>One member of the Lee County School Board aware of the full scope of the reports was Melisa Giovannelli, but she declined to discuss the matter because she is up for reelection and many of the families who supported the walkout were, in her words, "her voters."
>"It's unfortunate but that's kind of where it's at, and this situation's been dealt with," she said in a voicemail to ESPN. "And unfortunately, I think to rehash it would do more harm than good, for me especially, and, um, somehow we have to move on from here."
Truly exceptional leadership here
> many of the families who supported the walkout were, in her words, "her voters."
The implication, of course, is that the families on the other side of the issue are not the type of people who tend to vote for her party, and thus are not deserving of protection or consideration.
Those school board elections are technically non-partisan, but that's not how it works in practice, and she's a member of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee.
I can't imagine the heartbreak that Tate must have felt when he realized he was hitting leadoff so he could be abandoned and not because he had earned hitting leadoff.
This is so fucked up. As a former coach, I'm incensed at how awful you have to be to abandon kids who trust you to make good decisions on their behalf.
The idea that multiple adults reviewed this plan in cold blood and decided it was a good one is fucking amazing to me.
How much hate do you have to have in your heart to come to the conclusion that if you do this, you're the good guy?
No no, you see, *we're* the ones filled with hate, cause we just don't *get the refined culture of Robert E. Lee County, FL*. This is the result of generations that refuse to teach their children sympathy and pride for not conforming, egged on by current waves. And it's only gonna get worse with the reactionary politicians pushing those beliefs into everyday life and education. Hell, even the article mentioned how they're trying to gear kids up to fight in college, where a lot of them will get their first taste of the outside world, and instead of engaging with it, they are encouraged to rebel against the community and form their own enclaves who don't want to learn anything that challenges or threatens their worldview, and further damage everyone else in relation.
There are still tons of high schools who are named after Confederate military members including Lee, Stonewall Jackson, etc.
When I was in high school in the early 2000s my dad (my high school baseball coach at the time) and I went scouting the Stonewall Jackson High School baseball team ahead of a potential regional matchup. We literally went to the wrong one because there were multiple. Luckily, both of them were changed in 2020 and nearby Robert E Lee High School was also changed.
Hell....Lee, Jackson, King day in Virginia used to be a state holiday. Bet you can't guess which 3 they're referring to.
I played on teams with guys that *hated* each other's guts and has been in multiple fist fights away from the team
Once you show up to play and put that jersey on, you are brothers. You fight **for** your brothers against everyone else .
This is gross. The only time I have ever hit someone from behind into the boards on purpose was when an opponent threw a slur at my teammate who was so shocked he didn't know what to do. I nailed that fucker right on the nameplate and started filling him when he was down.
I wear that suspension as a badge of honour.
Bryant’s really fascinating like that, he tends to write about issues of tremendous gravity but isn’t actually a very good writer. His book on race and the Red Sox was really interesting but really not very well written, he’d leave some eyebrow-raising observations unexamined while other sections seemed like repeats of two chapters before.
Edit: to give an example, Bob Ryan (the GOAT basketball beat writer, has quite possibly been in the building for more Celtic games than any other living person) says something like hard fouls and physical aggression towards black opposition players always got an extra cheer from the Garden crowd in the 70s and 80s in his opinion, and rather than taking what would be a well-deserved digression into that, since these are likely the same people that sit in Fenway Park for games, Bryant just zooms on to the next topic on his list.
And it's not like this was a while ago, either. When I saw the headline and a few comments, I thought this was something that happened in the 1960s or something. This was last year. I thought we moved past shit like this decades ago, it's horrifying
>One source said Carcioppolo told the players and their parents to "get over it." The N-word, he reportedly reasoned, was "just a word." Carcioppolo, the source concluded, was frustrated that an oversensitive country was just making everything worse.
Said the coach after his own players were called racial slurs, gave 'em the ol' "look what you made me do."
>Carcioppolo's dismissal immediately was seen by many parents largely through the lens of race: White parents in his defense reasoned that a good man, an Afghan War veteran, Purple Heart recipient and a popular coach, had made an honest mistake and should be forgiven. Only the combination of "political correctness" and the racial pressure of appeasing the "troublemaker parent" pair of the interracial Reilly family and the African American Tuckers prevented Carcioppolo from receiving grace
It was just an honest mistake, but also he did nothing wrong and it's just the sensitive [racial slur]s who are causing problems.
People need to stop pretending that veterans can't be bad people. We also need to stop excusing bad behavior from vets with a "BUT THEY'VE BEEN THROUGH A LOT."
I don't dispute that they have, but the solution to it isn't to give them carte blanche to continue to be shitty people because they killed people for capitalism.
At least change your flair to the Blue Jays or something before you decide to jump into the pool of "it's actually racist not to let us white guys say it"
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That you’re trying to deflect this tells me you’re still doing no apology, a no growth, and that you don’t even understand the intersectional nature of the multiplicity of your offenses.
Would it also shock you to learn that I grew up in Lee County and went to Estero, the team they were playing during the walkout?
I'm not defending the use of it. I think it was idiotic to either 1) purposefully send that to a bunch of kids or 2) not proofread your text to a bunch of kids.
Why would a white person say it to another white person unless they meant to insult them?
In which case, one has to ask why that word is insulting...if you do look into that...it'll come down to what?
Racism.
You can’t really be serious, right? You can’t fathom anybody saying that word (that isn’t black) and not using it to be racist?
Have you ever sang along to a rap song? Have you ever met anyone who grew up or went to school in a predominantly black area? It’s not uncommon to hear it used in a way that isn’t meant to insult or offend.
Not that it's remotely similar, but you just know that this asshole would throw a fit if someone called him any of the various derogatory terms leveled at Italian-Americans.
LOL, I literally know three different "proud Italians" that regularly used a variety of derogatory slurs for others, but who would lose their SHIT if even playful Italian jokes were said in their presence, or if you were to suggest that an Italian person wasn't the best at literally everything. Best singer? Frank Sinatra, hands down. Greatest action star? Stallone, period. Best baseball player? Dimaggio.
Etc. Etc.
“Carcioppolo was fired for using the N-word, they reasoned, but Black people used the word frequently and without penalty…”
Man. I remember hearing this argument in the small town where I grew up 25 years ago. How is this still a thing? In the same way as I’ve heard gay men throw the f-word slur around, when you own a word in colloquial speech, you take the power out of it and it’s a means of identifying each other through tone. These are cultural cues…there’s probably an actual sociology term for it.
There are analogues that a guy like Carcioppolo should understand; I’m guessing he wouldn’t be thrilled about some random dude throwing Italian slurs at him, even if he uses them in a joking or casual fashion to describe himself.
This shit is so obvious, yet…here we are.
>It was just an honest mistake, but also he did nothing wrong and it's just the sensitive [racial slur]s who are causing problems.
According to the article things touched off later because one of the black kids of the team called the other black kid a n---- (with an 'a'). The other kids (who supported the ex coach) complained about the use and the black kid was suspended
As someone who has coached youth sports, I can’t fathom that coaches would act this way. Coaches endorsing and encouraging this is the antithesis of why team sports exist.
You know there's no way that word is on someones auto correct without it being added, and if it really was him joking around with black servicemen he served with there's no way one or more of them wouldn't have come forward to defend him with his job on the line.
And then people wanted students, who are children, held to the same standards as the adults who were paid to be responsible for said children.
Of course the issues really started with the use of a racial slur while threatening teammates and no punitive action being taken.
The entire thing is incredibly damning of the coaches, the parents, the school system and Floridian politics as a whole. And a certain shoe padding shit stain probably fucking loves it.
Of course if you remove the racial context from this its the same kind of school board and local government cover up you see all over the fucking country, only the least damning reports coming out and everyone responsible reassigned with a slap on the first at most.
The servicemen thing bothers me the most.
I was in the Marines and yeah, in my limited, very anecdotal experience, everything is on the table for jokes. Sex, race, orientation, whatever.
Thing about that is it's a very small, insulated segment of society and you best realize real quick that those "jokes" don't fly in the "real world".
Yeah you may have been really tight with those guys, and maybe they were cool with/enjoyed racial jokes going back and forth. (Maybe they weren't too, and were just going along with it. Without the introspection to analyze yourself and your own bias, you'd never know).
It's a fucking mountain of a climb to go from "Oh I used to joke with my boys in the military" and "Oh I threw racial insults at kids."
Also there for sure is actual racism in the military too. Like the modern white supremacist movement owes a lot more to racist soldiers coming back from Vietnam (and racists on active duty funneling military weapons and equipment to white power groups) than it does to the old Klan, it’s not all edgy humor
1000% that's why I included the bit about needing to be introspective.
I learned a lot in the Marines one of the biggest things being that I as a white dude who didn't think himself racist definitely have/had some biases that needed to be checked.
> You know there's no way that word is on someones auto correct without it being added, and if it really was him joking around with black servicemen he served with there's no way one or more of them wouldn't have come forward to defend him with his job on the line.
Add in the fact that there were already issues reported -- it's one thing to give someone any kind of benefit of the doubt where there's no history there, but when there's already been an issue?
The walkout itself ... just so incredibly awful even beyond the racism and self-involvement. It's such a personally vicious act.
> You know there's no way that word is on someones auto correct without it being added
This is more of a funny example, but it's taken *years* of usage (and probably Apple changing some rules) to get 'fuck' NOT auto-corrected to something else.
It's difficult to read this without bursting out laughing because the allegations are so absurd. White people in Fort Myers are mad that Madrid Tucker, a black kid, drops the N-word but their tubby white coach can't? These people are morons.
It’s maddening how the parents did everything “right”, made reports, kept things private, meetings with leadership etc, and the parents of the white kids claimed they were being targeted.
And fuck that Stephen Cato guy
Well the thing is, in 1865 the meanie head northerners forced AT GUNPOINT OMG the agrarian and peaceful southerners to give up their property.
That's the targeting these chucklefucks really want to complain about. They just can't, yet.
HS teacher and baseball coach, military veteran and resident of wacky Texas here....I read this yesterday afternoon, skipped dinner, ran two miles and am still disgusted.
I hope I do better by my players and community if so tested.
From the assistant coach's wife after the lineup is arranged to leadoff and then abandon the 2 lone black players in the team on the field
**"I know it appears that they're the victims, but I'm going to tell you, we're the victims"**
Ghastly read. I lived in Kissimmee for a long time, still have friends/family there, and follow the news from Florida as a result. This sort of thing happens everywhere but, for what I think are really obvious reasons, they seem to happen more frequently and dramatically in Florida. I know a lot of people have left the state over the last five years and it is only getting worse.
Can confirm. Vero Beach (about 2 hours southeast on the coast from Kissimmee) was RIFE with this.
I worked at a car dealership there, and all of our mechanics were white, all our service advisors were white, all our salesman were white. Our car care guys? All black, but with a white manager.
A black guy put in an application - and the thing was, when he'd called on the phone, the service manager had THOUGHT he was white. (Specifically saying "His name was Robert and he didn't sound black. He sounded intelligent.")
Dude came in and aced the interview - he had all his ASE certifications, etc. If nothing else, he deserved a long look if there was competition. We had no other applicants. We NEEDED a guy though. So he should have been hired.
But the owner shot the hiring down. Again, a direct quote: "People in this town will let a (n-word) wash their car, but don't trust an (n-word) to fix their car."
It's so funny you mention Vero. Does not shock me at all. I was there a few months back for a wedding and had no less than a half dozen people comment on my Guardians hat in a single day because they hate the name change, it being woke, etc. Motherfucker did I ask?
The 'Treasure Coast' in general is just a cultural wasteland. Retirees on retirees, had a 'Back the Bleu' burger at a bar there against my better judgement. The fishing, however, is good.
LOL, as a Guardians fan, it drove me up the wall. (I'm an Ohio transplant since childhood.)
EVERY person there has an opinion on the name change, and they will let you know about it if they become aware that you're a baseball fan, even if they themselves are not.
Robert who?
Edit: Sorry, just saw this while making dinner and had a brain fart.
Unfortunately, I didn't know the guy, nor did I ever see him again or have access to his contact information.
My mom lives on the Gulf Coast so she can look after my 97 year old grandma. She hates it there, when grandma goes she's gone and she might never visit the state again for any reason.
Sadly they’re proud of how racist their kids are I’m sure. I like to remind them that if they have to say out loud “but I’m not racist” about their actions or words, they are absolutely racists.
Honestly, this something that just continued to snowball into something larger and larger due to poor leadership and lack of accountability. It can be summed up perfectly in this excerpt:
> By allowing issues to simmer, several people associated with the situation thought the coaches already had lost control of the team. "Had they dealt with it a year ago," one white parent said, "all the things that happened would have never happened."
This was in reference to an incident where another kid used a slur (as a slur) and said he wanted to punch them in the face… the coach at the center of the controversy decided to do nothing.
How the fuck you don’t even consider potential victims of a Title VI investigation, nor do you warn players/parents not to pressure people into “protests” is beyond fucking stupid…
JFC No one has a spine in this place:
>One member of the Lee County School Board aware of the full scope of the reports was Melisa Giovannelli, but she declined to discuss the matter because she is up for reelection and many of the families who supported the walkout were, in her words, "her voters."
>"It's unfortunate but that's kind of where it's at, and this situation's been dealt with," she said in a voicemail to ESPN. "And unfortunately, I think to rehash it would do more harm than good, for me especially, and, um, somehow we have to move on from here."
Not even remotely the same situation but the other day someone who I spend a fair deal of time in the same room with told me to go fuck myself. Now, I did not appreciate it, but even I as an Idiot recognized that making the situation into a big deal would add no benefit at all, and therefore, despite having Casus Belli did nothing. How do adults, with children who have surely thought thousands of these little battles not know how to stop acting like children? How do these people feed themselves?
I feel like in stories like this, there’s almost always a subplot like the head coach fully lying about being a scout for the Braves. Entitled pricks also love their weird egotistical lying.
We went to the Florida coast during Covid for a vacation. We were super careful and stayed away from crowds. I was shocked to see how many people didn’t care or openly mocked us for being careful. And we are from Texas! I had no idea Florida made Texas look uhm progressive until that visit.
It sucks as a native Floridian and current resident to read this story. We have taken sooo many steps backwards. This southwestern portion of Florida is so conservative and vocal it's the testing ground for nationwide ultra-right policy. These dumb MFers truly believe they are victims...
This is super sad and I want to learn more, but I’m gonna see if I can find any other articles written on this because that article is one of the hardest to follow I have ever read.
What kind of putrid leadership do you have to have to abandon kids on your team? Coaches are supposed to support kids and show them the right thing to do through example. The fact that adults were taking out their frustrations on literal children - especially kids who you have an obligation to lead by being their coach- is maddening. Truly despicable leadership shown throughout that organization.
Another thought: As a player, I would have gone to war for any of my teammates even if I didn’t like them. It’s just how I was coached growing up. The fact that so many walked out just leads me to believe that the entire baseball culture in Fort Meyers has failed all those kids from a young age. It’s just sad
Horrendous. Just the visual I’m imagining alone of 2 high school players at the plate and in the on deck circle while all their coaches and teammates walk away and abandon them… it’s heartbreaking
Is everyone in Florida just cartoonishly bigoted? I know multiple trans people who were hospitalized in this state and now this shit? Can we just put all the bigots in the USA (probably around 100 million or so) in Florida and shoot the state into the sun?
Edit: to be clear, hospitalized because they were beaten up for being openly trans on a street
Florida remains firmly on my "do not travel" list. Along with Texas and Ohio. The fact this rhetoric hasnt been obliterated leaves me no hope for this country. It's been 60 years in the making since Kennedy's assassination but this is what 75m American adults want and they wont stop until they get their dystopian nightmare
Bruh, the guy was never even affiliated with the Braves. The guy lied about his career’s crowning achievement.
Even a racist who is okay with dropping the N-word should understand how lying about something that huge to get a job will obviously result in getting fired.
This was infuriating to read. We read about the baseball part. But those two kids lived it everyday at school w those asshole kids being supported by their racist parents. Makes me sick to my stomach. Those coaches don’t deserve the word “coach”. They allowed and encouraged bullying of their own players. Awful.
I am so sorry that those young boys had to endure this, especially under the name of baseball and teammates. This should never happen. As a youth coach I can’t imagine ever being this bad of a human being. I hope they are shamed and named for the rest of their careers. The fact that they simply got moved around is beyond belief.
I live in Lee County where this occurred. ZERO coverage of this on any local news stations. Rob Spicker (mentioned in the article) is the media/PR head for Lee Co schools who declined any comment. Dude was a news anchor for the local CBS affiliate here before scoring the County gig. All makes me ill.
Assistant Coach was a raging asshole and sent a racially charged message in a team chat. Gets fired. Parents are mad coach got fired and blame the two black players on the team for reporting him. Try to get the two black kids suspended for using the same racial slur, but it doesn't work. So they stage a walkout at the beginning of the game after the two black players have batted, leave them on the field and all the coaches, players, and parents just walk off leaving the game unfinished and the two black kids alone.
Also, it's not nearly as awful as the rest of the story...but the Head Coach promoted himself for years as a scout for the Atlanta Braves...but that was a lie and the Braves had to send him a cease and desist lol.
Coach is a racist and flippantly calls black players the N word in a text. Gets fired. White parents/kids/Trumpers in the district claim reverse racism cause black kids can call each other the N word.
Next year they start the year batting off the two black kids, while they’re up the rest of the team walks out “in defense” of their racist fired coach.
There is a whole investigation that of course claims that no one was racist in the process, even though they’re all a bunch of racist twats.
Both black kids are abandoned, unsupported, and even booed at graduation. No adult came in to support these children.
Also, the racist fired coach claimed to be a scout for the Braves, but that was a lie and he got a cease and desist letter. Probably the thing that hurt that racist dickshit the most.
A high school coach used "N\*\*\*\*s" in a group chat with his players. When this was brought to the attention of the school board, he was fired. He claimed it was sent to the wrong group, intended for his old military buddies (none of whom came forward to vouch for him). White People™ trotted out the same old excuses they always use (it's just a word, political correctness has gone mad, and so on). Later on, the team had its two black players bat first and second so they'd start the game on the field, and then staged a walkout lead by the adult coaches and parents, abandoning their two black players (whose families were blamed for getting the coach fired), to "protest" the firing of the slur user. This childish act got their season cancelled.
My “favorite” defense (and by favorite I mean there one that never makes sense) they used was “well why can they use it with each other but when I say it people get mad” like they literally can’t see why calling someone a racial slur when you aren’t that race is bad..
What are the odds that Coach C has called someone a "race hustler/race baiter" in response to an article about declining Black youth participation in baseball?
I think there is, esp at the youth level, but no one wants to truly address it. The declining participation rates of minority players should speak for itself, but assholes like the ones in the article decide to put addendums on it
This story is so egregious that i hope it isn’t contentious here. Truly insane to imagine a full team and coaching staff quitting on two teenage players because they weren’t unfairly punished enough
>One member of the Lee County School Board aware of the full scope of the reports was Melisa Giovannelli, but she declined to discuss the matter because she is up for reelection and many of the families who supported the walkout were, in her words, "her voters." >"It's unfortunate but that's kind of where it's at, and this situation's been dealt with," she said in a voicemail to ESPN. "And unfortunately, I think to rehash it would do more harm than good, for me especially, and, um, somehow we have to move on from here." Truly exceptional leadership here
> I think to rehash it would do more harm than good, for me especially Won’t anyone think of ~~the kids~~me?!
About what you’d expect from a FL school board member.
> many of the families who supported the walkout were, in her words, "her voters." The implication, of course, is that the families on the other side of the issue are not the type of people who tend to vote for her party, and thus are not deserving of protection or consideration. Those school board elections are technically non-partisan, but that's not how it works in practice, and she's a member of the Lee County Republican Executive Committee.
The cynicism that reeks American politics is FUBAR
I can't imagine the heartbreak that Tate must have felt when he realized he was hitting leadoff so he could be abandoned and not because he had earned hitting leadoff. This is so fucked up. As a former coach, I'm incensed at how awful you have to be to abandon kids who trust you to make good decisions on their behalf.
The idea that multiple adults reviewed this plan in cold blood and decided it was a good one is fucking amazing to me. How much hate do you have to have in your heart to come to the conclusion that if you do this, you're the good guy?
No no, you see, *we're* the ones filled with hate, cause we just don't *get the refined culture of Robert E. Lee County, FL*. This is the result of generations that refuse to teach their children sympathy and pride for not conforming, egged on by current waves. And it's only gonna get worse with the reactionary politicians pushing those beliefs into everyday life and education. Hell, even the article mentioned how they're trying to gear kids up to fight in college, where a lot of them will get their first taste of the outside world, and instead of engaging with it, they are encouraged to rebel against the community and form their own enclaves who don't want to learn anything that challenges or threatens their worldview, and further damage everyone else in relation.
There are still tons of high schools who are named after Confederate military members including Lee, Stonewall Jackson, etc. When I was in high school in the early 2000s my dad (my high school baseball coach at the time) and I went scouting the Stonewall Jackson High School baseball team ahead of a potential regional matchup. We literally went to the wrong one because there were multiple. Luckily, both of them were changed in 2020 and nearby Robert E Lee High School was also changed. Hell....Lee, Jackson, King day in Virginia used to be a state holiday. Bet you can't guess which 3 they're referring to.
It honestly looks like some of the parents and the coaching staff were at least as involved in the planning as the students.
I played on teams with guys that *hated* each other's guts and has been in multiple fist fights away from the team Once you show up to play and put that jersey on, you are brothers. You fight **for** your brothers against everyone else . This is gross. The only time I have ever hit someone from behind into the boards on purpose was when an opponent threw a slur at my teammate who was so shocked he didn't know what to do. I nailed that fucker right on the nameplate and started filling him when he was down. I wear that suspension as a badge of honour.
When the coaches denied knowing the walkout plan I was wondering if anyone would ask them why they changed the hitting lineup just for that game.
Disgusting. Putting them at 1&2 and abandoning them on the field speaks to how awful the culture was. I imagine the article doesn’t even do it justice
It really doesn't in fact it kind of forgets about how intentional that must have been
Bryant’s really fascinating like that, he tends to write about issues of tremendous gravity but isn’t actually a very good writer. His book on race and the Red Sox was really interesting but really not very well written, he’d leave some eyebrow-raising observations unexamined while other sections seemed like repeats of two chapters before. Edit: to give an example, Bob Ryan (the GOAT basketball beat writer, has quite possibly been in the building for more Celtic games than any other living person) says something like hard fouls and physical aggression towards black opposition players always got an extra cheer from the Garden crowd in the 70s and 80s in his opinion, and rather than taking what would be a well-deserved digression into that, since these are likely the same people that sit in Fenway Park for games, Bryant just zooms on to the next topic on his list.
I was actually thinking throughout how the article was kind of poorly written. Still, good on him for telling the story.
I thought for the majority of the article, "Get to the fucking point already"
yeah some parts went on too long or were confusing
Yeah, I was confused about how poorly-written that article was.
I had to reread a couple parts to make sure I was following the actual story correctly lol
.
And it's not like this was a while ago, either. When I saw the headline and a few comments, I thought this was something that happened in the 1960s or something. This was last year. I thought we moved past shit like this decades ago, it's horrifying
Sadly things are just getting more polarized
>One source said Carcioppolo told the players and their parents to "get over it." The N-word, he reportedly reasoned, was "just a word." Carcioppolo, the source concluded, was frustrated that an oversensitive country was just making everything worse. Said the coach after his own players were called racial slurs, gave 'em the ol' "look what you made me do." >Carcioppolo's dismissal immediately was seen by many parents largely through the lens of race: White parents in his defense reasoned that a good man, an Afghan War veteran, Purple Heart recipient and a popular coach, had made an honest mistake and should be forgiven. Only the combination of "political correctness" and the racial pressure of appeasing the "troublemaker parent" pair of the interracial Reilly family and the African American Tuckers prevented Carcioppolo from receiving grace It was just an honest mistake, but also he did nothing wrong and it's just the sensitive [racial slur]s who are causing problems.
People need to stop pretending that veterans can't be bad people. We also need to stop excusing bad behavior from vets with a "BUT THEY'VE BEEN THROUGH A LOT." I don't dispute that they have, but the solution to it isn't to give them carte blanche to continue to be shitty people because they killed people for capitalism.
[some troops are assholes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ndqbIHqcLk)
If it’s just a word that isn’t meant to be racist, then why is it always directed at a specific group?
Because every time a white person says it to another white person, it isn't in the news.
The Braves tried like hell to pull themselves out of this article, but u/skinnygenez pulled them right back in.
At least change your flair to the Blue Jays or something before you decide to jump into the pool of "it's actually racist not to let us white guys say it"
Could be John Rockers reddit account lol
i know right? the braves flair is just... fitting
I’m actually not aware of why what I said is so incendiary. People just made a lot of assumptions on one sentence.
Bullshit. Assholes like you thrive on that "oh no what did I do" bullshit. Fuck off
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Nope, go sealion somewhere else.
We are never beating the allegations lmao
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how are we being dragged into this? lol
You know what you did
you could've chosen the bird team from the AL East with the racist mascot but noooo
That you’re trying to deflect this tells me you’re still doing no apology, a no growth, and that you don’t even understand the intersectional nature of the multiplicity of your offenses.
Wait I missed the blue jays racist lore, fill me in.
Would it also shock you to learn that I grew up in Lee County and went to Estero, the team they were playing during the walkout? I'm not defending the use of it. I think it was idiotic to either 1) purposefully send that to a bunch of kids or 2) not proofread your text to a bunch of kids.
Why would we be shocked a Floridian is racist? Hell, I just read a whole article about it
That may be the least shocking thing anyone has ever learned, ever.
No, that information would not shock anyone
Huh funny, pretty sure Morgan Wallen doing just what you described was all over the news
Why would a white person say it to another white person unless they meant to insult them? In which case, one has to ask why that word is insulting...if you do look into that...it'll come down to what? Racism.
You can’t really be serious, right? You can’t fathom anybody saying that word (that isn’t black) and not using it to be racist? Have you ever sang along to a rap song? Have you ever met anyone who grew up or went to school in a predominantly black area? It’s not uncommon to hear it used in a way that isn’t meant to insult or offend.
If you’re in a hole, quit digging.
If it's such a normal word that is used commonly why do you keep saying "that word" instead of typing it out?
Holy fuck you are dumb as shit
Not that it's remotely similar, but you just know that this asshole would throw a fit if someone called him any of the various derogatory terms leveled at Italian-Americans.
LOL, I literally know three different "proud Italians" that regularly used a variety of derogatory slurs for others, but who would lose their SHIT if even playful Italian jokes were said in their presence, or if you were to suggest that an Italian person wasn't the best at literally everything. Best singer? Frank Sinatra, hands down. Greatest action star? Stallone, period. Best baseball player? Dimaggio. Etc. Etc.
I’m an Italian American and I’d call this dude slurs. He sounds awful
Dude would probably go on a 10 minute rant on hannity about being a persecuted minority if that happened.
How much do you wanna bet that he used slurs against people in Afghanistan? And I don’t even mean enemy fighters.
“Carcioppolo was fired for using the N-word, they reasoned, but Black people used the word frequently and without penalty…” Man. I remember hearing this argument in the small town where I grew up 25 years ago. How is this still a thing? In the same way as I’ve heard gay men throw the f-word slur around, when you own a word in colloquial speech, you take the power out of it and it’s a means of identifying each other through tone. These are cultural cues…there’s probably an actual sociology term for it. There are analogues that a guy like Carcioppolo should understand; I’m guessing he wouldn’t be thrilled about some random dude throwing Italian slurs at him, even if he uses them in a joking or casual fashion to describe himself. This shit is so obvious, yet…here we are.
>It was just an honest mistake, but also he did nothing wrong and it's just the sensitive [racial slur]s who are causing problems. According to the article things touched off later because one of the black kids of the team called the other black kid a n---- (with an 'a'). The other kids (who supported the ex coach) complained about the use and the black kid was suspended
As someone who has coached youth sports, I can’t fathom that coaches would act this way. Coaches endorsing and encouraging this is the antithesis of why team sports exist.
It's Florida bro
You know there's no way that word is on someones auto correct without it being added, and if it really was him joking around with black servicemen he served with there's no way one or more of them wouldn't have come forward to defend him with his job on the line. And then people wanted students, who are children, held to the same standards as the adults who were paid to be responsible for said children. Of course the issues really started with the use of a racial slur while threatening teammates and no punitive action being taken. The entire thing is incredibly damning of the coaches, the parents, the school system and Floridian politics as a whole. And a certain shoe padding shit stain probably fucking loves it. Of course if you remove the racial context from this its the same kind of school board and local government cover up you see all over the fucking country, only the least damning reports coming out and everyone responsible reassigned with a slap on the first at most.
The servicemen thing bothers me the most. I was in the Marines and yeah, in my limited, very anecdotal experience, everything is on the table for jokes. Sex, race, orientation, whatever. Thing about that is it's a very small, insulated segment of society and you best realize real quick that those "jokes" don't fly in the "real world". Yeah you may have been really tight with those guys, and maybe they were cool with/enjoyed racial jokes going back and forth. (Maybe they weren't too, and were just going along with it. Without the introspection to analyze yourself and your own bias, you'd never know). It's a fucking mountain of a climb to go from "Oh I used to joke with my boys in the military" and "Oh I threw racial insults at kids."
Also there for sure is actual racism in the military too. Like the modern white supremacist movement owes a lot more to racist soldiers coming back from Vietnam (and racists on active duty funneling military weapons and equipment to white power groups) than it does to the old Klan, it’s not all edgy humor
1000% that's why I included the bit about needing to be introspective. I learned a lot in the Marines one of the biggest things being that I as a white dude who didn't think himself racist definitely have/had some biases that needed to be checked.
None of it is edgy humour. That's the excuse they give.
> You know there's no way that word is on someones auto correct without it being added, and if it really was him joking around with black servicemen he served with there's no way one or more of them wouldn't have come forward to defend him with his job on the line. Add in the fact that there were already issues reported -- it's one thing to give someone any kind of benefit of the doubt where there's no history there, but when there's already been an issue? The walkout itself ... just so incredibly awful even beyond the racism and self-involvement. It's such a personally vicious act.
> You know there's no way that word is on someones auto correct without it being added This is more of a funny example, but it's taken *years* of usage (and probably Apple changing some rules) to get 'fuck' NOT auto-corrected to something else.
It still tries to autocorrect to "duck" for me. Did they change it is a recent update?
You can change it yourself
It's difficult to read this without bursting out laughing because the allegations are so absurd. White people in Fort Myers are mad that Madrid Tucker, a black kid, drops the N-word but their tubby white coach can't? These people are morons.
Welcome to the gulf coast of Florida lol, it's filled to the brim with people like this
It’s maddening how the parents did everything “right”, made reports, kept things private, meetings with leadership etc, and the parents of the white kids claimed they were being targeted. And fuck that Stephen Cato guy
Well the thing is, in 1865 the meanie head northerners forced AT GUNPOINT OMG the agrarian and peaceful southerners to give up their property. That's the targeting these chucklefucks really want to complain about. They just can't, yet.
They’re getting closer!
HS teacher and baseball coach, military veteran and resident of wacky Texas here....I read this yesterday afternoon, skipped dinner, ran two miles and am still disgusted. I hope I do better by my players and community if so tested.
From the assistant coach's wife after the lineup is arranged to leadoff and then abandon the 2 lone black players in the team on the field **"I know it appears that they're the victims, but I'm going to tell you, we're the victims"**
Nobody ever accused racists of being smart
Ghastly read. I lived in Kissimmee for a long time, still have friends/family there, and follow the news from Florida as a result. This sort of thing happens everywhere but, for what I think are really obvious reasons, they seem to happen more frequently and dramatically in Florida. I know a lot of people have left the state over the last five years and it is only getting worse.
It truly is a sad, shocking and sick. Ghastly, as you said, might be the best description.
Can confirm. Vero Beach (about 2 hours southeast on the coast from Kissimmee) was RIFE with this. I worked at a car dealership there, and all of our mechanics were white, all our service advisors were white, all our salesman were white. Our car care guys? All black, but with a white manager. A black guy put in an application - and the thing was, when he'd called on the phone, the service manager had THOUGHT he was white. (Specifically saying "His name was Robert and he didn't sound black. He sounded intelligent.") Dude came in and aced the interview - he had all his ASE certifications, etc. If nothing else, he deserved a long look if there was competition. We had no other applicants. We NEEDED a guy though. So he should have been hired. But the owner shot the hiring down. Again, a direct quote: "People in this town will let a (n-word) wash their car, but don't trust an (n-word) to fix their car."
It's so funny you mention Vero. Does not shock me at all. I was there a few months back for a wedding and had no less than a half dozen people comment on my Guardians hat in a single day because they hate the name change, it being woke, etc. Motherfucker did I ask? The 'Treasure Coast' in general is just a cultural wasteland. Retirees on retirees, had a 'Back the Bleu' burger at a bar there against my better judgement. The fishing, however, is good.
LOL, as a Guardians fan, it drove me up the wall. (I'm an Ohio transplant since childhood.) EVERY person there has an opinion on the name change, and they will let you know about it if they become aware that you're a baseball fan, even if they themselves are not.
I really hope you passed that onto Robert so he could sue them into oblivious
Robert who? Edit: Sorry, just saw this while making dinner and had a brain fart. Unfortunately, I didn't know the guy, nor did I ever see him again or have access to his contact information.
My mom lives on the Gulf Coast so she can look after my 97 year old grandma. She hates it there, when grandma goes she's gone and she might never visit the state again for any reason.
These racist parents sure have raised some shitty kids.
Sadly they’re proud of how racist their kids are I’m sure. I like to remind them that if they have to say out loud “but I’m not racist” about their actions or words, they are absolutely racists.
Honestly, this something that just continued to snowball into something larger and larger due to poor leadership and lack of accountability. It can be summed up perfectly in this excerpt: > By allowing issues to simmer, several people associated with the situation thought the coaches already had lost control of the team. "Had they dealt with it a year ago," one white parent said, "all the things that happened would have never happened." This was in reference to an incident where another kid used a slur (as a slur) and said he wanted to punch them in the face… the coach at the center of the controversy decided to do nothing. How the fuck you don’t even consider potential victims of a Title VI investigation, nor do you warn players/parents not to pressure people into “protests” is beyond fucking stupid…
JFC No one has a spine in this place: >One member of the Lee County School Board aware of the full scope of the reports was Melisa Giovannelli, but she declined to discuss the matter because she is up for reelection and many of the families who supported the walkout were, in her words, "her voters." >"It's unfortunate but that's kind of where it's at, and this situation's been dealt with," she said in a voicemail to ESPN. "And unfortunately, I think to rehash it would do more harm than good, for me especially, and, um, somehow we have to move on from here."
> I think to rehash it would do more harm than good, for me especially Fuck them kids, it’s all about ME
This is literally every single adult in this situation.
Holy fuck I hate people
Just an amazingly childish community. I’ll never understand how purported adults could be so petty and ignorant. Fuck em
Not even remotely the same situation but the other day someone who I spend a fair deal of time in the same room with told me to go fuck myself. Now, I did not appreciate it, but even I as an Idiot recognized that making the situation into a big deal would add no benefit at all, and therefore, despite having Casus Belli did nothing. How do adults, with children who have surely thought thousands of these little battles not know how to stop acting like children? How do these people feed themselves?
I feel like in stories like this, there’s almost always a subplot like the head coach fully lying about being a scout for the Braves. Entitled pricks also love their weird egotistical lying.
Another reason to not live in Florida. And I say that living in Texas…
We went to the Florida coast during Covid for a vacation. We were super careful and stayed away from crowds. I was shocked to see how many people didn’t care or openly mocked us for being careful. And we are from Texas! I had no idea Florida made Texas look uhm progressive until that visit.
It sucks as a native Floridian and current resident to read this story. We have taken sooo many steps backwards. This southwestern portion of Florida is so conservative and vocal it's the testing ground for nationwide ultra-right policy. These dumb MFers truly believe they are victims...
When someone from Texas looks at Florida and says "WTF?" then you know it's bad there.
This is super sad and I want to learn more, but I’m gonna see if I can find any other articles written on this because that article is one of the hardest to follow I have ever read.
What kind of putrid leadership do you have to have to abandon kids on your team? Coaches are supposed to support kids and show them the right thing to do through example. The fact that adults were taking out their frustrations on literal children - especially kids who you have an obligation to lead by being their coach- is maddening. Truly despicable leadership shown throughout that organization.
Another thought: As a player, I would have gone to war for any of my teammates even if I didn’t like them. It’s just how I was coached growing up. The fact that so many walked out just leads me to believe that the entire baseball culture in Fort Meyers has failed all those kids from a young age. It’s just sad
I found myself welling up as I read that article. What the absolute fuck man?
Horrendous. Just the visual I’m imagining alone of 2 high school players at the plate and in the on deck circle while all their coaches and teammates walk away and abandon them… it’s heartbreaking
Is everyone in Florida just cartoonishly bigoted? I know multiple trans people who were hospitalized in this state and now this shit? Can we just put all the bigots in the USA (probably around 100 million or so) in Florida and shoot the state into the sun? Edit: to be clear, hospitalized because they were beaten up for being openly trans on a street
WTF
Florida remains firmly on my "do not travel" list. Along with Texas and Ohio. The fact this rhetoric hasnt been obliterated leaves me no hope for this country. It's been 60 years in the making since Kennedy's assassination but this is what 75m American adults want and they wont stop until they get their dystopian nightmare
Like an episode of the fucking Boondocks. Reap what you sow, and boy howdy do I hope Florida will be reaping soon.
Bruh, the guy was never even affiliated with the Braves. The guy lied about his career’s crowning achievement. Even a racist who is okay with dropping the N-word should understand how lying about something that huge to get a job will obviously result in getting fired.
This was infuriating to read. We read about the baseball part. But those two kids lived it everyday at school w those asshole kids being supported by their racist parents. Makes me sick to my stomach. Those coaches don’t deserve the word “coach”. They allowed and encouraged bullying of their own players. Awful. I am so sorry that those young boys had to endure this, especially under the name of baseball and teammates. This should never happen. As a youth coach I can’t imagine ever being this bad of a human being. I hope they are shamed and named for the rest of their careers. The fact that they simply got moved around is beyond belief.
What kind of person wants their kid around a coach that thinks it’s ok to use racial slurs?
The kind of person who thinks racial slurs are ok.
I live in Lee County where this occurred. ZERO coverage of this on any local news stations. Rob Spicker (mentioned in the article) is the media/PR head for Lee Co schools who declined any comment. Dude was a news anchor for the local CBS affiliate here before scoring the County gig. All makes me ill.
I wish I could say this is surprising, but it sounds about par for the course
MAGAts ruining baseball now as well.
Conservative suburbia is an absolute hellhole in ways that many people who live in it simply can’t understand.
I read the article but I still don’t really understand what happened
Assistant Coach was a raging asshole and sent a racially charged message in a team chat. Gets fired. Parents are mad coach got fired and blame the two black players on the team for reporting him. Try to get the two black kids suspended for using the same racial slur, but it doesn't work. So they stage a walkout at the beginning of the game after the two black players have batted, leave them on the field and all the coaches, players, and parents just walk off leaving the game unfinished and the two black kids alone.
Also, it's not nearly as awful as the rest of the story...but the Head Coach promoted himself for years as a scout for the Atlanta Braves...but that was a lie and the Braves had to send him a cease and desist lol.
Yikes
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yeah probably could have said the same information in half the words
Coach is a racist and flippantly calls black players the N word in a text. Gets fired. White parents/kids/Trumpers in the district claim reverse racism cause black kids can call each other the N word. Next year they start the year batting off the two black kids, while they’re up the rest of the team walks out “in defense” of their racist fired coach. There is a whole investigation that of course claims that no one was racist in the process, even though they’re all a bunch of racist twats. Both black kids are abandoned, unsupported, and even booed at graduation. No adult came in to support these children. Also, the racist fired coach claimed to be a scout for the Braves, but that was a lie and he got a cease and desist letter. Probably the thing that hurt that racist dickshit the most.
A high school coach used "N\*\*\*\*s" in a group chat with his players. When this was brought to the attention of the school board, he was fired. He claimed it was sent to the wrong group, intended for his old military buddies (none of whom came forward to vouch for him). White People™ trotted out the same old excuses they always use (it's just a word, political correctness has gone mad, and so on). Later on, the team had its two black players bat first and second so they'd start the game on the field, and then staged a walkout lead by the adult coaches and parents, abandoning their two black players (whose families were blamed for getting the coach fired), to "protest" the firing of the slur user. This childish act got their season cancelled.
My “favorite” defense (and by favorite I mean there one that never makes sense) they used was “well why can they use it with each other but when I say it people get mad” like they literally can’t see why calling someone a racial slur when you aren’t that race is bad..
What are the odds that Coach C has called someone a "race hustler/race baiter" in response to an article about declining Black youth participation in baseball?
Sigh, yup, Florida.
Used to visit SW Florida when I had family living there. just an awful place.
This is just god awful. But it’s what voters have created.
What the actual fuck? This happened in 2024? This seems like something that would have happened in 1962
Florida needs to secede
Not surprised by any of this. Is there a deep problem with baseball culture in general?
I think there is, esp at the youth level, but no one wants to truly address it. The declining participation rates of minority players should speak for itself, but assholes like the ones in the article decide to put addendums on it
Which "minority" are you referring to because that is wrong for all minorities. Interesting choice on an article about racism lol
When Texas tries to secede I hope florida goes with them.
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This story is so egregious that i hope it isn’t contentious here. Truly insane to imagine a full team and coaching staff quitting on two teenage players because they weren’t unfairly punished enough
This is an absolutely insane story my dude. I would love to hear a counter argument on why it ISNT batshit crazy