Hearne: Kareem Hunt & the Ugly Underside of Sports

It’s come to this…

So desperate are Chiefs fans to get their unadulterated, win-at-any-cost fix that anything goes – no exceptions.

Remind you of anything?

Like when what seems a lifetime ago Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis muttered his infamous, “Just win, baby,” Chiefs fans shuddered at the crassness of it.

That’s because many of us grew up – however naively – giving lip service to the phrase, it’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game.

Deep down, we knew better.

But it was a “the thought that counts” kinda thing whereby sports fans could take solace in the year-after-year influenza of most of our sports heroes biting the dust.

No mas…

Davis’s mantra is now ingrained in our dog-eat-dog, zero sum sports mindset.

If you’re not a winner, you’re a loser, and if our “heroes” don’t win, they suck. And woe be to the owner,  coach or athletic director who allows that happen – off with their heads!

Which is clearly the case re Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and the firing of sleaze bag, star running back Kareem Hunt.

What Kareem did to a 19 year-old girl (okay, woman – I have twin daughters pretty close to that age) was beyond-the-pale wrong in every imaginable way. Plus he lied about it to the Chiefs (and to police) which took it to the next level.

And yet, despite video evidence of Hunt’s wrong doing, the preponderance of Chiefs and football fans angst in weighing in on 610 Sports and online on Fox News website was directed at chastising the Chiefs owner and team for needlessly hurting the team’s playoff prospects by taking the high road and doing the right thing.

Case in point…

“Everyone had too much to drink, this is no big deal,” wrote GrillerOn463, on Fox News. “Enough with the #meetoo hysteria. Case closed.”

Classy, right?

“He was fending her off,” added ObamaTheTwink. “She was being annoying.”

“Worth a six game suspension max,” wrote VCUBengal. “Mixon got drafted in the second round and there is a video of him knocking a girl out.”

“That sounds fair,” ObamaThe Twink, fired back.

“I mean, not really,” VCUBengal responded. “He’s half as talented, still has a job, and straight up knocked a girl out.

And those are some of the more even-handed comments.

“Her fault,” william985 postited.

“White girl, so yes…naturally just for getting involved with him,” added Uncle_Buck.

“She forgot to bring a bag of Hot Cheetos,” Howbigofme wrote.

“And some pigs feet,”#metoo-is-now-#FakeRape, quipped.

One embittered caller to 610 Sports right after the station broke the news about the Chiefs cutting Hunt, launched into a tirade about what a silver spoon loser Chiefs owner Clark Hunt was for overreacting to his star running back’s forgivable behavior.

“Hey, Clark Hunt did what he had to do,” says Chiefs die hard Bill Nigro. “To do otherwise would have been a media nightmare for him.”

The bottom line:

“Fans are often the culprits behind some of the most ugly moments in sports…” writes Bleacher Report. “There’s no question that the worst of humanity is represented in the comment section of basically anything written on the web. The notion of expressing a difference of opinion with a thoughtful letter to the editor is dying along with the rest of the print media industry.”

In fact, the “vast majority” of fan fomentations falls into one of the following categories:

    1. Psychotically angry
    2. Delusional
    3. Mean as hell
    4. Trying to be clever, but failing
    5. Completely off topic

Too bad there’s no Scribe to make sense of it and provide a litany of excuses for Kareem.

We do however still have the ghost of former Kansas City Star sports scribe Jason Whitlock to…errr…guide us, I guess.

“Women have zero accountability in our society but they have all the rights,” tweeted one of the columnist-formerly-known-as “Big Sexy’s” followers. “A woman can whip a man’s ass in public and at most, people will laugh. But, at the same time, we are supposed to be ‘equal’. This is a real problem.”

Au contraire, Whitlock tweeted:

“Provocation is not justification. Men have a responsibility to protect and respect women regardless of the situation.”

Except maybe under the most dire circumstances, quipped another Whitlockian:

“For example, when a woman cuts in front of Jason at the cafeteria line, he considers it supreme provocation justifying a physical beat-down — but then he remembers that she could probably kick his lard ass and he does nothing.”

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10 Responses to Hearne: Kareem Hunt & the Ugly Underside of Sports

  1. Jim a.k.a. BWH says:

    You’re basing your “it’s the fans’ fault” opinion piece based upon the wanna-be jock sniffers that call into sports talk shows? This was a complete failure on the part of the Cleveland PD, the NFL, Hunt & Chiefs organization. Had a thorough and COMPLETE investigation been done at the time of the incident, Hunt might have been able to do a mea culpa, been suspended for a large number of games and possibly remain a Chief. Possibly. All parties involved decided to ACT like an investigation was done so that they could claim innocence if/when the whole incident blew up in their faces.

    Not one damn bit of this was a “fan” decision. If there are some fringe idiots that want to try and defend or justify Hunt’s actions, that’s on them.

    As the saying goes, “It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up”.

    Hunt screwed up in the most egregious way possible. He pissed away millions of dollars in a drunken rage and repeatedly struck a young woman. Makes you wonder how a person could be that unbelievably stupid.

    As a Chiefs fan, I root for the uniform. I don’t idolize athletes. I don’t give a crap about their politics. I don’t care about their religion. Be a decent human being. That’s it. Hunt is gone. Next man up.

    • admin says:

      Good one, Jim…

      Not sure if I agree with it not being the crime but rather the cover-up.

      Had Hunt been beyond belief truthful, he would have faced a major beatdown by the Chiefs and the NFL….maybe, he could have survived.

  2. Guy Who Says What Others Think says:

    Hunt has GOT to be smarter than that. He’s got everything to lose, the drunken skank has NOTHING to lose. As evidenced by her hitting him first…at least that’s what we see on camera. Regardless, Hunt should’ve walked the other way AND QUICKLY. She baited him and the dumbass swallowed it like a starving catfish on grandpa’s stinkbait.

    • admin says:

      That’s a rather narrow view of things, Guy…

      Because – somewhat obviously – none of us at this point know what lead up to that short video snippet.

      Did Hunt try and get her – as “reported” to sleep with one of his posse?

      At this point, it’s a moot point though probably.

      Because it’s starting to look like he’s a major scumbag apart from the hitting and kicking incident that lead this all off.

  3. Richard Cranium says:

    For a person so hell bent on disliking sports, sports figures, sporting events, and sports fans, you really do seem to write a lot regarding it. If you don’t like the channel, change it. If you don’t like sports, don’t pay attention to them.

  4. Kerouac says:

    Today’s episode ‘As the Chiefs Turn’, we consider possibility aberration: ‘principle’ in lieu convenience, exposé instead cover. Presumption based facts understood present: Clark Hunt deserves credit making the right decision, and in the course said example of Kareem Hunt.

    Scruples, anyone? Refreshing a sports world too often turns a blind eye anything not written upon linen & cotton stock green per$au$ion – ‘just win baby’ the NFL model, their Han van Meegeren end justifies mean$ tack. ‘Presuming’ video as truth unseen and unknown by employer at the time, employee’s reported aft the fact admission he had been less than forthcoming. If true, a small but not insignificant salute to quaint, that archaic item integrity (too bad such sentiment does not also include the modern rules and stats former sport known pro football, before it morphed into money ball.)
    ____________

    As we enjoy ‘this is our year’s inevitable swiss chiefs conclusion, take solace knowing Peters was excised last year, Hunt this one which makes for an nice start paring KC’s ‘it’s all about me’ player tree… alas, further trimming is still needed.

    Others remain KC’s roster busy themselves celebration self: gimmick/gadget guy #10, human toast #20 and kelce the klown #87, among them. These need to be ‘tomahawk chopped’ off the roster – traded, sold or cut to help restore professionalism and regain control an undesirable element, on the field at minimum. For too long Chiefs football has been more ‘look at me everybody’ ‘I’ndividuals me than ‘team’ we:

    ‘Hey – watch me do my thang off the field and spasm about on it! Look at me act the fool, beatin my chest and gums (and anyone else cramps my style), flappin my arms, gyratin ’round the throes gran mal seizure – ain’t I cool, dawg!’ No… you’re a fool.
    ____________

    The Hank Stram era saw the most success and greatest player talent franchise history. He didn’t tolerate those put self ahead of team. Those that did, to include the mouthy, showboat and troublemaker types, received a ticket out of town: discipline. He wasn’t always right, but was never wrong in principle. It doesn’t work today? That Lombardi way is passe? How about two-time Superbowl winner current century, Tom Coughlin? Chiefs need a young Coughlin rather an recycled Schottenheimer aka Reid, a glorified also-ran as the Chiefs same, ad nauseam.

    Any correlation – any at all – re: Chiefs players deportment on the field and off, as it pertains football success? For too long now, Chiefs have paid lip service discipline – damage control aft the fact. Distant echoes 1970 rejoinder – coincidence that it has been nearly half a century since Chiefs had a football pulse terms true prestige, the only place it matters, under-filled Lombardi Trophy case theirs?

    Keep dancin & prancin afield, meetin & beatin off; keep waitin for your Superbowl Godot arrive too… now serving part 2018 verse 49.

    😎

  5. Richard Cranium says:

    For someone who doesn’t like sports, sports athletes, sports fans, watching sports, or going to sporting events…..you write an awful lot about sporting interests.

    • admin says:

      Au contraire, Monsieur Cranium…

      I had Chiefs season tickets for like ever until they started gouging a few years back. Ditto for KU football and basketball.

      I probably watch more sports than the vast majority of people walking the earth, but it has grown to take a distant backseat to many other aspects of life as time has marched on.

      Hey, true confession: I even wore one of those goofy, plastic Jayhawk head pieces several years back and flew to Tempe to watch KU play in a bowl game.

      The flip side of which is, I went to Arizona yet never attended with a football or basketball game.

      Now for the money quote…

      As a student of all things KC and Lawrence and pop culture keeping p with area sports teams and personalities has ALWAYS been a priority.

      Capiche?

  6. Shawnster says:

    I could pretend to care about the woman in the video… I don’t really. I just chalk it up to drunken shenanigans. If this had happened in a bar rather than a hotel, both parties would have been kicked out and that would’ve been it. This kind of thing happens almost every weekend in bars everywhere. Let’s get this straight, it wasn’t “domestic violence” despite the rush to call it that. Conversely, I don’t really care about Kareem Hunt either. He doesn’t seem to be real smart and obviously has anger issues. There will be someone to take his place..there always is. Finally, I don’t believe the NFL has a domestic violence problem more or less than any workplace in America. There are good and bad people everywhere. I refuse to to feel guilty for watching football or going to games. I in no way, shape, or form feel bad for rooting for Tyreek Hill either. He has paid for his mistake, and as long as he doesn’t make another, I’ll support him.Sure, I wish we still had Kareem, he was an above average talent who made the team better, but I don’t care that the Chiefs axed him either. Really makes no difference to me.

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