Just to get the blood pressure rising....

[theexorcist]

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/sioncampus/01/29/palestra/index.html

Take a look at the Ewing reference.

Oh, those wacky, intelligent Penn students. Such a classic ribald thrust....

[Elvado]

FYI. That beauty was rolled out by the Wait listers from 'Nova.

[Locker]

It was wrong when college kids did this cr*p in the 80s.

It's much worse for middle-aged sportswriters to be fondly reminiscing about this stuff in 2007.

What's next -- a retrospective on the "classic" practice of throwing banana peels at Ewing?

[aggypryd]

Just mean stupid people...

No need to dwell on it...

[Boz]

What's disturbing is not that some college kids made a disparaging sign. I mean, come on, it's college. You're supposed to do things like that.

No, the real problem here is that an apprently esteemed member of the Associated Press, supposedly an adult and a professional, considered a sign declaring someone else to be illiterate was "a classic."

I think perhaps Mr. Scheuer needs to be called into the teacher's office, a.k.a The John Thompson Radio Show.

[edit: locker beat me to the punch]

[Locker]

Apparently this is not the first time Jack Scheuer has brandished this (really funny?) material.

However, the best traditions of the Big Five lay within the walls of the Palestra. One of the most recognizable and honored traditions was the use of wide rollout signs, concocted by fraternity students to poke fun at the opposing team. "It got a little obscene, but there used to be some really funny ones," said Associated Press correspondent Jack Scheuer. When Georgetown came to play Villanova, Wildcat fans jabbed at the Hoya’s center Patrick Ewing by unfurling a sign that read: "Patrick, can you read this?"

www.secondgenius.com/bigfive.htm

He's tarnishing the legacy of prop comics everywhere.

[hoyainspirit]

Self-internal jealous hater! (What a classic line!)

[hoyaboy1]

I like how he felt the need to clarify for us that the quote was a jab at Ewing's intelligence.

[guru]

That is really unbelievable. I want to send an email to SI to complain, but can't find a link on that page. Also would love to bend this clown Scheur's ear via email on this subject. Any help on contact info?

[CO_Hoya]

guru said:

That is really unbelievable. I want to send an email to SI to complain, but can't find a link on that page. Also would love to bend this clown Scheur's ear via email on this subject. Any help on contact info?

A Google search shows that the author (apparently all of 23 years old) has a MySpace page, which you should be able to find.

The e-mail address for SI's editor is [e-mail]

[SDHoya]

Oh let it go. Anyone on this board who claims to have not laughed at an off color sign held up by a student is laying to either themselves or the rest of us. I mean, we all make fun of Pittsnogle for being a hillbilly. We all need to relax and be able to laugh at ourselves. This was not a rascist remark. It was about intellegence. I have no idea how intellegent Ewing is, but he was a damn good basketball player, and he had his response every game on the Court. And, I know every one of you has disparagingly called someone "stupid" or made fun of an athletes intellegence at one time or another. So relax.

[Elvado]

Yes, but those other people are stupid, or hillbillies, or thugs. Pat was a Hoya and thus did not deserve this.

[hoyasexy]

elrobbo said:

Oh let it go. Anyone on this board who claims to have not laughed at an off color sign held up by a student is laying to either themselves or the rest of us. I mean, we all make fun of Pittsnogle for being a hillbilly. We all need to relax and be able to laugh at ourselves. This was not a rascist remark. It was about intellegence. I have no idea how intellegent Ewing is, but he was a damn good basketball player, and he had his response every game on the Court. And, I know every one of you has disparagingly called someone "stupid" or made fun of an athletes intellegence at one time or another. So relax.

Yes, but, as others have already noted, there is a distinct difference between a fan making a disparaging remark and a journalist using that remark as an example of how witty those fans are. I wouldn't expect to see, in an article of how Georgetown fans are the most passioned and intelligent fans around, this board's derision of Pittsnogle, Boeheim, Twerps or WG as evidence.

[SDHoya]

The witty comments tend to be the ones that include some degree of derision. Get over it.

[theexorcist]

You know, the part that really gets me is that's it's an average sign at best. In the entire history of the Palestra, featuring countless games with Jon Chaney and Rollie, someone has to have been able to get better than that.

I will also say that Georgetown in the 80s had a reputation as a very African-American program. I would be less inclined to excuse an insult to intelligence from that era as not designed to appeal to some racist tendencies.

[JohnnyTwoTimes]

elrobbo said:

This was not a rascist remark. It was about intellegence.

Yeah, well, show me the evidence of Nova fans in that era holding up signs disparaging Chris Mullin's intelligence, or Rony Seikaly's, or Billy Donovan's, and maybe I can accept that assertion. If you don't think a lot of the vitriol directed at the Hoyas generally and Ewing in particular was tinged with racist attitudes, you are fooling yourself. (This wasn't limited just to the Hoyas of course; Dean Smith famously was infuriated by dook students holding up a sign saying "J.R. Can't Reid This" but the Hoyas probably got more of this than others in the 80's).

[EasyEd]

johnnytwotimes said:

elrobbo said:

This was not a rascist remark. It was about intellegence.

Yeah, well, show me the evidence of Nova fans in that era holding up signs disparaging Chris Mullin's intelligence, or Rony Seikaly's, or Billy Donovan's, and maybe I can accept that assertion. If you don't think a lot of the vitriol directed at the Hoyas generally and Ewing in particular was tinged with racist attitudes, you are fooling yourself. (This wasn't limited just to the Hoyas of course; Dean Smith famously was infuriated by dook students holding up a sign saying "J.R. Can't Reid This" but the Hoyas probably got more of this than others in the 80's).

Right on.

[SoCalHoya]

Agree fully with Johnny2x.

[kchoya]

elrobbo said:

Oh let it go. Anyone on this board who claims to have not laughed at an off color sign held up by a student is laying to either themselves or the rest of us. I mean, we all make fun of Pittsnogle for being a hillbilly. We all need to relax and be able to laugh at ourselves. This was not a rascist remark. It was about intellegence. I have no idea how intellegent Ewing is, but he was a damn good basketball player, and he had his response every game on the Court. And, I know every one of you has disparagingly called someone "stupid" or made fun of an athletes intellegence at one time or another. So relax.

HoyaRon must be too busy designing t-shirts to post today.

You're ignoring the context the situation. Throwing banana peels and making other derogatory comments leads most people to believe this was not "just about intelligence."

[mrsixer123]

Well put, johny 2x