GUEST COLUMN

Women’s basketball team at Rutgers deserved better.

By: Kyle Pucciarello
   Racist. Shocking. Despicable. Sexist. Offensive.
   These are just some of the words that have been used to describe the comments made on Don Imus’ "Imus in the Morning" program on April 4.
   During his broadcast that morning Mr. Imus mentioned that he watched the women’s NCAA championship game between Rutgers and Tennessee. Mr. Imus said that Rutgers were "some rough girls." Co-host Bernard McGuirk added they were "some hardcore hos." After a chuckle, Imus continued on to say, "That’s some nappy-headed hos there."
   Later in the broadcast, fellow WFAN broadcaster Sid Rosenberg said, "It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors."
   Astonishing. Cruel. Derogatory. Appalling. Hateful.
   While these words accurately paint the picture of what happened on Mr. Imus’ program, they fail to describe the damages inflicted upon Rutgers’ women’s basketball team, its coach, and its student body.
   During the championship game April 3, Rutgers’ Red Lion Café was filled with supportive students watching the game and rooting for their team. The excitement for the event was exceeded only by Rutgers’ other nationally ranked team – the Texas Bowl champion football squad.
   Even as it became apparent Rutgers would not be able to defeat the stronger Tennessee team, the students crammed into the café remained proud; after the game, the students (myself included) gave the team a well deserved standing ovation.
   But the ovation was silenced by Mr. Imus’ hurtful comments.
   While a pep rally on April 4 for the brilliant squad brought out even more supportive Rutgers’ fans, something just wasn’t right. The story was no longer about these impressive girls and their exemplary head coach. It was about Don Imus.
   Not 24-hours had passed since the Rutgers’ ladies reached the national championship game for the first time ever (their previous best a Final Four appearance in 2000) and the air was already deflated from their celebration balloons.
   Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick said it best in a statement to the students: "Our student-athletes and their coach deserved to feel immensely proud of what they had just accomplished, but they had that moment stolen away by the racist, sexist remarks of radio personality Don Imus and his colleagues."
   The moment was, indeed, stolen away from the girls on the squad. Normally a sports team has an entire off-season to appreciate a championship appearance, and look forward to the opportunity to hoist the championship trophy the next season.
   Rutgers didn’t even have a full day.
   Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer echoed these sentiments with a statement on www.rutgers.edu: "It is unfortunate Mr. Imus sought to tarnish Rutgers’ spirit and success. Should we not, as adults, send a message of encouragement to young people to aspire to the highest levels as my team did this season?"
   And that’s exactly what the story should have been.
   The Rutgers’ women became the lowest seeded team to make it to the national championship game. After a strong season, Rutgers played incredibly well throughout the tournament, upsetting Duke and Arizona State en route to their first ever championship bid. Perhaps most impressively, they did it without a single senior on their squad.
   Unfortunately, as Coach Stringer hinted, Mr. Imus was unable to conduct himself as an intelligent adult.
   Mr. Imus has been fired as he should have been — not only for this but for his past aggressions as well. Mr. Imus is on record as calling esteemed African-American journalist Gwen Ifill a "cleaning lady," labeling New York Times’ sports reporter Bill Rhoden a "quota hire," and casting Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz as no more than a "boner-nosed beanie-wearing Jew boy."
   Most egregious, however, was when Imus admitted off-camera during a 60 Minutes interview in 1998 that he hired co-host Bernard McGuirk to do "nigger jokes."
   Mr. Imus said on his show April 9 that he was a "good person" who made a bad mistake.
   Good people don’t say what Mr. Imus and his colleagues said on the morning of April 4.
   Good people, like Coach Stringer and the Rutgers’ student body, honor the auspicious season that the Scarlet Knights had this year.
   Let’s remember this team as one that triumphed for an entire season, not as one that was unfairly thrown in the midst of controversy.
   They deserve better.
Kyle Pucciarello is a Hillsborough resident and a senior at Rutgers.