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Outside opinion

BayouBengal

Active Member
Hey everyone, not a Colorado fan and don't live anywhere near Colorado but obviously this entire ordeal has become a National story and as someone who is considered as a 'person of color' and as someone who works in some capacity for sports media in the state of Louisiana, I thought I'd share a little with you all of my feelings and what I plan to put out in my next column on this matter.

I do believe people of color, and that doesn't just include African-Americans per say, are not given the same chance off the bat as many of their white counterparts. Statistics don't lie. There's not enough and not enough who are even considered and as Jon Embree alluded to, none of which are given that second chance. It's unfair. It sucks but it is reality. It'll get better, just like it did in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers organization really spearheading that whole effort forward. Someday it'll be better not only for the Karl Dorrell's of the world (whom I believe was a decent coach) but also for the Norm Chow's and any other 'person of color,' not just blacks, who demonstrate the ability to coach at the highest levels but get stick into what so many see as 'terrible' jobs.

I've read and listened to the articles put out by many former Buffaloes and the former HC of your once proud program, Bill McCartney. I've always had respect for coaches like Bill, didn't always agree with certain statements or things he'd out to the press and really, this dates back even to his early days in Colorado, with his name being out there again for the first time in nearly 20 years, even some of my colleagues were snickering a bit.
For my article I've done extensive research on your program dating back to when they lost National relevance which really started I'd say around... 2003 or so. Obviously it was worsen by the allegations in the mid 2000s and now seems to have taken yet another major PR hit.

All this being said, what is really lost in this entire situation is just how bad the on the field product was for you guys. I've really never seen anything like it. Granted, I live in SEC country where the standards are insanely high for the upper echelon of the conference, even our bad teams throughout the years, the Vandy's, Ole Miss', Kentucky's.. etc, nothing touched what the Buffaloes had this year. I really couldn't believe it. Then news broke that you guys parted ways with quite frankly, someone who could have and probably was the worst D1 Coach in the Nation. It wasn't a surprise until.... the allegations of racism.

Now again as a person of color, I know the sting. If you've never experienced it, you'll never quite know the feeling. There's nothing like it and I don't wish it on anyone regardless of color. However, for someone that I had so much respect for in Bill McCartney, albeit a man of European ancestry, I don't find it offensive as a person of color that Embree was dismissed, as McCartney believed I should. I find it MUCH more offense that someone like Bill McCartney, and many others, former black players included, would not give me or anyone else of color the benefit of the doubt that we could decide on our own accord that it was the atrocities on the field that left to Embree's firing, not his color. I applaud Colorado for having hired a man with Embree's qualifications or rather, lack thereof, regardless of his race. LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, etc. would NEVER do that. A TEs coach to HC. That's an amazing jump in itself that no one in the National media, or atleast any I've heard, is picking up on. Colorado set record lows in almost every statistical category imaginable. Teams weren't just beating you guys, they were taking mercy. This was the Varsity scrimmaging not against the JV team but rather the the Junior High team.

I know this is a long read and I'm sure too long for many but I just wanted to put out an opinion and give a little insight into the column I'm writing. I also wanted to put it out there that what men like Bill McCartney and too many others, blacks included, do is try to lump all minorities into one group. As if we have no brains to think for ourselves or no vision for what we see. Crying racism is all too easy if you don't have the facts or knowledge.

To wrap this up, as a person of color, I'm more offended by Bill McCartney's belief that I should be offended by Embree firing due to the color of my skin rather than by the knowledge in my head or the eyes that I can see with.

Take care CU fans and keep hope for brighter days. They will come.
 
Wonderful post - do you mind if I push this out to our front page?
 
Hey everyone, not a Colorado fan and don't live anywhere near Colorado but obviously this entire ordeal has become a National story and as someone who is considered as a 'person of color' and as someone who works in some capacity for sports media in the state of Louisiana, I thought I'd share a little with you all of my feelings and what I plan to put out in my next column on this matter.

I do believe people of color, and that doesn't just include African-Americans per say, are not given the same chance off the bat as many of their white counterparts. Statistics don't lie. There's not enough and not enough who are even considered and as Jon Embree alluded to, none of which are given that second chance. It's unfair. It sucks but it is reality. It'll get better, just like it did in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers organization really spearheading that whole effort forward. Someday it'll be better not only for the Karl Dorrell's of the world (whom I believe was a decent coach) but also for the Norm Chow's and any other 'person of color,' not just blacks, who demonstrate the ability to coach at the highest levels but get stick into what so many see as 'terrible' jobs.

I've read and listened to the articles put out by many former Buffaloes and the former HC of your once proud program, Bill McCartney. I've always had respect for coaches like Bill, didn't always agree with certain statements or things he'd out to the press and really, this dates back even to his early days in Colorado, with his name being out there again for the first time in nearly 20 years, even some of my colleagues were snickering a bit.
For my article I've done extensive research on your program dating back to when they lost National relevance which really started I'd say around... 2003 or so. Obviously it was worsen by the allegations in the mid 2000s and now seems to have taken yet another major PR hit.

All this being said, what is really lost in this entire situation is just how bad the on the field product was for you guys. I've really never seen anything like it. Granted, I live in SEC country where the standards are insanely high for the upper echelon of the conference, even our bad teams throughout the years, the Vandy's, Ole Miss', Kentucky's.. etc, nothing touched what the Buffaloes had this year. I really couldn't believe it. Then news broke that you guys parted ways with quite frankly, someone who could have and probably was the worst D1 Coach in the Nation. It wasn't a surprise until.... the allegations of racism.

Now again as a person of color, I know the sting. If you've never experienced it, you'll never quite know the feeling. There's nothing like it and I don't wish it on anyone regardless of color. However, for someone that I had so much respect for in Bill McCartney, albeit a man of European ancestry, I don't find it offensive as a person of color that Embree was dismissed, as McCartney believed I should. I find it MUCH more offense that someone like Bill McCartney, and many others, former black players included, would not give me or anyone else of color the benefit of the doubt that we could decide on our own accord that it was the atrocities on the field that left to Embree's firing, not his color. I applaud Colorado for having hired a man with Embree's qualifications or rather, lack thereof, regardless of his race. LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, etc. would NEVER do that. A TEs coach to HC. That's an amazing jump in itself that no one in the National media, or atleast any I've heard, is picking up on. Colorado set record lows in almost every statistical category imaginable. Teams weren't just beating you guys, they were taking mercy. This was the Varsity scrimmaging not against the JV team but rather the the Junior High team.

I know this is a long read and I'm sure too long for many but I just wanted to put out an opinion and give a little insight into the column I'm writing. I also wanted to put it out there that what men like Bill McCartney and too many others, blacks included, do is try to lump all minorities into one group. As if we have no brains to think for ourselves or no vision for what we see. Crying racism is all too easy if you don't have the facts or knowledge.

To wrap this up, as a person of color, I'm more offended by Bill McCartney's belief that I should be offended by Embree firing due to the color of my skin rather than by the knowledge in my head or the eyes that I can see with.

Take care CU fans and keep hope for brighter days. They will come.

rep for sanity and reason.
 
Good Read and Agree wholeheartedly to the above....those with the ability to simply look at the facts makes coming to this same conclusion very easy

Unfortunately for those few ex-players/coaches that have become so passionately butt-heart by the situation, making false accusations becomes the option instead. Which is very sad and as you eloquently pointed out also damaging to many others, including anyone considering hiring another African American Head Coach in the future.
 
Great post. Thanks for chiming in. Welcome rep on the way...Good luck to the Tigers.
 
BayouBengal, great great post.

Trust us, it's not lost on us how bad our on field product was--this is what is burning me up about Mac and some of the Denver media, those opposing the firing of Embree (who I believe is a good man, good family man, GREAT Buff) will not focus on the on field product.

Please link to your article when you get it done, it will be at the top of my reading list.

Thank you, sir!
 
As a person not of color and not used to experience discrimination I find your objective assessment of the situation quite refreshing and exactly what many of us at AB thing.

Embree was not hired for his color although I suspect it was seen as a nice fringe benefit. As you say he was given an opportunity probably no other BCS school in the country would have done to a TE position coach with no coordinator or HC experience at any level.

He failed, and failed miserably. As you say one of the worst Division 1 teams in history and definitely the worst in CU history. Why would anyone all the sudden turn this into race when he was obviously in over his head and not capable of turning things around?

I really don't think Embree wants to make it about race b/c he sure didn't want to when he was hired. But Mac has an agenda and he really just looks stupid, except for the fact that a lot of local media blindly follow whatever he says and are apparently taking his side way more than they should. There is ZERO evidence of racism in this decision. The statistics speak for themselves.
 
From one distinguised brotha to anotha, that was a great post. I agree. The firing may not have been "fair" in light of the challenges Embree faced, but I certainly don't see it as "racist". The product spoke for itself.
 
As a person not of color and not used to experience discrimination I find your objective assessment of the situation quite refreshing and exactly what many of us at AB thing.

Embree was not hired for his color although I suspect it was seen as a nice fringe benefit. As you say he was given an opportunity probably no other BCS school in the country would have done to a TE position coach with no coordinator or HC experience at any level.

He failed, and failed miserably. As you say one of the worst Division 1 teams in history and definitely the worst in CU history. Why would anyone all the sudden turn this into race when he was obviously in over his head and not capable of turning things around?

I really don't think Embree wants to make it about race b/c he sure didn't want to when he was hired. But Mac has an agenda and he really just looks stupid, except for the fact that a lot of local media blindly follow whatever he says and are apparently taking his side way more than they should. There is ZERO evidence of racism in this decision. The statistics speak for themselves.

I am not able to listen to every Denver radio station at the same time, but if Embree is now going on the radio, as was reported here on AB this morning, and saying that he thinks he was fired because he is black - then he has definitely made it about race.
 
Hey everyone, not a Colorado fan and don't live anywhere near Colorado but obviously this entire ordeal has become a National story and as someone who is considered as a 'person of color' and as someone who works in some capacity for sports media in the state of Louisiana, I thought I'd share a little with you all of my feelings and what I plan to put out in my next column on this matter.

I do believe people of color, and that doesn't just include African-Americans per say, are not given the same chance off the bat as many of their white counterparts. Statistics don't lie. There's not enough and not enough who are even considered and as Jon Embree alluded to, none of which are given that second chance. It's unfair. It sucks but it is reality. It'll get better, just like it did in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers organization really spearheading that whole effort forward. Someday it'll be better not only for the Karl Dorrell's of the world (whom I believe was a decent coach) but also for the Norm Chow's and any other 'person of color,' not just blacks, who demonstrate the ability to coach at the highest levels but get stick into what so many see as 'terrible' jobs.

I've read and listened to the articles put out by many former Buffaloes and the former HC of your once proud program, Bill McCartney. I've always had respect for coaches like Bill, didn't always agree with certain statements or things he'd out to the press and really, this dates back even to his early days in Colorado, with his name being out there again for the first time in nearly 20 years, even some of my colleagues were snickering a bit.
For my article I've done extensive research on your program dating back to when they lost National relevance which really started I'd say around... 2003 or so. Obviously it was worsen by the allegations in the mid 2000s and now seems to have taken yet another major PR hit.

All this being said, what is really lost in this entire situation is just how bad the on the field product was for you guys. I've really never seen anything like it. Granted, I live in SEC country where the standards are insanely high for the upper echelon of the conference, even our bad teams throughout the years, the Vandy's, Ole Miss', Kentucky's.. etc, nothing touched what the Buffaloes had this year. I really couldn't believe it. Then news broke that you guys parted ways with quite frankly, someone who could have and probably was the worst D1 Coach in the Nation. It wasn't a surprise until.... the allegations of racism.

Now again as a person of color, I know the sting. If you've never experienced it, you'll never quite know the feeling. There's nothing like it and I don't wish it on anyone regardless of color. However, for someone that I had so much respect for in Bill McCartney, albeit a man of European ancestry, I don't find it offensive as a person of color that Embree was dismissed, as McCartney believed I should. I find it MUCH more offense that someone like Bill McCartney, and many others, former black players included, would not give me or anyone else of color the benefit of the doubt that we could decide on our own accord that it was the atrocities on the field that left to Embree's firing, not his color. I applaud Colorado for having hired a man with Embree's qualifications or rather, lack thereof, regardless of his race. LSU, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, etc. would NEVER do that. A TEs coach to HC. That's an amazing jump in itself that no one in the National media, or atleast any I've heard, is picking up on. Colorado set record lows in almost every statistical category imaginable. Teams weren't just beating you guys, they were taking mercy. This was the Varsity scrimmaging not against the JV team but rather the the Junior High team.

I know this is a long read and I'm sure too long for many but I just wanted to put out an opinion and give a little insight into the column I'm writing. I also wanted to put it out there that what men like Bill McCartney and too many others, blacks included, do is try to lump all minorities into one group. As if we have no brains to think for ourselves or no vision for what we see. Crying racism is all too easy if you don't have the facts or knowledge.

To wrap this up, as a person of color, I'm more offended by Bill McCartney's belief that I should be offended by Embree firing due to the color of my skin rather than by the knowledge in my head or the eyes that I can see with.

Take care CU fans and keep hope for brighter days. They will come.

If you are feeling so bad for us... then just send us Les Miles and we will call it even..... well, might as well bring Tyrann Mathieu as well because pot smoking is legal in Colorado.
 
Even the director for the Black Coaches Association did admit that the on the field product had a thing to do with that. But it's good to hear from a non Pac-12 and Big 12 fan about what they thought of Big Mac & Embree's cries of racism. When Embree was hired, I never thought about his race to be honest with.

It is obvious that we need a coach with coordinator exprience in Division I football and both Hawkins & Embree didn't have that and the product showed as a result. It appears that Bohn will be looking for anyone with good coordinator exprience at the FBS level.

I am Deaf myself and I would have been insulted if people said that I was discriminated against because of who I am not my job performance. I am tired of people pitying me for being Deaf and I can understand if black people are tired of being pityed because they are black. Either you perform or you won't keep your job...it's as simple as that. I never have been fired from a job due to my performance because I worked hard to prove to white & hearing people that Deaf people can work. I worked overnight jobs and crappy paying jobs while in college to earn my dues and now I am earning pretty good pay from my job because of my hard work in the workplace and at school.

I viewed Embree as a person who wouldn't use the color of his skin as an excuse for losing his job but recall that Hawkins had eight wins in his last two seasons while Embree had just half of that total in his first two seasons. Another thing is going winless at home isn't good for anyone because winning on the road is generally more difficult than winning at home.

Embree and McCartney can take a hike.
 
I think where Mac is coming from is that he told the AD during the hiring phase that they should expect the results that came to fruition. Therefore, in his mind, Embree was not given a fair shake. I think the AD understands that but just did not believe Embree could or would turn it around.
 
Thanks Bayou. I'm pretty sure your perspective is overwhelmingly shared, nationally, by people of all races. It just doesn't stand up to the "racism" standard, when on-field performance is considered.

There are just a few agenda-driven folks in the Denver area who pushed really hard for this hire and are grasping at inappropriate straws to save face.
 
The worst thing you can do for race relations is to cry racism where none exists. It cheapens the accusation.
 
Thanks Bayou. I'm pretty sure your perspective is overwhelmingly shared, nationally, by people of all races. It just doesn't stand up to the "racism" standard, when on-field performance is considered.

There are just a few agenda-driven folks in the Denver area who pushed really hard for this hire and are grasping at inappropriate straws to save face.


I think you can combine that with the Boulder mentality. Like the daily camera article about body paint.
 
I have checked other opposing message boards and it seems like people are recognizing that 4-21 is the reason why Embree got fired.
 
Thanks Bayou. I'm pretty sure your perspective is overwhelmingly shared, nationally, by people of all races. It just doesn't stand up to the "racism" standard, when on-field performance is considered.

There are just a few agenda-driven folks in the Denver area who pushed really hard for this hire and are grasping at inappropriate straws to save face.

The sad thing is that it dilutes the conversation around the realities of racism. The only good thing that could come out of these nonsensical claims is that it might start a conversation around what racism REALLY looks like.

Seriously, this would make a great SNL skit. Jason Sudeikis hanging out with Kenan Thompson, and Jason claming everything is racist on Kenan's behalf.
 
The sad thing is that it dilutes the conversation around the realities of racism. The only good thing that could come out of these nonsensical claims is that it might start a conversation around what racism REALLY looks like.

Seriously, this would make a great SNL skit. Jason Sudeikis hanging out with Kenan Thompson, and Jason claming everything is racist on Kenan's behalf.

Or a quiz show called "Racist or Not Racist".

The host would read a scenario, and the contestants would buzz in to call it one way or the other.

The white contestant would always say "racist" in any scenario, whether racist or not, and the minority contestant would actually provide fair consideration in his answers...
 
Or a quiz show called "Racist or Not Racist".

The host would read a scenario, and the contestants would buzz in to call it one way or the other.

The white contestant would always say "racist" in any scenario, whether racist or not, and the minority contestant would actually provide fair consideration in his answers...

Can the white contestant be wearing a Promise Keeper's shirt? And in the Bonus round the question is "Homophobic or Not" and he says "Not" to something that is totally homophobic?
 
Can the white contestant be wearing a Promise Keeper's shirt? And in the Bonus round the question is "Homophobic or Not" and he says "Not" to something that is totally homophobic?

I like where this is going.

Joel Klatt could host.
 
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