The Rutgers Team

I understand why the women of the Rutgers basketball team were offended.

Don Imus' degrading remarks were disgusting. They should be troubled about what he said.

BUT--

There are some things about the Rutgers news conference earlier today that I don't understand.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Rutgers women's basketball coach on Tuesday called the comments radio host Don Imus made about her team "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and unconscionable."

"These young ladies before you are valedictorians, future doctors, musical prodigies," coach C. Vivian Stringer told a nationally publicized news conference a day after the uproar over Imus' comments led to a two-week suspension of his show.

Team member Essence Carson said she and the other players were angry and disgusted but would meet with Imus. They stopped short of saying whether they thought he should be fired for calling the team "nappy-headed hos."

"We are students first," Carson said. "We did not do anything to deserve his controversy."

But she said, "We all agreed the meeting with Mr. Imus will help."

..."It's not about them as black or 'nappy headed.' It's about us as a people," Stringer said Tuesday. "When there is not equality for all, or when there has been denied equality for one, there has been denied equality for all."

...Rutgers basketball player Matee Ajavon said Tuesday, "Right now, I can't really say if we have come to a conclusion of whether we will accept the apology."

This really is getting out of control.

The players have every right to be angry. Absolutely.

They've been assaulted by the racist words of a relatively unpopular talk show host with a small audience, and it's exploded into a national story.

There's no question that Imus owes them an apology.

However, I think there also should be no question that the team should accept his sincere apology.

I understand that someone of Al Sharpton's ilk would refuse an apology, but I thought that the Rutgers team would have a little more class than him.

As the team's coach said, "These young ladies before you are valedictorians, future doctors, musical prodigies."

These are extremely talented women.

They are intelligent and they have the ability to go far.

Are we supposed to believe that Don Imus had the power to take that all away from them?

Again, Imus is an idiot. His statement about the Rutgers women was horrible and he should be held accountable for his racially-charged idiocy. If that means he loses his job, then he does. I really don't care.

I just don't buy that these women are so weak that an idiot like Imus can crush them.

That's giving Imus much more power than he has.