Was There a Higher Road for Rutgers?

Like many, I have been watching the controversy over the nasty comments made by radio talk show host Don Imus about the Rutgers womens basketball team with a mix of disgust and mild curiosity. One of the most successful media personalities of all time, Imus made comments that demeaned the women of the basketball team. This was done in the context of his show, which is a mix of current event reporting and satire. Imus has since lost his positions on both the radio and television talk shows he has been doing for more than thirty years. Many reporters have complimented the Rutgers team and coaches for taking the high ground in their response. Perhaps, but I wonder if there wasn't even higher ground that might have been taken that may have resulted in a different outcome.

First of all, let's shed no tears for Imus. He has made disparaging remarks about people of all colors, religions, sizes, hair color, and any other population segment you can imagine. He has been called an equal opportunity insulter, and I would agree. My guess is that to separate his show from the more mainstream and politically correct shows, he became a 'shock jock' and some segment of the listening audience enjoyed this. For me, I would usually tire of his digs at people after about fifteen minutes and change the channel, but that is not the point. Plato said; "Wise men talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something." Radio people have to say something. Imus chose to belittle people as part of his public persona. With this comment he went too far and the listening public reacted so negatively that sponsors left and the stations removed him form the air.

The Rutgers basketball team had a terrific post-season, winning the Big East Tournament, and making it to the final game against Tennessee. They came in second place in the nation's tournament out of sixty-four teams that were invited, or earned their way into the fray. I watched several games that they were in and was truly impressed by their tenacious spirit and relentless defense. I am sure that they are, and they should be, very proud of this great accomplishment.

Then the Imus comment came along. Their response was to publicly acknowledge the words and to comment on how hurtful they were, and to say how much this takes the focus off their accomplishments. "Our moment here was taken away, our moment to celebrate our success," said Heather Zurich, a sophomore forward.

What if they had responded differently? What if they had used the response our mothers taught us in junior high school..."sticks and stone may break our bones, but the words of a big, dumb, white jerk can never hurt us" and then went on with their celebration? OK, I added some words for effect, but it seems to me that it was the Rutgers team that turned the focus off the basketball talk and to the radio talk.

What if C. Vivian Stringer, the terrific head coach of the team, had used this opportunity to praise each of her players and make the media doubly aware of their many accomplishments on the basketball court, in the classroom, and in the community? If we look hard, information on these young women is available and they are wonderful citizens who care deeply about themselves and the world they live in. She could have overwhelmed the shock jock's four words with positive praise of the team that would have made Imus look like a bigger idiot than what he managed to do all by himself.

In his book Positive Words, Powerful Results, Hal Urban discusses a concept he learned from motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar: "We can change TV channels and radio stations, we can close offensive reading materials, we can avoid, at least to some extent, being around people who drag us down with their glum conversation. In other words, we can eliminate a lot of the negative input". We can also control how we respond when someone is negative and even insulting.

In no way do I want to appear critical of the Rutgers response. I was not in their shoes and cannot really imagine what they were feeling. Neither do I want to give Imus a pass on what he said. He has done many good and charitable things in his life, but his constant put downs of good people has consistently crossed the line of bad humor. I just wanted to offer a thought on a different response which may have allowed Rutgers to rejoice more in their fantastic accomplishments and to keep the focus on the positive efforts of those involved with their program.