If you don’t follow the Avs, or check out Kukla’s Korner every so often, you may not know who Adrian Dater is. But if you follow the hockey blogging community, you have probably read his stuff. He is the Colorado Avalanche beat writer and blogger for the Denver Post (the newspaper that is still standing in Denver).
Unless you have an RSS feed reader, and unless it was picking up the feed for the Denver Post’s Colorado Avalanche blog, All Things Avs, you may not have seen Dater’s post about NBA basketball. Mr. Dater has stated that he is not a fan of the NBA, which is fine. I’m not a basketball fan myself (although shooting hoops is fun). But then, at the end of his post, he makes it clear that there are other things he does not care for:
The announcers were awful. Some female was doing the color. Sorry, I’m a chauvinist on this one. How many women play in the NBA? Zero you say? Oh. So why is a woman doing the color analysis for the game?
Wow. Some female? That’s quite a statement.
And while I have placed a link to the original article here, you will be a little disappointed when you click on it. The post is no longer there. Here is the link that was in my RSS reader. Go ahead, click on it. The blog post doesn’t exist anymore.
Here is a screen shot of the article from my RSS reader:
And a screen cap of the original quote that sparked my interest:
There are so many things wrong with that statement, I don’t think I have to spell it out. And considering how fast it was taken down (much like his ESPN rant), I’m guessing others at the Post feel the same.
This is a quote from the Denver Post’s Ethics Policy Blogging section:
Nothing may be published under the Denver Post name, or on its internet sites, unless it has gone through an editing and/or approval process. While blogs are more often written in an informal and personal style, everything that is posted to a blog must be factual and fair. Maliciously and inaccurately attacking private citizens or public officials is prohibited, and any criticism of public officials needs to meet the same standards of fairness as in print.
So this post made it past editorial approval, and was then taken down?
I wanted some version of confirmation that this post was online at some point, since I don’t have a screen cap of the original. A Google Blog Search for Adrian Dater came up with this:
So I guess that’s confirmed.
I emailed Dater to get his take on the post, and while he did respond, he didn’t want to talk about it. I don’t feel comfortable putting the text of that email online, since I did not ask his permission to post it for public consumption.
I have placed calls to the Denver Post sports department, but have not heard back from anyone in editorial. To be fair, they are not scheduled to be in until Monday early afternoon. As soon as I hear back from them, or get a call through to an editor, I will update the blog with what they have to say.
Your thoughts are welcome in the comments.
Technorati Tags: Dater, Denver Post
10 responses to “Adrian Dater Blog Post Taken Down”
Rock it, Tape.
At some point, people will start to understand that words actually have meanings and they’ll be held accountability for assembling them in such idiotic combinations.
Accountability = accountable
Reply fail.
I don’t agree with the comment (about the announcer, that is – the NBA is, indeed, awful).
I hate that it was taken down, though. This PC crap really drives me up the wall.
ps, kudos on the article. without it, I would have missed this one completely
I love it and agree with it. I’m glad someone with a voice finally said it.
I think he is being accountable for the post. He posted it on his blog under his name. If this post was like any of his others, they are accompanied by his email and phone number. Just because you may not agree with his words does not make them “idiotic”.
I’ll be the first to say it I guess…
Isn’t AD covered by the first amendment?
If you don’t like the comment, don’t read the blog. I read it and thought he meant a male that played in the NBA would provide more insight into the sport since they had been there before. Same idea as saying you wouldn’t call an electrician to fix a leaking toilet.
Thank you for articulating my exact feelings Michael, it’s nice to know there are intelligent people out there who don’t just feign outrage at first sight of “un-PC” language. And I have to think that damn near every guy who has played competitive sports feels the same way when they are watching it on TV. (This isn’t to say there aren’t plenty of horrible male announcers, because there are)
On one hand, I don’t agree with the guy at all. I don’t care what gender an announcer is, as long as they are intelligent and can provide either solid play by play, informational, or color commentary.
On the other hand, I’m also all for publishing stuff like this. The only thing that will be hurt by publishing this sort of stuff is perhaps at most Dater’s reputation.
First I agree that the NBA is awful.
Second I agree that the whole “PC” movement is asinine and disgusts me. Call a spade a spade and get over it. People are to quick to get their feelings hurt these days. Unfortunately though, if someone wanted to be “offended” be the AD post, the could sue the DP. They have to watch their backs as well.
I do have to disagree with the idea that just because you haven’t played a sport, or in a particular league, it means you can’t be a commentator. As a sports fan I do hate it when they trod a woman out who is obviously there just as eye candy and adds nothing to the broadcast of the game. But the opposite is also true, I have no problem with a woman who knows her stuff and comments intelligently about the game.
This saddens me. Certainly if that is Dater’s opinion, he is entitled to it. I think something that a lot of men don’t consider is what it is like to never be taken seriously as a female that is really into what is traditionally a male sport. I grew up being told I should go play softball and not hard ball with the boys when I didn’t want to play something I saw as watered down. Still people use phrases like “You skate/hit/throw like a girl.” as putdowns during games.
All my life I have to fight against the assumption that because I am female, I can’t possible know anything about sports. That attitude has lessened quite a bit but I can remember in college sitting down and catching a NFL game in the dorm lounge and asking who was playing. The guy sitting there said, “Well the Jets are the guys in the green and white uniforms,” and I cut him off and said, “I know who the Jets are.”
I don’t think this has anything to do with being P.C. or un-P.C. It is chauvanism plain and simple and Dater even admits that. It is just sad to see it from someone I consider a decent hockey writer.
Did Dater feel the same way when Cammi Granato was doing the color for the L.A. Kings (or maybe because that was radio it doesn’t matter)?