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Team Meets President (merged thread)

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It was great, except for the bunny ears...not good.
 
My wife is a pastor and in our many discussions, we have concluded that God has a sense of humor. I am hopeful that our President has one, too.

I understand the concept of respecting the office of POTUS, and of representing your school/state/community with proper behavior (something we tell our students whenever they go on field trips!) but good grief, there is a huge difference between being "disrespectful" in a way that is clearly playful and friendly, as is the case here, and the mean-spritedness in some of the crass statements political opponents make about each other or when the Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush.

Let it go folks.
 
cabbie191 said:
My wife is a pastor and in our many discussions, we have concluded that God has a sense of humor. I am hopeful that our President has one, too.

I understand the concept of respecting the office of POTUS, and of representing your school/state/community with proper behavior (something we tell our students whenever they go on field trips!) but good grief, there is a huge difference between being "disrespectful" in a way that is clearly playful and friendly, as is the case here, and the mean-spritedness in some of the crass statements political opponents make about each other or when the Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush.

Let it go folks.
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And this was the President who did a Z-snap to the team. He made it a more playful event.

Stef isn't showing signs of remorse:

stefanie Dolson ‏@bigmommastef 2h
Casually giving the president bunny ears! Had a great time being with the team.. Oh and the president pic.twitter.com/xoj9BELQ77
 
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Geno and CD may have different opinions. Just saying....
 
What awesome PR for UCONN women's Basketball and every recruit will see this today or this week and say, I cannot wait to meet the President in 2014 and 2015 and 2016 and 2017 and 2018 and 2019 then Geno and CD retire........with 14 NC's.and over 1100 wins......Nobody will catch Geno............
 
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cabbie191 said:
My wife is a pastor and in our many discussions, we have concluded that God has a sense of humor. I am hopeful that our President has one, too.

I understand the concept of respecting the office of POTUS, and of representing your school/state/community with proper behavior (something we tell our students whenever they go on field trips!) but good grief, there is a huge difference between being "disrespectful" in a way that is clearly playful and friendly, as is the case here, and the mean-spritedness in some of the crass statements political opponents make about each other or when the Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush.

Let it go folks.
Expand ...
Totally agree in levels of disrespect, and I agree about God having a sense of humor, but while CD is good, I am not sure she is THAT good!
And while it was not a state occasion, it was a formal one. I think rabbit ears might be worse than a headband in CDs book.
 
Bunny ears ..a real problem?
Hey, we've been to Barack's place so often, doesn't some of this fall into the realm of "family photos".
Hey!! Uncle Barack started the familiarity!!
[Besides... we'd all best stay on good relations with "our family"... (If Malia gets any where near her Uncle's 6'-6"... Geno & Chris may want a shot at her..)]
 
The 1st thing that came to my mind when I saw the photo - how stupid can they be! The team members were invited guests of the president of the United States. The juvenile, wise ass fingers were not only not funny, they were inappropriate and disrespectful not only to the president but also to Obama as a person.

I hope their punishment equals the level of embarrassment they brought to the team and their coaches.
 
semper said:
Can you believe Stef? Over the top!
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Not sure of the context of her giving "bunny ears" behind the president, but on it's face, that was a totally classless and disrespectful thing to do on her part. If the President suggested doing it, that is one thing, but if that was her idea, that is pretty disappointing.

I hope she issues an apology through the school.
 
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cabbie191 said:
My wife is a pastor and in our many discussions, we have concluded that God has a sense of humor. I am hopeful that our President has one, too.

I understand the concept of respecting the office of POTUS, and of representing your school/state/community with proper behavior (something we tell our students whenever they go on field trips!) but good grief, there is a huge difference between being "disrespectful" in a way that is clearly playful and friendly, as is the case here, and the mean-spritedness in some of the crass statements political opponents make about each other or when the Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush.

Let it go folks.
Expand ...


It was disrespectful. Plain and simple. It is the POTUS. Shows a total lack of class.
 
vtcwbuff said:
The 1st thing that came to my mind when I saw the photo - how stupid can they be! The team members were invited guests of the president of the United States. The juvenile, wise ass fingers were not only not funny, they were inappropriate and disrespectful not only to the president but also to Obama as a person.

I hope their punishment equals the level of embarrassment they brought to the team and their coaches.
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More pungently put than I would put it, but my reaction was the same -- anger and embarrassment. They represented poorly, IMO.

Someone said in the other thread that the President started the familiarity. Well, this takes familiarity too far.

High spirits are great, but this group is old enough to express their high spirits in an acceptable way so as not to risk making a bad impression. This was immature and thoughtless at best.

I don't have any feeling there should or should not be a punishment, but the two players ought to be made to realize that their actions were controversial even among their most devoted fans.

Some here think we who disapprove are making too much of the incident. Fine. Everyone's free to express his own opinion.

Mine is that next time they get invited to the executive mansion, and they will be, they should be cautioned that one can have a good time while observing the manners and protocol appropriate to the place and the company.

They're at the White House, not a dorm party.
 
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Is it ok if I ask that each poster gets to complain about it only once? How many times does it take to make a point?
 
Wow...Kiah Stokes has some big shoulders! Looking forward to seeing her wipe out some people under the boards this upcoming season.
 
doggydaddy said:
Is it ok if I ask that each poster gets to complain about it only once? How many times does it take to make a point?
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It probably is too much given what is already posted. I don't find that all that bad.
 
I laughed! Stef is a goofy kid at heart. Yes, it's the President of the United States, but it takes a 'set' to do that.
If my kid did it I would've read him the riot act (after I stopped laughing). It didn't make Sports Center.
 
I don't know. I thought it was funny. Last time the kids were in the White House, Obama challenged Maya to a game of 1 on 1 (or vice versa). He is a very down to earth guy and enjoyed a level of familiarity with the players from the last time they were at the White House that apparently carried over to this recent visit.

I don't see how it rises to the level of "crime and punishment". Obama may be the President, but he's also just a guy who had 48 years of life before becoming the most powerful man in the world. When was the last time someone actually treated like a regular guy? I bet he thought it was hilarious.

"Hoping the punishment equals the level of embarrassment they brought to their team and to the school"? Yikes. It's not like they spit on him or pooped on the stage.

I'll be very curious to see comments from Stef, the team, coaches, and University if necessary to see how the situation is viewed by them, and how it was received by the President.

So I just watched the video. It was Stef AND Kiah who did the bunny ears for about 2 seconds and maybe 2 pictures were snapped. The President laughed when they did it. Also at the very end after he shook everyone's hand, he shook Geno's last.

As Obama walked away, Geno patted him on the lower back. Surely a disrespectful gesture to put a hand on the President, and I'm sure people on here will be very vociferous in their demands for a public apology from him as well as calls for the punishment to fit his crime... :confused:
 
I've had some fun at the expense of those who have expressed disapproval, anger, embarrassment and even condemnation towards Stef and Kiah's actions at the White House. Needless to say, I don't share those feelings. The UConn kids are pitch-perfect in everything they do, on and off the court. On this one occasion two of the players were caught up in the moment and behaved immaturely. The President engaged in some playfulness with the team by doing the Z-snap -- a video of which has been circulated on the internet -- and saying that the UConn jacket "was some nice swag." I suspect Stef and Kiah took the President's moment of playfulness and his use of casual, hip language as a cue that it was okay to engage in some playfulness of their own. They were wrong. They lacked the maturity to understand that the President gets to be playful but his White House guests do not, particularly not at his expense. Oh well. They made a momentary mistake.

I'm sure Geno and Chris will speak to them about it. I doubt the coaches or President Herbst think they've brought embarrassment to the University. If they do, then I'm sure there will be some type of punishment. These are still great kids who are almost pitch-perfect in everything they do.
 
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