posted on August 17, 2008 06:02:49 AM new
Debate coaches lose cool, 1 pulls down his pants
August 15, 2008 - 7:03am
By MARIA SUDEKUM FISHER
Associated Press Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - An argument between two debate coaches that was caught on video was not the sharp-witted dialogue typically associated with college debate teams. Instead, the two traded profanity-laced barbs and one of them pulled down his shorts, exposing his underwear.
An eight-minute segment of the argument, in which each cursed repeatedly and one student near the camera can be heard crying, was posted on YouTube on Aug. 2 and has garnered more than 100,000 hits.
"In 18 years of taking part in debates, I have never seen an incident like this one," said Gordon Stables, first vice president of the Cross Examination Debate Association, which sponsored the March tournament in Wichita, Kan., where the argument took place.
Stables, who is also director of the University of Southern California's debate squad, said the association was investigating.
In the video, Fort Hays State University debate coach William Shanahan is shown arguing with Shanara Reid-Brinkley, debate coach at the University of Pittsburgh, during the competition's quarterfinals.
The argument, which appears to be at least in part about race, is punctuated with frequent cursing and name-calling. Shanahan, who is white, and Reid-Brinkley, who is black, scream criticisms about one another's body language during students' debates.
At one point Shanahan screams as he jumps up, then yanks his shorts down to his knees and points his rear end at Reid-Brinkley.
Phone messages left for Reid-Brinkley and Shanahan were not returned Thursday. Officials at Pitt and Fort Hays State, a university of about 9,000 students in western Kansas, said they were investigating.
posted on August 17, 2008 12:54:25 PM new
Civil discussion is long gone. We've seen that here for a long time. Sadly, it looks like formal debate has the same problems informal discussion has. I wonder if online discussion has anything to do with it's degradation?
posted on August 17, 2008 09:16:58 PM new
It seems to me that there is an inordinate amount of rage in people these days--road rage, work rage,etc. Is it a low frustration level? We baby boomers have raised a generation of adults who don't know the meaning of patience, working towards a goal, living within your means or earning what you get. We did not teach them empathy (your are not born with this!) They were praised for the most mundane of accomplishments--finished your homework? Honey you are the greatest child in the world! Walked the dog? Sweetie, you are the most special child ever born. They were not allowed to be frustrated by a complicated toy or shoelace or problem We fixed it for them. When these kids became adults and entered the real world, they were devastated when no one recognized their specialness. Thus the frustration and rage. Of course, not all of us reared children in this manner, but enough did and still do. This is my theory, for what it is worth. It is simplistic, but I believe it is part of the problem.
[ edited by coach81938 on Aug 17, 2008 09:23 PM ]
posted on August 18, 2008 01:51:18 PM new
i agree there are too many 'wussy' people nowadays, but if you look at the age of the people fighting in the video, these aren't the kids of baby boomers, they are much older.
just typical 'book educated' adults with their collective heads up their arses, much like the morons running half of the government (all parties)
until a day comes when people wise up to being 'street smart' AND 'book smart', that sort of asininity will continue in all age groups.
posted on August 18, 2008 04:57:32 PM new
Those two in the video looked like a lot of things, but smart wasn't a word that came to mind. I thought of pig-headed, know-it-all, immature/infantile, bipolar, argumentative, arrogant but nope--smart was not there.
The two involved in the fight were university team coaches, believe it or not. The black woman is the debating team coach from the University of Pittsburg and the coach without shoes who removed his pants represents Fort Hays State University. They appear too old to be teachers assistants.
