RU Ready

Five McDonald's All Americans

Vivian Stringer is making the rounds talking about her new book, "Standing Tall." Football players and fans -- at RU and elsewhere -- can learn many lessons from this classy coach who is pushing hard with her Rutgers team for another strong season finish. A lot of the attention is not on this year -- it is on the future of the Stringer program, and Coach Stringer has five more reasons to stand tall: a recruiting class that includes Brooklyn Pope of Fort Worth, Texas, and April Sykes of Mississippi. The group includes a total of five All Americans. As Harvey Araton put it in The Times this morning: Thank you Don Imus.

“He pretty much put Rutgers on the map,” said Janice Pope, the mother of Brooklyn.

Not to suggest that Rutgers wasn’t a national power and nearly a national champion before the uproar caused by Imus last April. Not to say that Stringer had not always landed players from afar, just not at the magnetic level of Connecticut and Tennessee.

If the projections for the Rutgers freshman class of 2008-9 are accurate, Auriemma and Pat Summitt may no longer be in a recruiting league of their own. “Basically, we were hoping to get three,” said Carlene Mitchell, Stringer’s assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. “The chips just fell.”

The blue chips, she meant.

Stringer did a video interview for Forbes.com. Asked what she tells new players about the Imus episode, Coach Stringer said: "We define who we are....these young ladies are great students...they presented themselves in a poised, a class way ... how could I not be proud and extremely happy because they stood so tall."

Two strong women, three strong quotes

Vivian Stringer on the meeting with Imus: "He expressed his apology. We accepted his apology."

Stringer on the MSNBC decision to drop the Imus TV broadcast: "It shows that we do have moral fiber."

Condoleezza Rice on the impact of the Imus slur: "You know, I was a college professor and these are in some ways vulnerable people because they are -- they're young. And I just thought that it was an attack on women's sports, first of all, and secondly an attack on very accomplished young black women in a way that was really offensive."

More time for the ranch?

Don Imus does have a place to go for some peace of mind.

Hillary Clinton to appear on campus on Monday

Hillary Clinton will be at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers on noon, Monday, April 16, to deliver an address on "Women and Public Leadership.”
Here's the word from Goodszilla: "On Wednesday, Clinton sent out a mass e-mail to her closest supporters saying Imus’ comments about the team showed "small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism,” and calling on recipients to join her in sending the Rutgers women a message of support."

"The effect language like this has"

Moonves has spoken and Imus is out at CBS. Here's the statement: “From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and revulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represented Rutgers University in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship with such class, energy and talent,” said CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves, in announcing the decision. “Those who have spoken with us the last few days represent people of goodwill from all segments of our society – all races, economic groups, men and women alike. In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision, as have the many emails, phone calls and personal discussions we have had with our colleagues across the CBS Corporation and our many other constituencies.”

UPDATE Hillary coming to campus on Monday.

"Confidence in the values we have set"

The NBC statement: Effective immediately, MSNBC will no longer simulcast the "Imus in the Morning" radio program. This decision comes as a result of an ongoing review process, which initially included the announcement of a suspension. It also takes into account many conversations with our own employees. What matters to us most is that the men and women of NBC Universal have confidence in the values we have set for this company. This is the only decision that makes that possible. Once again, we apologize to the women of the Rutgers basketball team and to our viewers. We deeply regret the pain this incident has caused.

This AP story gives some background: "The network's decision came after a growing list of sponsors , including American Express Co., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., and General Motors Corp. , said they were pulling ads from Imus' show for the indefinite future."

That's the word from one network. How about CBS? One CBS director is the former head of the NAACP, Bruce Gordon. He told the AP he wanted "consequences."
An excerpt of the Gordon interview:  "Bruce Gordon, former head of the NAACP and a director of C-B-S, says the broadcasting company needs a "zero tolerance policy" on racism and hopes talk-show host Don Imus is fired for his demeaning remarks about the mostly black Rutgers women's basketball team.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Gordon said Imus has -- quote -- "crossed the line, he's violated our community. He needs to face the consequence of that violation." "

Leslie Moonves, the next step is up to you.

RU women agree to meet Imus

The women of the Rutgers basketball team say they are angered and saddened. They also say they will agree to the request from Don Imus for a meeting.

Matee Ajavon: "Racism is something serious that we really need to get across to our nation."

Heather Zurich also denounced Imus, saying he spoke out of ignorance: "He knows not one of us."

Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer: The Imus comments were "racist and sexists remarks that are deplorable, despicable and unconscionable."

"I need to stand in front of them"

Imus this morning, talking about the Rutgers team, which is to have a news conference in a few minutes: "I need to stand in front of them and say I'm sorry."

Team praised: "magnificent," "classy"

Rutgers AD comment from Monday. The team is supposed to have a news conference today, Tuesday.

Excerpt of AD Robert E. Mulcahy 3rd comment: "I have relayed the message of Don Imus and his offer to apologize in person to the students and asked them to let me know how they wished to respond if at all.

It is time we all understand the lack of civility and sensitivity in our relations and that this should serve as a stunning reminder to everyone that before they make frivolous comments of a sensitive and hurtful nature that they consider the consequences. 

You cannot erase the hurt but you can have people change their ways.

These are outstanding young women who represent their university in a magnificent and classy manner.  They deserve the admiration of everyone."

How it started, and the "context" Imus provided

How did it get started? Some readers wanted to listen to the original remarks. Here's about a minute of video of Don Imus, courtesy of YouTube. Judge for yourself.

Was he contrite on Monday? Here is what Imus said on Monday morning about the point of his show, according to the MSNBC transcript. A few sentences from that Imus transcript: "This program has been, for 30 or 35 years, a program that makes fun of everybody.  It makes fun of me, and it makes fun of everybody on the planet.  And sometimes it makes fun of me to a vicious standpoint. Does that mean I get to say something about the Rutgers women?  Of course not.  But that’s the context in which we operate here.  Is it appropriate?  Well, we will talk about that a little later, because that’s got to change—some of that—because some people don’t deserve to be made fun of, like these young women who played for the national championship in basketball.  They played for the national championship, they beat Duke and then they played Tennessee in the national championship, they don’t need me to try to be funny about them."