Agreed. Some in the USA like to point to certain countries in Europe as having superior "socialized" offerings like government funded healthcare, higher education and retirement. However, as you state @fordranger797, there are tradeoffs. In some of those countries, taxes can be very high and there are other fees citizens sometimes pay which may not be commonplace here in America. There are also requirements in some of those countries that everyone must serve a certain amount of time in the military at a certain age, etc.
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Glen Kuiper suspended from broadcasting A's games after on-air racial slur
- Thread starter radiofan2023
- Start date
That’s correct. I hear from many people that they desire a more “European” approach in America. Europe does some things very well, but that’s not to say that our society is bad.
I moved to Canada to complete a masters degree. I’ll never regret getting an advanced degree, but I would probably regret never coming back home. I will never be able to afford any house in Canada. When the most basic houses in metropolitan areas (where jobs are located) cost well over 1 million dollars to own. You’d be surprised to hear that a lot of my new friends wish it were easier to come to the US where they could have a better shot at home ownership and find a doctor. San Francisco is insanely expensive, but at least it comes with a wide array of well paying jobs if you can get in.
If nothing else, this experience taught me to really appreciate what we do well in America. We have room to improve, but we are.. dare I say… lucky.
As most know, I have lived in a variety of countries, worked in even more, and spent time in the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico. After many years, I decided that I'd rather return "home" where there was greater security and "rule of law" that I was starting to miss after going through too many changes of government, revolutions, and even attempts on my life.
(My bio... David Gleason's illustrated biography resume and history covering 64 years in radio )
I'm particularly offended by those who think our system is totally wrong and inherently defective. No democracy is perfect because, by definition, it is the distilled product of millions of varied and different opinions and nobody will ever be in 100% agreement with 100% of its actions.
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I see you're a new participant, Welcome!
This is par for the course on this board. Someone says something that could stand clarification, and rabbit holes start multiplying faster than the rabbits themselves. If you start from post one and read in order, you can see the chain reaction crash as it happens.
We were doing pretty well until post #11.
Not that new, as I've been around for more than a decade, but I don't post that often. I'm a small business owner in your market, Sac, and I've used radio quite often for my business (including with your former employer, iHeart), both over the air as well as digital.
I've always been a radio nerd (going on 40 years now), and I truly appreciate yours, and some of the other pros', opinions on the industry, its past and its future. I've also read your auto reviews, and they're excellent. I've recently noticed that several of the topics have almost immediately delved into politics, but I'd rather hear your opinion (and others') on radio rather than on politics.
Glen Kuiper's firing was not solely about politics; it had as much to do with the sheer turmoil that the A's currently find themselves in on and off the field, as they are shedding ties with previous franchise glory in preparation for this presumed move to Las Vegas. The A's, through NBC Sports California, probably looked at this incident as a convenient way to dump his salary for someone they weren't planning to bring to Vegas anyway.
See, no politics in my answer
Nicely done and thanks for the kind words about my posts and my auto reviews!Not that new, as I've been around for more than a decade, but I don't post that often. I'm a small business owner in your market, Sac, and I've used radio quite often for my business (including with your former employer, iHeart), both over the air as well as digital.
I've always been a radio nerd (going on 40 years now), and I truly appreciate yours, and some of the other pros', opinions on the industry, its past and its future. I've also read your auto reviews, and they're excellent. I've recently noticed that several of the topics have almost immediately delved into politics, but I'd rather hear your opinion (and others') on radio rather than on politics.
Glen Kuiper's firing was not solely about politics; it had as much to do with the sheer turmoil that the A's currently find themselves in on and off the field, as they are shedding ties with previous franchise glory in preparation for this presumed move to Las Vegas. The A's, through NBC Sports California, probably looked at this incident as a convenient way to dump his salary for someone they weren't planning to bring to Vegas anyway.
See, no politics in my answer
This is a very complex subject that I am unaware if I am able to delve into here, as a mod has tried to steer the conversation back onto a relevancy path, but I will say many European health care systems do not share the issues that the Canadian one does, and additionally there is a lot of complexity in the economics of comparing the cost to the citizen. I don’t think it’s fair to say that taxes are higher means living costs are always higher - there is simply a lot that goes into those economics.
Back on the subject if Kuiper, it was a truly concerning and bizarre slip that is absolutely difficult to understand how it happened, but firing someone with no background of racist behaviors or ideals seems a tad harsh. Racism is typically obvious, even when it is passive or unintentional. The way those with biases against people of color speak on these subjects is clear and obvious, if Kuiper was under investigation these would have come up and I can only hope that he was not fired with nothing turning up but his on-air slip.
The news has come out in recent hours that the Athletics organization is intent on moving to somewhere other than Oakland, whether or not Las Vegas approves the plan for a stadium on/near the Strip. Portland, among other markets, has also expressed an interest in being their new host city. Given that news, I'd guess that the A's saw Mr. Kuiper's slip-of-the-tongue, however innocent of bad intent, as an excuse to axe him and avoid a severance package. Opportunism of the most crass sort. But with that ownership, not unbelievable.
The A's seem to be as bad at negotiating as they are at baseball. Just foreclosing Oakland as an option, when it's very obvious that powerful interests in Oakland still want to keep humping that tree, should make Las Vegas and Nevada think, "hmmm, maybe we don't have to give them so much - or any - cash and incentives after all." In Oakland, it's labor unions that have been keeping various proposals afloat - city government is dominated by public employee unions who view this as a matter of solidarity with the construction trades, concession employees, etc. The general public in Oakland, in my opinion, is apathetic about the matter.
Portland (presuming Oregon) as an option? That would take years to develop, and, given Portland's politics, would likely be quite controversial. For any community, what's happened with the Oakland sports franchises should be a cautionary tale as well. Prostitutes display higher levels of commitment than sports-team owners.
My first thought, honestly, was that it was a slip, and the kind of slip that I'm personally familiar with -- in which you are in a conversation and conscious that you'll be using an innocuous word or phrase that could easily turn into a word or phrase that could kill your reputation and career. "Negro," of course, is one of those innocuous words. So Kuiper starts talking about the Negro Leagues Hall of Fame but in the back of his mind is a reminder: "Don't say n-----!" And, sure enough, the wrong word comes out.
No one would likely believe that, but I would because I said something that, while it didn't cost me my job, was extremely embarrassing. I was chatting with a new employee at my newspaper, female, who shared my interest in horse racing. I mentioned a certain horse owner who liked to give his horses names that were double entendres or would force track announcers into a shocking slip of the tongue. One of those horses was a filly devilishly named Cunning Stunt. It should be obvious what the owner wanted to hear some poor announcer say some day! It was obvious to me, too, and that's what came out of my mouth! I turned several shades of red, she turned several shades of white. I immediately corrected myself and, thankfully, that's where it ended. She apparently understood that I wasn't intending to shock her, and neither of us ever mentioned it again. This was around 1990. If that were to happen today, I doubt I'd have lasted in my job for even one day afterward.
CT -- I'm assuming your mistake was not broadcast over the air. I agree that it's possible that Kuiper stumbled over the pronunciation. It also may be that the investigation turned up some past statements with colleagues that led to his termination. They haven't shared any more details. In previous posts, I noted that Rush Limbaugh was allowed to spew vitriol with impunity. Right and wrong are a distant second to money...
Correct. it happened in a newspaper newsroom.
If the fans in Oakland are apathetic, it's because A's ownership has alienated even the diehards. This once proud franchise is now an embarrassment. You're right that owners will always bluff about better offers from other sites. They want to squeeze out every dollar they can.
Las Vegas may get the A's. If so, they will have gone from zero pro teams to 3 in just a few years (Raiders, Golden Knights). Vegas was hurt bad in the 2008 housing crash. It's possible that the market cannot support 3 teams when times are tough...
The A's never drew all that well, either in the Finley years (1970s) or the Haas years (2000s). Finley was despised, Haas celebrated. It didn't matter. In boom times, teams like the '90s Indians (yeah, I know, that's what they were called then) sold out the park every night. So did the Red Sox for most seasons since 2004. The A's always had plenty of empty seats, especially on weeknights.
Keep in mind, the A's had to share the Oakland Coliseum with the Raiders. Al Davis had the stadium redesigned and ruined it for Baseball. Fenway Park is a tourist destination.
The Giants played in dismal Candlestick Park for many years. I went to a late June night game there when the temperature was 37 degrees.!
The A's had decent attendance. Look at Tampa this year. They have a great team and very small crowds...
I'm not comparing the A's and Rays. The Rays are an anomaly in their inability to draw even with a very good team. I'm comparing the A's with the teams I mentioned. If you want year-on-year, take the 2002 (the "Moneyball" year) and 2003 seasons in the Bay Area for the A's at the Coliseum and the Giants at Pac Bell: A's around 25,000 a game, Giants around 40,000. And this was pre-Mount Davis, when the A's had many more seats available.
In Las Vegas, a huge percentage of pro sports tickets are sold to the casinos as comps to the high rollers. That's why so many pro boxing events take place there
”Mount Davis” was built in 1996.
The A’s routinely outdrew the Giants in the 80s, with A’s attendance peaking in 1990 at about 2.9 million after the ‘89 World Series victory.
It’s a little unfair to compare the teams’ early 2000s attendance, as the Giants had Bonds and the new stadium as draws.
As an A’s fan, I can unequivocally say their attendance problems are owner-driven. John Fisher‘s failure to invest either in players or the existing stadium have turned off thousands of fans. I would never expect the Coliseum to outdraw Oracle, but I do know A’s fans will show up when there’s a good reason to attend: I went to the 2019 Wild Card game against the Rays, and the place was sold out. It was very exciting to see, even if the A’s played terrible that night.
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