The general consensus regarding former Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice has been that he deserved to be fired. Many who saw the clips of Rice chucking basketballs at players’ heads and screaming gay slurs at them feel that he should never be allowed to coach college basketball again. Then there are people like Chipper Jones.
The former Atlanta Braves star took to Twitter on Wednesday to basically defend Rice, saying that he dealt with some rough treatment from coaches growing up and that it is not a big deal.
I got cursed at and called names by a ton of people growing up. Were they fired? Nope! Do I care? Nope! What’s the big deal? Toughen up!
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 3, 2013
Yeah, been hit w/ bball equipment on purpose, been dragged around a football field by my facemask and ran suicides til I puked! I ain’t mad.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 3, 2013
We know at least one ex-Rutgers player has a similar opinion to Chipper’s, although he didn’t express it quite as bluntly.
Aware that his comments were taken negatively by most people, the former NL MVP elaborated Thursday:
Apparently mine and some people’s views of what verbal and physical abuse is, differs. That’s ur right. This is my twitter account.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 4, 2013
If u don’t like my opinion, don’t follow. I never said Rice shouldn’t have been fired. That’s up to Rutgers. Only happened bcuz of espn.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 4, 2013
If u don’t like my opinion, don’t follow. I never said Rice shouldn’t have been fired. That’s up to Rutgers. Only happened bcuz of espn.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 4, 2013
I guess not everyone is as hyper-sensitive as some of you out there. Some of u can’t be called names or pushed out of frustration.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 4, 2013
To each, his own. Some people brush it off and move forward, some can’t. What coach Rice did was not right, but it happens all the time.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 4, 2013
If some of u thought my tweets were insensitive, I’m sorry u feel that way. I was brought up differently in the ways to be motivated.
— Chipper Jones (@RealCJ10) April 4, 2013
There’s a difference between being a hard-nosed coach and crossing the line. What Rice did completely crosses the line, in my opinion. He gave a choked-up apology after his firing, but that is hardly enough. Anger management classes are probably in order.
