Like all of you we spent most of Sunday night and Monday morning celebrating the announcement by President Obama that US troops had killed Osama bin Laden. We spent the night transfixed by our television, the scenes across the nation, and the celebrations on Twitter. It turns out that not everyone was in a celebratory mood. Case in point former Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen:
Pullen’s Twitter account was bombarded by comments from others (like us) who were critical of his comments, but it was pretty clear that Pullen did not mind as the following series of Tweets clearly demonstrates.
Pullen may have played his last significant game in the US for a while as most NBA Draft projections have him going in the late second round pick if he is drafted at all. Fortunately for Pullen, he will not have to endure what would be some of the most brutal taunting in all of college basketball as opposing fans would surely remember what would be interpreted as anti-American comments.
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1 2 3 Next »Relax. Nasty journalism right here. You my friend are the ass.
He's absolutely right. You are wrong. You don't think that a counter attack is at least possible.
Oh, remind me when we reached a truce with Al Qaeda? A terrorist attack was just as possible yesterday as it is tomorrow.
I really think this article - and much of the backlash tweeted at Pullen - misses the point. These seem far from anti-American remarks. This is a young guy giving his thoughts on a national event as he sees it through his own experience. While predominantly white campuses at OSU and PSU celebrate on the streets over the death of a tyrant, a lot of black athletes (I mention them because they are most visible) have expressed what have been called dissenting or anti-American views. They view the world through a different lens based on experience. Pullen grew up in Chicago where retaliation was an everyday fixture in his world, and he is drawing a comparison. The kid who grew up in the suburbs with a lifted pick-up truck and an American flag in his front yard is of course going to be way more stoked about this and less likely to be quizzical in his reaction, at least on the surface. Of course, these are generalizations, but you might also say the same of judging the entirety of Pullen's nationview on a series of Tweets. If one Googles "blacks and patriotism" there's a lot of good reads out there that do a nice job of drawing out some of these differences.
Yeah, at least I know I'm not the only one uncomfortable with celebrating the death of a single individual as if it were a national holiday. The guy got what was coming to him, but I don't really consider the death of a person (no matter how despicable and horrible that person may be) to be something worth celebrating about. Beyond that, the death of a dude that's been hiding in a cave for the past 10 years doesn't make the US or anybody else any safer. I applaud the US military (and the President with the cojones to actually pull the trigger on this operation) for successfully performing this mission and bringing the guy to justice for his crimes, but the idea that so many people seem to be using this as little more than an excuse to party is a little disturbing.
This is why athletes are in a no win position. They say nothing, fans complain they are boring. They say what they think, which is what fans want, and when they say something mildly controversial, they get bombarded with hate.
Should he have tweeted this? Probably not but it's his right to feel that way.
I agree with everything Andrew said. JR makes a good point as well.
How are his comments un-American? Seems to me that he is concerned for the safety of Americans.
This is a horrible article and nasty journalism. Pullen said nothing wrong. It's people like the guy who wrote this that are the same people that are celebrating in a time we should be remembering. Yes, remember all the victims of 9/11 as they should always be remembered, but don't celebrate in the event of someone dying. How are you any different then terrorists kill an American Soldier and celebrate in the streets? Granted, Bin Laden got what he deserved, but there is nothing to celebrate. Nothing is going to change because of this, the road is still as long as it was a week ago. Let's remember those that have lost thier lives, given their lives, and fought to keep us safe, not celebrate that someone is dead.
This falls far short of the usual excellence that I expect from rushthecourt. Looks like I'll be reading different basketball blogs in the future.
I know it was a slow news day college hoops wise but there's no reason to write this post. Nothing good came of it, really.
Free Speech...Pullen has his right and some of what he said was very on point regarding retaliation and his concerns about putting others in harm. He definitely could have put more time and thought into his responses...but it is what it is.
Why focus on a negative aspect of this RTC, when you could have just as easily written a quick post about the more positive, happy go lucky side being portrayed by hoops athletes?
Crickets.