Gruden resigns as coach of the Raiders

[+OverSword]

Quote

 

The NFL has uncovered yet more emails involving Raiders coach Jon Gruden from 2010 through 2018 in which he used sexist, homophobic and transphobic language, according to a report from The New York Times.

Shortly after the Times released its report, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Gruden had informed his team he would resign as head coach. Gruden later released a statement confirming his resignation:

 

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/jon-gruden-emails-resigns-raiders-coach/1f7nbdnxccjat1momv1xkg9bpp

You would think someone that works for the NFL would be aware they live under a microscope and be more careful.  But now he is cancelled.  

[papageorge1]

I think he should have apologized but deny any high crime worthy of resignation. People say things when they are hot and passionate. Happens. And e-mails have a context of who they were sent to. I may say something to a friend that I wouldn't say to the general public. There may even be a lack of privacy issue in this too but I don't have all the details.

I think it's time some moderate folks like Gruden would have more backbone to stand up apologize if necessary and move on. This Cancel Culture has grown way too strong for my liking. The Papa has been called about every name in the book even here on the Unexplained Mysteries forum. Does the Papa cower....Ha! 

I am not saying I am a fan of Trump but I like that he would not have even considered resigning so meekly. 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by papageorge1

[+OverSword]

20 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

I think he should have apologized but deny any high crime worthy of resignation. People say things when they are hot and passionate. Happens. And e-mails have a context of who they were sent to. I may say something to a friend that I wouldn't say to the general public. There may even be a lack of privacy issue in this too but I don't have all the details.

I think it's time some moderate folks like Gruden would have more backbone to stand up apologize if necessary and move on. This Cancel Culture has grown way too strong for my liking. The Papa has been called about every name in the book even here on the Unexplained Mysteries forum. Does the Papa cower....Ha! 

I am not saying I am a fan of Trump but I like that he would not have even considered resigning so meekly. 

 

I agree but have a feeling that he was asked to resign which is a nice way of being fired. 

[papageorge1]

Just now, OverSword said:

I agree but have a feeling that he was asked to resign which is a nice way of being fired. 

That's quite possible but I think in that case he should have forced them to fire him and criticized the firing to stand up for what he really thinks is a fair handling of the situation.

[+OverSword]

1 minute ago, papageorge1 said:

That's quite possible but I think in that case he should have forced them to fire him and criticized the firing to stand up for what he really thinks is a fair handling of the situation.

He may find redemption at some point and be brought back into the league or a network or the NCAA if he plays nice.

[papageorge1]

4 minutes ago, OverSword said:

He may find redemption at some point and be brought back into the league or a network or the NCAA if he plays nice.

True, his chances are a little better with a resignation than a firing.

I'd be tempted to take my money, live in five star resorts the rest of my life and give the league the finger.

[+OverSword]

4 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

True, his chances are a little better with a resignation than a firing.

I'd be tempted to take my money, live in five star resorts the rest of my life and give the league the finger.

Or it could be that he realizes that his language was wrong, hurtful, and not appropriate for the values and public image trying to be presented by the NFL and that he truly does regret and is embarrassed by his words.  It would be different if he's being payed $20k but he's not.

[+Liquid Gardens]

5 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

That's quite possible but I think in that case he should have forced them to fire him and criticized the firing to stand up for what he really thinks is a fair handling of the situation.

How do you know that he doesn't agree that a fair handling of the situation is that he be fired?  Sure, people say things in the heat of the moment, unfortunately Gruden seems to have a lot more of those moments than average.  A football coach also has a whole other judge/jury for his actions: his players.  He loses the team, he loses his job.  The NFL has purposely increased its social justice messaging and his comments are 100% contrary to that, so it's difficult to see how there's much option other than to get rid of him.

This isn't 'cancelled', this is 'terminated';  if you own a store and your check-out clerk is calling your customers racist names, it's not 'cancelling' if you then fire them. (I agree that 'resignation' is probably a euphemism here, but it might apply because he may have been considering resigning anyway even without the owner's help after the additional emails were made public).

[papageorge1]

29 minutes ago, OverSword said:

Or it could be that he realizes that his language was wrong, hurtful, and not appropriate for the values and public image trying to be presented by the NFL and that he truly does regret and is embarrassed by his words.  It would be different if he's being payed $20k but he's not.

These were e-mails that were never intended for a general audience. They had to be leaked. If everything we ever said was tape recorded we'd all pretty much be guilty.

[papageorge1]

33 minutes ago, Liquid Gardens said:

 

This isn't 'cancelled', this is 'terminated';  if you own a store and your check-out clerk is calling your customers racist names, it's not 'cancelling' if you then fire them. (I agree that 'resignation' is probably a euphemism here, but it might apply because he may have been considering resigning anyway even without the owner's help after the additional emails were made public).

Of course that clerk should be fired. The analogous situation to Gruden would be if the clerk used a racist or sexist term discussing someone else in an e-mail that got leaked for general consumption.

[Kittens Are Jerks]

16 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

These were e-mails that were never intended for a general audience. They had to be leaked. If everything we ever said was tape recorded we'd all pretty much be guilty.

No not all of us.

The method of communication is irrelevant. The emails under scrutiny span a period of at least eight years. In those emails Gruden uses racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic language to describe NFL owners, colleagues, journalists and others. There is no defending him.

[+Liquid Gardens]

16 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

Of course that clerk should be fired. The analogous situation to Gruden would be if the clerk used a racist or sexist term discussing someone else in an e-mail that got leaked for general consumption.

That is not typically the criteria I've heard for supposed 'cancelling'.  Most examples of cancelling are with people who said or did something openly, not something that was leaked.  The most essential part of 'cancelling', as it is defined by those who think cancel culture is a thing, is that someone suffers negative repercussions because they 'merely offended' someone.  That fits in both the Gruden and racist clerk example, and in both cases there definitely is more to it than just mere offense, but again I'm not one who thinks cancelling is really something different from termination.

This isn't an 'everything we ever said' scenario, these comments were all made in the last 20 years, all safely past the 'youthful indiscretions/cluelessness' phase given his age at the time (twenty years ago Gruden was 38), and they occurred while he's been closely tied to the NFL professionally as a coach and commentator.  I'm from Gruden's generation and sorry but no, I would not be at all guilty of saying the numerous things Gruden has in the last 20 years, and none of us are making $100 million over 10 years to lead and be the face of a multi-billion dollar pro football franchise.

[+OverSword]

47 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

These were e-mails that were never intended for a general audience. They had to be leaked. If everything we ever said was tape recorded we'd all pretty much be guilty.

I agree.  However I think this was probably not a personal email account.  There are certain things that I will text to my friends at work through our own phones because I know better than to send it via our work emails.

[+OverSword]

24 minutes ago, Kittens Are Jerks said:

There is no defending him.

Boys will be boys   

 

JK 

[quiXilver]

Good. Bye. @$$hat.

[+and-then]

7 hours ago, OverSword said:

You would think someone that works for the NFL would be aware they live under a microscope and be more careful.

I think his situation is similar to many today.  Remember, we now live in a culture that will destroy you for thought crimes, EVEN IF they happened in a past culture where they might have been at least marginally acceptable.   Ponder that for a bit.  It's a pretty staggering admission that we've totally lost touch with the reality of human nature.  As a practical matter, it means that any of us will be open to this kind of future attack because we behaved today in a way that future people might find unacceptable.  As an older guy who has lived a simple life and who has tried hard not to harm others, I find this kind of situation insulting and childish.  It OFFENDS ME.  If I harm someone, even if it's unintentional, once I know that I harmed them, I'm willing to apologize and to never do it again.  But when I'm liable to lose my livelihood or even my liberty over simply offending someone, I WILL draw a line.  NO ONE has that right.  Only spiteful, selfish children would imagine that they should have such power over others.