BETWEEN THE HAVES AND HAVE NOTS
OF WHITE PRIVILEGE
DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT
MARIA SHARAPOVA
IS/WAS
THE HIGHEST PAID FEMALE ATHLETE
BASED ON LOOKING LIKE
AN ALL AMERICAN GIRL
WHEN SHE'S ACTUALLY RUSSIAN?
SHARAPOVA IS/WAS MAKING
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS MORE IN ENDORSEMENTS
THAN
SERENA WILLIAMS
WHO STOMPS HER ON THE TENNIS COURT ROUTINELY,
EVEN THOUGH SERENA'S RECORD
IS PRETTY MUCH TWICE AS GOOD
AS SHARAPOVA'S
Do you also understand how differently this conversation would be going if Serena had been caught playing dirty instead of Sharapova. Can you imagine calls for "the benefit of the doubt?"
What I can imagine is how hard and far Serena would be dragged if she came up hot for a performance enhancing drug THEN had the audacity to lie about needing it for treatment, when treatment with the meldonium, the performance enhancing drug in question, is supposed to be weeks in duration, not a full decade.
But I don't really have to imagine what would happen to a black woman in Sharapova's circumstances. It's already happened to Marion Jones
The two links below appear to be articles on Maria Sharapova and Marion Jones, respectively, that are written by the same white male author. While this man is not in Maria Sharapova's corner any more than he's in Marion Jone's, the amount of viciousness leveled at Jones seems quite different to me.
But I don't really have to imagine what would happen to a black woman in Sharapova's circumstances. It's already happened to Marion Jones
The two links below appear to be articles on Maria Sharapova and Marion Jones, respectively, that are written by the same white male author. While this man is not in Maria Sharapova's corner any more than he's in Marion Jone's, the amount of viciousness leveled at Jones seems quite different to me.
"NOTHING COURAGEOUS ABOUT SHARAPOVA COMING CLEAN"
THE MEAN-SPIRITED DAHLBERG QUOTE FOUND IN ARTICLE
"Yes, she may have won her 35 singles titles - five of them in Grand Slam events - even without the drug. She may not have needed meldonium to become such a star that Forbes estimated her endorsement income at $23 million for last year alone.
She might have found some way to dig down deep in the final games of a match when exhausted without having to use a drug that helps her keep playing.
But how are we to know what was real and what was aided? How will the players she beat along the way ever know if they were beaten fair and square?"
MARION JONES EFFORTS TO REHAB IMAGE
THE MEAN-SPIRITED DAHLBERG QUOTE FOUND IN ARTICLE
"It's the oldest trick in the image rehabilitation handbook. The only surprise was Jones waited nearly two whole months after getting out of prison to see if she could pull it off. It would have worked even better had Jones been able to get a day pass and appear with Oprah while still in her prison uniform.
I guess we're supposed to feel sorry for Jones, if only because Oprah apparently does. I guess we're supposed to forget the scam that she pulled for so long because, hey, she has children and really seems to care a lot about them.
Cool in her prime, we now find out that Jones also has feelings. Lots of them, judging from the amount of tears flowing during the show."
http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Commentary-Marion-Jones-efforts-to-rehab-image-3187383.php
Is it just me? Or is there quite a difference in the levels of viciousness between the two articles -- written by the same person?
Jones went to jail for six months for lying during the investigation. Sharapova has not lied about taking the drug itself but many suspect she's obviously lied about why she was taking this performance enhancing drug as it appears one is only supposed to take meldonium for 6 weeks max, and not 10 years running.
Sharapova clearly hid what she should have know to be a performance enhancing drug. This drug was reportedly used on "soviet super soldiers" to enhance their endurance too. Banned list or no banned list it appears she was using a drug to get over. And she did get over on several people she beat-- just not Serena Williams. Serena trounced her 18 times anyway.
So will anybody even call for Sharapova to go to jail? She took money out of the pockets of everyone she beat, didn't she?
And how is it the moral outrage over what Sharapova has done is mostly missing? I've seen articles on giving her the benefit of the doubt. I've seen articles on "everybody's doing it" anyway. But I haven't seen any real outrage about her INTENTION to cheat, not like the outrage there was when a black little league team from Chicago, Jackie Robinson West, got one or some of their players from a town outside their district.
These's little boys were stripped of their title. The accusation was that the adults sought superstar players outside the designated geographic zone allowed in order to enhance the team. However, Little League Officials knew where the little boys lived long before the championship game took place and they had a deadline by which they should have challenged the residency. But Little League Officials didn't do it.
"The lawsuit filed by the families of JRW players claims team officials and Little League concealed the residency information to benefit from attention the team was getting. The lawsuit also claims that ESPN broadcaster Stephen A. Smith defamed players' parents by implying they were involved in the alleged fraud." http://abc7chicago.com/sports/jrw-parents-seeking-reinstatement-of-little-league-title/1200924/
The thing I see that all these boys have in common is that they are a black, making them a black team playing under a black all-stars name, Jackie Robinson. If I was a black parent in Chicago right now, I'd want my baby boy playing on that team rather than a 90% white team where he might feel like an outsider. It's freaking little league.
But when you're black? All the rules matter. The teeny tiny rules matter. There's no benefit of the doubt. There's no honest mistake. There's no human weakness to be considered. There's no "Monica was afraid when they started asking her about steroid use." There's only put Monica in jail for lying. There's drag Monica for being a disgrace. There's take away medals and trophies and vacating wins for black women and little black boys.
So somebody please tell me why there's not the slightest risk of Sharapova going to jail. And what is Sharapova going to lose other than a few endorsements (Nike and few others) And will Sharapova lose ENOUGH endorsements that America's non-American Russian sweetheart disappears into a disgraceful oblivion so that Serena Williams, America's real sweetheart, becomes the highest paid athlete like should have been all along?
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| Serena has beaten Sharapova 18 times |
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