Aussie radio station denigrates Gold medal shooter

B

Bruce in West Oz

New member
We all knew it could happen ... it's just when it actually does happen, the venom beneath the surface still surprises us occasionally.

The station 'jock' is referring to Michael Diamond, who won back-to-back Gold in Trap at Atlanta and now Sydney.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Station: 3AW
Date: 18/09/2000
Program: STEVE PRICE
Time: 04:12 PM
Item: COMPERE CLAIMS THAT SHOOTING SHOULD NOT BE AN OLYMPIC SPORT; HE CRITICISES OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST MICHAEL DIAMOND AND SAYS THAT 'HE
CAN'T CELEBRATE AN OLYMPIC SHOOTING GOLD MEDAL.'.

INTERVIEW WITH GRAHAM CORNS AND KG CUNNINGHAM, SPORTING COMMENTATORS.

STEVE PRICE: Now I know it's not popular to bag Australian sports stars. The calls I get defending Wayne Carey, Greg Norman and Mark Philippoussis, if I ever dare to criticise them, is amazing.

So to question a gold medallist, or the worth of a gold medal during an Olympics is probably suicidal. But I just can't come at shooting being a sport. And to pick up the Daily Telegraph here in Sydney today and see Michael Diamond holding aloft a cocked shotgun is sad.

KG CUNNINGHAM: Oh, Pricey. Hang on, Pricey. That is the most...
STEVE PRICE: Now I don't- -
KG CUNNINGHAM: No. Hang on.
STEVE PRICE: Let me finish.
KG CUNNINGHAM: No, no. You've made a complete and utter idiot of yourself by saying that. That is, that is - -
GRAHAM KORNS: KG, just one sec, he's made a big mistake. The shotgun was- -
KG CUNNINGHAM: Is not cocked anyway. But the fact remains, Pricey...
STEVE PRICE: Same thing.
KG CUNNINGHAM: ...the fact remains that you are denigrating an Olympic --
STEVE PRICE: No, I'm not.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Pricey, you are. You are denigrating an Olympic gold medallist. That was one of the great performances of the Olympic Games
and you've made an utter fool of yourself by opening up, by saying that. That's an absolute disgrace.

STEVE PRICE: Now, as I said, I'll finish. Now I don't know Michael Diamond. I'm sure he's a wonderful bloke and it's not his fault that he's a world champion shooter, but I just can't celebrate a shooting gold medal.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Oh!
STEVE PRICE: How can you compare Michael Diamond to Ian Thorpe, or Cathy Freeman, or Shane Kelly.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Pricey - -
STEVE PRICE: You can't do it.
GRAHAM KORNS: Well, hang on. Is archery a sport?
STEVE PRICE: No, not really.
GRAHAM KORNS: Well, it's in the same vein. I mean, they are ... they're not shooting animals.
STEVE PRICE: He's got a shotgun.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Let's look at this properly. The man has achieved back
to back Olympic gold medals. It's one of the most emotional moments, Pricey, of the Olympic Games and that's what the Olympics are about, are about winning gold, the emotion, the drama.
That ... how you could possibly knock that, or denigrate that is absolutely ridiculous.
STEVE PRICE: It's not his fault.
KG CUNNINGHAM: And you've made an utter fault of yourself.
STEVE PRICE: It's not his fault. It is the fact that it should not be an Olympic sport.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Oh, Pricey, that's the ... oh!
STEVE PRICE: Would you go and watch it?
GRAHAM KORNS: What's your definition of sport?
STEVE PRICE: I think it's got to have...
GRAHAM KORNS: I'm actually leaning a little bit of weight to your- -
STEVE PRICE: ... some cardiovascular involvement, for a start.
GRAHAM KORNS: Well, like archery, shooting is absolutely critical to
the control you have over your body and - -
KG CUNNINGHAM: Fair dinkum!
STEVE PRICE: Graham and...[indistinct] skills.
GRAHAM KORNS: No, not quite.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Oh, Studley, come on, mate!
GRAHAM KORNS: KG, settle down.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Well, I'm ropeable over you, Pricey, that's ridiculous.
GRAHAM KORNS: KG, just settle down.
KG CUNNINGHAM: Well, I can't. You've denigrated a great man, who ...
STEVE PRICE: No, no, I'm not, just - -
KG CUNNINGHAM: He dedicated that medal to his father.
STEVE PRICE: I'm not blaming him.
GRAHAM KORNS: KG, you're embarrassing him, KG.
KG CUNNINGHAM: I'm not embarrassing you, I'm making a point.
GRAHAM KORNS: Sport, I agree, should have some degree of athletic endeavour.
STEVE PRICE: Correct.
GRAHAM KORNS: But given the fact that it is an Olympic sport, whether you agree with it or not, you cannot criticise Michael Diamond's performance, which is absolutely immaculate.
STEVE PRICE: And I haven't.
GRAHAM KORNS: Well, you have. By implying that he's not worth of winning a gold medal.
STEVE PRICE: I said that I personally can't celebrate his gold medal because I don't think sport ... shooting - -
GRAHAM KORNS: Well, you're thereby denigrating, which is unfair.[/quote]

It apparently got a bit heated and they went to a break.

The shotgun, incidentally, was not (of course) "cocked"; it was empty and broken.

The radio station has received "more than a few" phone calls apparently, and the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia intends to contact station advertisers.

B
 
Yeah, and lets declare the balance beam a non-sport, because there are no competitors actually on the floor at the same time as you.

Oh, and the bobsled? There's no skill needed to go down a tube real fast.

Hey hey, how about we make sex an olympic event! I mean, it has two sides to it, and it involves some cardio-vascular challenge.....

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The Alcove

I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
Yes ...we certainly breed them stupid in OZ Bruce!! A 'shock-jock' says what he says to get a response...one day we will ignore them and they will wither away.
Still working on an Aussie TFL after SSAA censorship on our ssaa.org.au webpage over John Laws' second conviction...and he still attacks us as gun-toting criminals...!!!

------------------
If we shooting sportspersons don't hang together... we will all hang separately !
Never knock another's different shooting interest or discipline...REMEMBER we are all but leaves on the same tree of freedom.
 
Well, I am sure pleased that an Australian won those back to back Gold Medals this time around. Perhaps an Englishman will win 7 or 8 and be the world's most ever Gold Medal winner for the next 50 years and really rub them up old Blair's rat-like snout.

[This message has been edited by Herodotus (edited September 19, 2000).]
 
Shooting is much more of a competitive sport than the "style sports" of gymnastics, synchronized swimming, diving, Olympic-style boxing, and the like. Why? Because the performance can be OBJECTIVELY MEASURED! In these other "sports", you have a panel of NON-objective judges setting scores. If they like an athlete, good score. If they don't, bad score. Now, these other sports have superlatively conditioned athletes, but we've all seen travesties of judging, over and over and over. Shooting, weightlifting, running, speed swimming, pole vaulting, etc. qualify as competitive sports in my book because the scoring is objectively measured.

By the way, I'd heard rumors that IPSC-type shooting might be a "demonstration sport" this year. Has anyone heard anything about this?
 
HankB

If you're talking about a demonstration sport at these current Games, the answer's "No"!

IPSC has been dismissed here as a sport "glorifying killing other humans".

Sorry.

B
 
I recently head ballroom dancing will be
an Olympic event at the next "games".

I am not making this up. Ballroom dancing!
 
Bruce,

One wonders how the IOC makes a distinction
between IPSC and, say, the javelin toss,
fencing, boxing, archery, etc.?

By the way. I am enjoying the features about
Australia during the Olympic coverage. That
thirteen year old girl who "flew" into the
stadium then sang appears to have a heck of a
future in entertainment; very talented.

You folks can be proud of what you've done
to present these games to the rest of the
world.

[This message has been edited by Sport (edited September 19, 2000).]
 
It's pretty obvious that these clowns have no knowledge of the origins of the Olympics. All the original "sports" derived from war. Throwing rocks and spears, archery, running toward or away from the enemy...Stuff got stylized, and true, non-warlike "sports" were added through the years.

"Ignorance is curable; stupidity is forever."

:(, Art

PS: I had to do it! Here's my email:

Dear Mr. Sprice,

Are you aware that the Olympic "games" originally derived from skills at war? If you object to shooting, then you should object to archery, the discus and javelin throws and the shot put. Running is obvious. Swimming, possibly, as a means of fording rivers to approach or flee an enemy. The same for skiing.

Personal implements for war are no different, particularly, than personal implements for hunting for food animals. The hunter is merely a "do it yourself" person, as compared to one who hires somebody else to do the killing and butchering for him.

Worrying about the shooting sports as part of the Olympics is merely a symptom of Hoplophobia, which is a readily curable manifestation of a mental instability. Emotional maturity is all that is required.

Best regards,

Art Eatman
Thomasville, Georgia, USA

:)

[This message has been edited by Art Eatman (edited September 19, 2000).]
 
If it's not Mr. Diamond's "fault" that he's a gold medalist, who's "fault" is it?

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"Anyone feel like saluting the flag which the strutting ATF and FBI gleefully raised over the smoldering crematorium of Waco, back in April of ‘93?" -Vin Suprynowicz
 
Anyone know if NBC is carrying the ping pong finals? I'm a nervous twit. I hear Vegas has it China by 3.

I'd really rather see IDPA than IPSC in the Olympics. Especially if they are going to add ball room dancing.

RKBA!
 
Wonder what this wanker would say if he knew what an Olympic shooter could do to his or her "involuntary" nervous system?

I've known more than one Olympic athlete who has the ability to INTERRUPT the normal heart cycle and to momentarily virtually paralyze large muscle groups to allow for as precise a shot as possible.

I've seen the EKGs and other tests that prove it.

If virtually absolute control over your body isn't "athletic ability" I don't know what is.

------------------
Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
M. Price

Your defilement of the accomplishment of your countryman in winning a second gold in trap shooting amazes me.

I have enjoyed much of your great country and have also served with Australian Marines in some sticky operations in far away places.  Great troops, skilled indeed, and winners; not whiners like the likes of you.

If it were not for a small cadre of people with great interest and skill in marksmanship training the multitudes of draftees in time of war..............you would be speaking Japanese now.

Your mouth has broadcast to the world.  Part of the world has noted.  You may find the comments in the link below of interest.
http://www.thefiringline.com:8080/forums/showthread.php?threadid=39352  You are being discussed.

Sam Anderson
 
Geez ... there is no end, no end to this idiocy.

Alan Korwin says 'the worse it gets, the better it gets', and he is right. Fence sitters and even some anti-self defense gun bigots have to begin noticing some of this foolishness.

Regards from AZ
 
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

That said- wow. What a hard-core, stone-cold idiot.

It is at least gratifying to note that the USA does not hold a world monopoly on morons.

Mike

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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
Another thought (just re-read the original post)... I LOVE it when people form deep-seated opinions in complete ignorance. This is evidenced by the fact that he refers to the shotgun as 'cocked' when it (presumably) was broken. Now, yes, certainly anyone can mistakenly use an incorrect term on any topic, even one with which they are quite familiar, but I have little doubt that the dolt in question knows nothing about shooting/guns/etc beyond the rudimentary 'guns kill people ergo guns are bad' logic.

The sad part is that he likely feels this is all the more he needs to know and is thus quite satisfied being completely and utterly clueless.

At least he's happy. They say it is bliss, after all.

Mike


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"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." -Robert Heinlein
 
Art - I was going to shoot of a heated Email to Mr. Price but after I read your letter, I believe nothing more needs to be said. Well done.

Noban
 
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