folks.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

When I first started my career I made an effort to abandon my lower Naugatuck Valley blue collar language. Every once in a while my Valley slur still pops up .
Being young I was impressed with the well educated and articulate upper managers.
There was however one manager who didn't fit the mold.
Second generation Greek ,New York City guy ,with the build of bear and the elocution
of Sylvester Stallone. The first time I heard him speak I thought to my self "how did this guy get into upper management.
A short time later I was at a meeting that included my new hero's as well as the bear.
After a few presentations and brainstorming it became quickly apparent, not only was this misfit the best prepared person in the room , but the smartest.
The lesson I took from that is it's more about the substance than the style. It's not how you say it but what you say.

 

[Henry]

Don't most people take the Post to the bathroom with them when they run out of toilet paper? I guess Mushnick has a problem with black or inner city slang and diction. Some of the old fart white coaches have their slang but I do not hear a criticism of it. If Kevin Ollie can help kids graduate from college,help them to be better men, then who cares if his language isn't crystal clear? Calipari speaks very well and clearly and he's a sleaze.

 

[slumdog]

The fact that he lumped him in with Bruce Pearl and that other lying sob is at best shoddy work. To offer readers the possibility, or inference that KO is anything other than a great man, is sickening and pathetic. Thank God I'm not Mushnick.

 

[gtcam]

First of all, this a-clown should be careful criticizing someone else's English when his column is a rambling, incoherent mess.

That said, Ollie needs to clean up his grammar. It undermines him as a speaker and does reflect a little poorly on the school. A simple public speaking course over the summer should do the trick. I suspect there is a professor or two on campus that can give him some 1-on-1 training. To be honest, I would not be surprised if Ollie is working on it already because I feel like he has improved his grammar since last year.

I have heard KO speak at least 6 times in public - under conditions that have him addressing over 250 people. He does just fine. Does he have an inherent "slang"? Sure but so does everyone from the south to those in the north, as it is vice versa. Why do you think people in the north think southerners are hicks? Would love to hear if this dolt has that Brooklyn accent - I associate many from Brooklyn in business who have law degrees, MBAs and PHDs and in normal conversation they sound very "Brooklyn streetsy".
KO is not going to be public speaker, he is a basketball coach and those he associate with that are most important to him, the players, are most likely comfortable listening to him and feel they can relate. Was JC easy to understand? Hardly.
If he wants to polish, fine, if you feel does then that's another story.
I am concerned with what he brings on the court - that is what he is paid to do.

 

[Kitaman]

Calipari speaks very well and clearly and he's a sleaze.

Agreed.

The best hustlers have a gift of gab, the best casanova's have a suberb vocal styles, the best singers have a melodic voices, great salesmen can double talk, politicians can say yes and no at the same time, etc.. Just because someone is verbally articulate, says/uses words well, or even masters the English language, does not speak to the character of a person. Many grandmothers with the wisdom of Solomon talk like 7th graders, but they can teach Harvard educators a thing or two. I guess people really aren't trying to understand and pay attention to the intent of a statement like they really should. It's not Ollie's job as a coach to teach a vocal curriculum, its his job to make players in his care better persons. And therefore his work (and success) speaks for itself.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I didn't think Mushnick could top his "Brooklyn Ni___s" column, but he did. This guy is just a sad, fading, racist clown.

 

[storrsroars]

If you've ever actually typed "should of" or "could of" or "would of" in any BY thread and have an issue w Ollie, .

Btw, Nelson - I've found the egregious grammar exhibited in my first sentence is almost uniquely the province of millenials and Gen Ys, your great communicators.

 

[ASweet3781]

The biggest news here to me is that Mushnick is still alive? Who knew?