| | Jai Taurima is a disgr ... no, let's try again.
|  | | Jai Taurima has apologized for his comments. |
Jai Taurima's ignorance is of such depth that ... nope, nope, one more
time.
Jai Taurima ... oh, for God's sake. Who the hell cares about Jai
Taurima?
Here's a starter. You don't, not unless you are so deeply into track and
field that you can identify him easily as an Australian long jumper.
But when he dismissed the "dark" (his words) long jumpers as being
unsuited to the cool conditions at the Sydney Olympics, well, you had to grab
a staple gun to keep your eyelids propped up.
In fact, here is what the previously and still largely unknown Taurima
said:
"You can pretty much knock off all the dark athletes. We jumped in
Salamanca, Spain, a month ago, and those guys just couldn't compete well in
bad conditions. It was wet and cold."
And:
"Americans are Americans, aren't they? They only jump big in America.
Those three guys are a bunch of dribblers. That's all I'm saying. I'm more
scared of the two Ukraine and two Russian guys."
Now, if you're outraged, go stand in that short line over there.
Apparently everyone else is punched out after months on the John Rocker
jubilee train.
Oh, it isn't as though nobody noticed. Two American long jumpers,
Savante Stringfellow and Melvin Lister, were unhappy about Taurima's remarks,
likening them to Rocker's expostulations from last November.
(And no, you keep your e-mails in your pocket; this isn't going to be
Rocker Redux).
Mostly, though, the reaction has been muted. Well, not muted so much as
nonexistent. This leads us to conclude that it isn't the remark so much as
the remarker.
Jai Taurima is an Australian, and though it is reasonable to assume that
he has been exposed to his share of the aboriginal population of the grand
island, his remarks still make you think, as in: "Why would this guy say
what he said the way he said it?"
On the other hand, that assumes only that you've read this far. You may
be like most Americans and decide that, since it is an Australian, since it
is a long jumper, since it is a guy named Jai Taurima, and since we're not
going to pay attention the Olympics until they start throwing gymnasts and
synchronized swimmers onto our TV sets, you just don't care.
Now John Rocker, you cared. No matter what side of the debate you were
on (First Amendment rights vs. First Amendment rights), you were in the
debate. He was front page news for the longest while, all but stalked by
media goblins waiting for him to bust a move that would get him back in the
soup.
Then again, he was a baseball player, and a relatively noteworthy one at
that. Plus, he was talking about New York's rich diverse heritage, and
nothing can get a New Yorker to rear up on his or her hind legs quite like
someone with a Southern accent airing out the joint.
Thus, his remarks got full circulation. Jai Taurima rests quietly,
comfortably on Page Two, above the tire ads and right below the MLS
roundup.
There may be outrage in Australia, of course. We certainly wouldn't want
to accuse the Australians of not caring just because we haven't taken the
time to see if in fact they care, but here, it just doesn't move any
needles.
For one, it isn't track and field's time to slap us out of our torpor
yet. We want our track in short, specific doses -- 18 days, then gone for
206 weeks. We're staggeringly lazy that way.
For two, we've done this already, and unlike our ancestors, we don't
like to fight the fight twice. We're good for one loud outrage, and then we
rest. We're not really in fighting shape any more, either because of
affluence, disinterest, age or self-absorption.
There was a time, after all, when this would have been a cause celebre.
Eight months ago, in fact.
But Jai Taurima doesn't sprint to the mound like a wolverine after a bad
tandoori chicken. He isn't on an American super station four days a week. He
isn't the best long jumper in the world, or even in the argument.
So we slide on, untroubled, because Jai Taurima is less than just
another guy. He's a foreign guy, and as such may not be as "enlightened" as
the rest of us. We wouldn't recognize him anywhere except on TV with an
identifying caption at the bottom of the screen. It's not cool, what he said,
but we've decided not to let it bother us.
You may decide what you want to do about that, but it is something to
remember -- outrages come in all shapes and sizes, and
in a world that relies on fame to settle all disputes, it is good to know it
works even in the world of pointed invective. We wouldn't want it to get
around that we view everyone's dubious acts the same.
Ray Ratto, a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
AOC president apologizes to U.S. team for racial slurs
Aussie apologizes, but U.S. jumpers still miffed over remarks
Ratto: Let the Games begin
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