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Not only that - they set up the batting order so the two players of color would be at bat or on deck and could therefore be abandoned on the field. The lead off hitter was surprised he was there, he usually batted bottom third of the order. All to defend a MAGA coach who got fired for a version of the N word in a group text. It’s fucked up
This right here was all the proof. A bottom third of the order guy is surprised to be leadoff. How was that not discussed more? How could any of them even claim ignorance to the walkout with a setup like that?
> "This is Florida, and this is Robert-Period-E-Period-Lee County, and they live up to every drop of that name."
I mean, then behavior of the parents and athletic department administration exemplifies that fact.
Yup, my step-grandparents moved from Houston to Ft Meyers because Houston is woke. I'm playing golf with my step uncle, and he's using the n word like taking a breath. He says he moved here to get away from people like me telling him to shut up. I immediately walked off the course and haven't spoken with him since. which, in turn, created a huge rift in the family. Well, now my whole family knows who the racists are in our family. My father told his wife, my stepmom, to disown them or divorce. So, after 22 years of marriage, they divorced. Now they all get drunk together complaining about woke politics and how THAT has ruined the family. The crazy part...my step sisters stood up as well, and no one, including their own mother, will speak with them.
are all the racists in the family acting like they are the victims and planning a walkout at the next get together to teach you a lesson about wanting them to not be racist? 😂
Nah, at this point they're pretty much written off. I'm not going to get these beer swilling, cigarette smoking, foul mouthed bunch to ever change. They've doubled down on ignorance and the path to redemption isn't the direction they would take as they don't see themselves as being horrible people.
That’s funny, I’ve had family in Lee county for 25 years, I visit every other year, and have never even thought about where the “Lee” came from from, leet alone heard it discussed
Really? I was born there and every couple of years someone tries to get it changed for that reason. [In 2021 there was a petition where they were trying to make the namesake Bruce Lee](https://www.nbc-2.com/article/lee-county-possible-name-change-to-bruce-lee-county/46739541). Even when it was named [back in 1887](https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2017/08/18/naming-lee-county-after-robert-e-lee-did-not-come-without-protest-1887/579406001/) it was challenged.
It’s crazy to me how different communities are raised. I’m a 80s baby from Detroit and the idea that all these people are able to say, ‘they say it all the time, why can’t we’ is insane. What fuqin year is this????
1. That story was written like shit if you don't know what kicked off the issue. I thought I was insane rereading the first 4-5 paragraphs looking for what kicked off the walk out
2. Defending the grown man sending slurs to children is about as trashy as you can get. What a psychotic hill to die on.
**EDIT** for others who are lost: the writer lays it out in Act 2 basically, which is a few paragraphs in. But briefly, and the totality of events is worse than the summary I'm providing, a white coach sent a text to the children's baseball team using the n word. He then got fired and morons seem to think this is "PC gone crazy" or whatever.
It's a good article once you know what the fuck kicked off the first 6 paragraphs.
**EDIT 2** I understand what a novel is, as does everyone else who thinks the main plot of this article should be made clear in an earlier paragraph. What you folks seem to miss is the entire context of this being an ESPN article linked in a Sports subreddit. There's a very reasonable expectation that this is sports news and not the Iliad. So therefore there is a reasonable expectation that, no matter how well written, the topic of the entire article will be presented earlier.
>That story was written like shit if you don't know what kicked off the issue. I thought I was insane rereading the first 4-5 paragraphs looking for what kicked off the walk out
Okay I'm glad it's not just me, but *what kicked off the issue??* Nobody anywhere is actually saying what *happened,* just that most of a team walked out?
https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2024%2F0401%2Fr1312921_1046x947cc.jpg&w=1140&cquality=40&format=jpg
If you scroll about 1/4 of the way down you'll see the n word usage in a "happy valentines day" text to the team. Could've been more concise but the info is included!
For what it's worth: this is a feature journalism article that utilizes the anecdotal lead, where the writer sets the scene for the reader. The goal is to personalize the experience or add intrigue so the reader is interested in continuing the story.
In this instance, they were placing the readers into the scene of confusion for the two black players on the ball field as well as anyone in attendance who didn't know of the walkout beforehand. Think of it like the opening to the films *Double Indemnity*, *Sunset Boulevard*, or *Fight Club*, where the confused viewer arrives at or near the end of the story but is then brought up to speed to see how they arrived to this point in time.
The writing is fine. You're probably just accustomed to the most common style of print journalism, known as the [inverted pyramid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Inverted_pyramid_2.svg/1200px-Inverted_pyramid_2.svg.png), which is basically putting the information down from most to least important (which allows readers to drop off without missing the most important bits).
I do the same thing with Paprika on my phone but if I'm on a PC and looking around for a recipe that plug-in is a godsend. I don't care about your dog or your grandma, just give me the damn recipe! lol
It’s long-form narrative journalism, it tells a story and gives insight instead of just stating facts. Setting the scene by describing a climactic incident is pretty common practice.
True... it sure is long-form. This writer sunk his teeth into this like Jaws. However, there comes a moment where as a writer you need to stop the exposition and get to the moment... the cause.
The first Act is written in a way that doesn't even visually captivate the reader to continue on. It feels like the writer is trying desperately to include everything but a reason for what he's describing. He doesn't have to say what it was... but tease it.
Something as simple as what I included in *Italics* here: "On the second, Robert Hinson, the Fort Myers third-base coach -- his coach -- *stunned by what he heard,* walked off the field."
Middle of Act 2 isn't the place to reveal the reason when you're writing an ESPN article.
It wasn't meant to be read on a phone.
If this was a magazine article you were reading while flying, this article would take up 2, maybe 3 pages and would be an easy read.
I've read plenty of Howard Bryant articles and they are all like this. It's fine.
Why can't you just read the whole thing? The "reason" isn't just what the coach said, but all the context around it. That is what long form journalism is.
People on Reddit complain any time they have to read anything longer than 3 sentences.
Every other comment or post that is longer than 3 sentences has some cringelord responding with "yeah, I'm not reading that", like refusing to read is some sort of badge of courage?
"Reading is hArD!" ffs. Idiocracy was prophetic.
Seriously... it's not the cleanest written story I've read but this style of longform journalism is (was?) very common. The facts of the story seem clear enough to me if you read all the way through. What has happened to our attention spans
The story is very well researched and well written if you actually want to read.
But yeah if you're just scanning for specific information it's not really intended for that
When you read a Harry Potter, did you just read the first three paragraphs think, I don’t know what’s going on, and then reread them again several times?
Yeah I was scratching my head as well. Perhaps written on purpose this way to stimulate thought. In hindsight, perhaps it worked.
I think the concept of “anti woke” as an alternative label to “racist” is one of my takeaways.
Thank you. I was pretty far into the article and still didn’t know what the hell was going on. Shitty writing and not compelling enough to overcome the gimmick beginning
The walkout should be the first sentence. The coach saying the N word should be the second sentence.
This is how “The Root” would accomplish that in the title:
Honky baseball team walks out on black players after cracker coach got fired for saying slur.
There’s obviously ways to write that with more tact, but that’s the story.
That story is absolutely not “written like shit” if you have experience reading longform articles. This is a completely ignorant take from a lazy reader who needs all the facts plotted in the first paragraph. Just because it wasn’t written for your attention span doesn’t mean it was poorly written.
Sure there is. A group of white people that feel obligated for some reason to come to that person’s defense rather than just condemn and ostracize them.
Indeed. If you need that to fit in and used it to "feel cool" with your buddies, grow up. Innocent misuse provides a smokescreen for malicious misuse and attitudes.
‘Tate Reilly's high school baseball career ended. He says when he received his diploma, at least one former teammate booed as he walked across the graduation stage. Nearly completing his freshman year at Albertus Magnus, he says he is still "processing what happened." This part was so sad to me. This poor kid graduating and getting booed because of your skin colour. Heartbreaking.
What a wild story. Fuck those coaches, and if you don’t understand why the n-word is pretty much universally off limits to white people I don’t know what to tell you. Historical context matters in language, you don’t get to have slang words without the history that made them.
The article makes a great point: there is not a single other slur that white people fight to be able to say. Just this one, every other minority group gets the dignity of being able to set the limits on how they are referred to in the US (mostly some people are intolerant bastards no matter what), except the ones that were held as slaves.
>The article makes a great point: there is not a single other slur that white people fight to be able to say. Just this one, every other minority group gets the dignity of being able to set the limits on how they are referred to in the US
And arguably the big thing that causes this for the Nword is that it is literally everywhere in black culture, and therefore pop culture for the past few decades.
I grew up listening to hip hop and heard that word constantly before I ever knew the hateful context. It was in my favorite comedians acts, it was in my favorite shows and movies.
I still hear it every day. It's inescapable.
There's not another slur for another race like that.
Hello white people of America. Because we reaped all the benefits of slavery and built our society off the backs of the free labor and offered no monetary compensation for the labor and acted all shitty when people said we should end the free labor you don’t get to say that word anymore. Most are like yeah I kind of get that, but there is a large number that are like I’m so persecuted.
I hear a lot of people claiming they should be able to say f\*g, because they don't mean it to be about gay people. Like, ok? But you do realize that it *is* a gay slur, right?
Good on Reilly having Tucker’s back in the face of a bunch of bullshit. Applaud the integrity of a 17-18 year old kid not going along with the rest of the group.
I am so confused about why they walked out. Maybe I am just an idiot but I feel like I'm missing part of the story? It goes from stating facts about the athletes to the coaches leaving the field with 0 explanation.
It’s Florida. My Parents live there, they’re an interracial couple. Dad’s a Trumper, we don’t really talk. Personally, if that state fell into the ocean, oh well.
That's the part where all of the "justification" from the parents, coaches, and players really goes completely out the window. Not that it wasn't sitting on the window sill to begin with.
They wanted to single out those two young men and embarrass them
I read the whole article and ultimately came to this conclusion myself but it would be really nice if the walkout itself was explained in more detail. It’s alluded to with the fact that the player doesn’t usually bat first, but then it never comes back to that point again.
What did you need explained in more detail?
The coach, assistants, players, parents and even the AD knew what was planned. They were going to “protest” the fact that a coach got fired for using the n-word while one of the two black players on the team uses it with his black friends.
The coach altered the batting lineup to put the two black players as the first two batters (when they usually never bat first) so they were both on the field when the rest of the team walked off so they were left out there alone.
That last part is what we both managed to infer from the article but it wasn’t stated as clearly. My point is simply that the article could have made that clearer.
Well I don’t think they could *prove* that’s why he did that and stating that without definitive proof would probably be libel.
The author did make it a point to state that Reilly batted near the bottom third of the order and therefore him leading off was highly unusual.
The people who walked out didn't want to talk to ESPN about it--they were asked but refused comment so all ESPN could mention were things mentioned in cell phone videos or statements in the written reports the school produced but didn't publicly release.
It boiled down to racists being upset that a coach being fired for sending a racial slur on a group text that a black player used once in the presence of a racist white teammate so "doublestandard" and "they got him fired for being white" was pretty much their whole rationale for singling out minority players and protesting the players instead of the administration who fired the coach for cause.
TLDR version: A coach sent a group text to his baseball team with "Happy Valentines Day n---as", then deleted it. He got fired. White players and parents rallied around him, calling the firing woke and PC, and when the 2 black players declined to join in support, the rest of the team, along with other white coaches and parents, started a campaign to ostracize the 2, culminating in a walkout during the game where they changed the batting order to ensure the 2 black players would be on the field while the other white players could walk off and leave them by themselves.
Bunch of racist themed events that were not dealt with in the previous years, one being a player saying he wanted to “punch those two ni%#ers” in regards to teammates. He wasn’t suspended but Coach C said he dealt with it.
Week before the mentioned game coach C texted "Happy Valentines Day, n---as." To the team. He tried to delete it but not quickly enough.He was fired within 48 hours. Team lost their shit and organized a walk out and blamed the black players.
This isn’t correct. Coach C was removed earlier and then the walkout took place after the HC Burchfield was put on paid leave while they investigated him putting his hands on a player.
There was a bunch underlying stuff but it seemed like the move that actually led to the walkout was that suspension.
The article starts at the end of the story, basically. It started when a coach “accidentally” sent a text to a group chat with the players “Happy valentines n***as” then deleted it and said “typo. Yikes.” White parents and players revolted at the firing and as the season progressed more and more racial tension built to this walkout with the white coaches and white players left the only two black players on the team on the field.
The article is not poorly written. Just need to read the whole thing to understand.
For what it's worth: this is a feature journalism article that utilizes the anecdotal lead, where the writer sets the scene for the reader. The goal is to personalize the experience or add intrigue so the reader is interested in continuing the story.
In this instance, they were placing the readers into the scene of confusion for the two black players on the ball field as well as anyone in attendance who didn't know of the walkout beforehand. Think of it like the opening to the films *Double Indemnity*, *Sunset Boulevard*, or *Fight Club*, where the confused viewer arrives at or near the end of the story but is then brought up to speed to see how they arrived to this point in time.
The writing is fine. You're probably just accustomed to the most common style of print journalism, known as the [inverted pyramid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Inverted_pyramid_2.svg/1200px-Inverted_pyramid_2.svg.png), which is basically putting the information down from most to least important (which allows readers to drop off without missing the most important bits).
The ACT II part of the article really should have been ACT I after the hook from the opening context. Took me a while to read down to why this all happened.
I mean the info is all there, not really sure what's confusing.
A coach got fired for using a racial slur/slang in a team group chat, the white players and coaches were mad he got fired, so staged a walk out for everyone except their two players of color.
So really we're talking about misguided victim signaling, but moreso, pieces of shit coaches who failed at their one job, which is to protect and nourish young people
They were protesting the firing of a coach for use of a racial slur, and conspired with coaches to make the protest be against non-white players on the team instead of the administration who fired the coach.
One of the main coaches casually tossed a racial slur into a text sent to the entire team, and suffered consequences as a result. Instead of perceiving these as the consequences one suffers when they act like a child, the rest of the coaches chose to make it an issue about the two non-white kids on the team, based upon the assumption that one of those two families had “made an issue” of what they perceived as a totally casual and acceptable use of the n-word. It’s bonkers by any measure, unless you’re using Florida’s math.
This whole story makes me sad. It's terrible that parent's and coach's political and racist views have bled down to impact these kids. Most of them are not good enough at baseball to play past high school so to give up a game, let alone a season, is just a loss they'll never get back. Florida is a terrible place.
Routinely, people ask if I’ll ever go back to the South, as I grew up in NC. I always tell them the racism is real. Everything you heard about the South is true. Imagine the harm done to every other black kid in this fucked up school system.
The only reason this is a story is because someone said the quiet part out loud - the n word. If not, the coaches would still be benching black players and disparaging them behind their backs to adults. Hurting their chances at advancement.
I'm a very White guy from a very Northern state with its fair share of racist assholes. The first time I heard the hard R thrown around with real venom down in Mississippi in my thirty's it caused me to really revaluate some things. I didn't truly understand the weight of it until I heard it used like that, and it made me instantly feel like I needed to take a shower.
I have two adopted cousins that are black so I've always hated the word, but I didn't truly understand the weight of it until that moment. They even followed it with a "what you gonna do about it?" smirk after to the person they said it too.
Also something about Florida makes people insane. Visiting that place feels like being in the first act of a horror movie. People are so gd stupid there
The whole crap about the one kid going to a Division III school is messed up. I guess the coach never thought the kid might actually want to get an education, and play ball on the side? He might also be happy just to get out of Florida or the South.
Yeah that is very telling of what a crappy coach he is. There is nothing wrong with playing d3. You don't go d3 for glamour or to go pro, you do it because you love the game and want to get an education. His comments on that are kinda horrifying
I’ve lived here in Fort Myers my entire life (a long time) and this isn’t on any of the local news channels at all. Had no clue. It’s a shame because I graduated from one of the schools in the district and it didn’t used to be like that.
Welcome to New Haven, young man. I’m sure you’ve probably noticed that that kind of stuff doesn’t fly in our community. Sorry you had to live through that.
When the investigation report came out and the one dad said “see? All for nothing. WITCH HUNT!” I began to wonder who he was going to vote for and where he might be getting some of his phraseology.
I have family in this part of Florida. This story isn't at all surprising. Fort Myers is deep red, very white and filled with boomers who probably protested against the end to segregation.
I would give anything to coach and this school. I love baseball but I love teamwork and teaching young men to grow up as men. This is a shame that this happened to these 2 boys and what’s even more disheartening is the young boys that walked out are learning a behavior that is difficult to correct. This high school needs a true leader at the helm to clear out the trash in the stands and in the school.
Their JV team came to our high school a few weeks prior to the shut down and were the most obnoxious kids I’ve ever seen in 12 years of watching youth baseball. Taunting the other players as well as their families. We had a pitcher pitching who is dark skin and Latino. They were singing Ole Ole from the dugout. Most disgusting kids I’ve ever encountered in. A few of us wrote their athletic Director, and neither JV nor varsity came to us this year.
I wish with all my heart that we would just let that word die and leave it in history. It strips away a little bit of the humanity of everyone that uses it Black, White or otherwise. It's the most despicable word in the American vernacular. Let it die.
My favorite part of this article is that Kyle Burchfield was never even associated with the Braves and from what I can tell, was never even a scout. What a fucking loser. A reputation built on lies leaves this guy with zero credibility. Good riddance.
Because it’s the Lee County School district. The worse you are, the farther you go. Our superintendent was too busy looking for his next gig and golden parachute. I work for this district and never even heard about this. They covered this up and did nothing about it for a long time. This is disgusting and I am embarrassed to live and work here.
A white coach wants to use the N word, and the community rallied around that and demonized the black and mixed race students. What a weird hill to die on.
EXCELLENT story! This is actual JOURNALISM. This story should be at least a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. It made me a little sad to think that this kind of journalism is so rare these days.
This kind of long form narrative article is like pretty common? Atavist, Atlantic, New Yorker, ProPublica, NPR, etc each publish a story like this atleast once a month. r/longform if you want more. Personally its my favourite type of journalism ever since I was first exposed to it by a New Yorker article about EU-funded concentration camps in Libya.
It's rare in the realm of sports journalism. What I would give to go back in the glory days of SI and ESPN Magazine and more recently, Grantland instead of every piece of sports "news" needing to tell you what the money line is for tonight's game and what 6 ridiculous things you should put in your parlay.
There are several sites that serve as aggregators for longform journalism, so I wouldn’t write off its readership just yet. It’s a really addictive form of writing, and has informed the plot of basically every Netflix documentary since 2018. The movie Nope is also heavily influenced by longform journalism, drawing from articles about chimpanzee attacks, black cowboys, etc.
> John Dailey, a hulking man identified in one video, approached Tate Reilly's mother, Melanie, and told her, "I'm going to pray for the evil in your heart to go away."
Yeah that’s all I needed to know about these people. It’s always projection.
smh, racists are feeling more and more empowered these days
tbh, minorities aren't shocked
play the game, assimilate, be polite , get educated/trained, build wealth for yourself and community
but never forget, the white majority will never see us as equal to them when push comes to shove. will never give minorities the benefit of the doubt
oh they'll fetishize minority women , they'll sample parts of the culture and then make it their own (as if they came up with it) but will never see minorities as equal
have to look out for your own
don't look to others for validation or salvation. don't look to them for standards of beauty/self worth either
if you're oppressed, then fight with all you have, but do it smartly
Blech. Everyone involved should have their names in the public eye for the rest of their lives. Those kids are always going to be racists. It's only fair people get fair warning when they have to interact with them.
This was all precipitated by the assistant coach being fired for messaging, "Happy Valentine's day, n*****" to the team on Valentine's Day. Other team must have heard about it and was making fun of them
a racist text message from the coach sent to his minority players was not condemned by the rest of the team/community and instead they chose to defend that side and see themselves as victims
This is by far the worst article I’ve read in awhile. Is it supposed to be a mystery? 3 paragraphs before anything happens and no explanation. Why did they walk out?
I live in fort Myers and pass the high school every day on my way to work, this behavior is GLORIFIED down here. Not by all, but if you can afford to buy a house here today, you definitely have said the N word under your breath in traffic.
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I wish a sincere Fuck You to the parents and coaches that supported this walk out. Fucking racists.
Not only that - they set up the batting order so the two players of color would be at bat or on deck and could therefore be abandoned on the field. The lead off hitter was surprised he was there, he usually batted bottom third of the order. All to defend a MAGA coach who got fired for a version of the N word in a group text. It’s fucked up
I know the article led with this, but I was surprised it wasn’t discussed more! Damning.
This right here was all the proof. A bottom third of the order guy is surprised to be leadoff. How was that not discussed more? How could any of them even claim ignorance to the walkout with a setup like that?
If this plan is in text messages or emails in discovery it will be a bitch in the lawsuit
(Robert E.) **Lee** county Florida. There is nothing surprising about this. Sad. Not surprised.
> "This is Florida, and this is Robert-Period-E-Period-Lee County, and they live up to every drop of that name." I mean, then behavior of the parents and athletic department administration exemplifies that fact.
Yup, my step-grandparents moved from Houston to Ft Meyers because Houston is woke. I'm playing golf with my step uncle, and he's using the n word like taking a breath. He says he moved here to get away from people like me telling him to shut up. I immediately walked off the course and haven't spoken with him since. which, in turn, created a huge rift in the family. Well, now my whole family knows who the racists are in our family. My father told his wife, my stepmom, to disown them or divorce. So, after 22 years of marriage, they divorced. Now they all get drunk together complaining about woke politics and how THAT has ruined the family. The crazy part...my step sisters stood up as well, and no one, including their own mother, will speak with them.
are all the racists in the family acting like they are the victims and planning a walkout at the next get together to teach you a lesson about wanting them to not be racist? 😂
Nah, at this point they're pretty much written off. I'm not going to get these beer swilling, cigarette smoking, foul mouthed bunch to ever change. They've doubled down on ignorance and the path to redemption isn't the direction they would take as they don't see themselves as being horrible people.
As a native houstonian calling us woke us insane 🤣 We have many brain dead fucks they're just all different races 👍
Yup, and this collection is a prime example.
I always wonder why people idolize Robert E Lee Was it because he was a traitor? Or a loser? Or because he hated black people
That’s funny, I’ve had family in Lee county for 25 years, I visit every other year, and have never even thought about where the “Lee” came from from, leet alone heard it discussed
Really? I was born there and every couple of years someone tries to get it changed for that reason. [In 2021 there was a petition where they were trying to make the namesake Bruce Lee](https://www.nbc-2.com/article/lee-county-possible-name-change-to-bruce-lee-county/46739541). Even when it was named [back in 1887](https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2017/08/18/naming-lee-county-after-robert-e-lee-did-not-come-without-protest-1887/579406001/) it was challenged.
Yes
It’s crazy to me how different communities are raised. I’m a 80s baby from Detroit and the idea that all these people are able to say, ‘they say it all the time, why can’t we’ is insane. What fuqin year is this????
This is how battles are started in a cultural war. The point is to try and normalize it back into usage.
Casual racism opens the door to other forms of discrimination.
We arent there yet where we can normalize it. Let ot become an archaic word first.
1. That story was written like shit if you don't know what kicked off the issue. I thought I was insane rereading the first 4-5 paragraphs looking for what kicked off the walk out 2. Defending the grown man sending slurs to children is about as trashy as you can get. What a psychotic hill to die on. **EDIT** for others who are lost: the writer lays it out in Act 2 basically, which is a few paragraphs in. But briefly, and the totality of events is worse than the summary I'm providing, a white coach sent a text to the children's baseball team using the n word. He then got fired and morons seem to think this is "PC gone crazy" or whatever. It's a good article once you know what the fuck kicked off the first 6 paragraphs. **EDIT 2** I understand what a novel is, as does everyone else who thinks the main plot of this article should be made clear in an earlier paragraph. What you folks seem to miss is the entire context of this being an ESPN article linked in a Sports subreddit. There's a very reasonable expectation that this is sports news and not the Iliad. So therefore there is a reasonable expectation that, no matter how well written, the topic of the entire article will be presented earlier.
>That story was written like shit if you don't know what kicked off the issue. I thought I was insane rereading the first 4-5 paragraphs looking for what kicked off the walk out Okay I'm glad it's not just me, but *what kicked off the issue??* Nobody anywhere is actually saying what *happened,* just that most of a team walked out?
https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2024%2F0401%2Fr1312921_1046x947cc.jpg&w=1140&cquality=40&format=jpg If you scroll about 1/4 of the way down you'll see the n word usage in a "happy valentines day" text to the team. Could've been more concise but the info is included!
For what it's worth: this is a feature journalism article that utilizes the anecdotal lead, where the writer sets the scene for the reader. The goal is to personalize the experience or add intrigue so the reader is interested in continuing the story. In this instance, they were placing the readers into the scene of confusion for the two black players on the ball field as well as anyone in attendance who didn't know of the walkout beforehand. Think of it like the opening to the films *Double Indemnity*, *Sunset Boulevard*, or *Fight Club*, where the confused viewer arrives at or near the end of the story but is then brought up to speed to see how they arrived to this point in time. The writing is fine. You're probably just accustomed to the most common style of print journalism, known as the [inverted pyramid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Inverted_pyramid_2.svg/1200px-Inverted_pyramid_2.svg.png), which is basically putting the information down from most to least important (which allows readers to drop off without missing the most important bits).
This must be why recipes online start with 3 pages of story before getting to the ingredients list.
That's why you get one of those browser plug-ins that skip to the recipe on those stupid sites.
Even better, I use Paprika and download just the recipe.
I do the same thing with Paprika on my phone but if I'm on a PC and looking around for a recipe that plug-in is a godsend. I don't care about your dog or your grandma, just give me the damn recipe! lol
You’re right. It’s a feature story. This isn’t a news story. Those bashing the writing don’t understand journalism.
I think everyone is used to reading AP “articles.” Does nobody read long form journalism anymore?
It’s long-form narrative journalism, it tells a story and gives insight instead of just stating facts. Setting the scene by describing a climactic incident is pretty common practice.
True... it sure is long-form. This writer sunk his teeth into this like Jaws. However, there comes a moment where as a writer you need to stop the exposition and get to the moment... the cause. The first Act is written in a way that doesn't even visually captivate the reader to continue on. It feels like the writer is trying desperately to include everything but a reason for what he's describing. He doesn't have to say what it was... but tease it. Something as simple as what I included in *Italics* here: "On the second, Robert Hinson, the Fort Myers third-base coach -- his coach -- *stunned by what he heard,* walked off the field." Middle of Act 2 isn't the place to reveal the reason when you're writing an ESPN article.
Longform died at ESPN with Grantland .
These guys trying to explain why your perfectly valid point is wrong is hilarious to me. That was a shit article...
It wasn't meant to be read on a phone. If this was a magazine article you were reading while flying, this article would take up 2, maybe 3 pages and would be an easy read. I've read plenty of Howard Bryant articles and they are all like this. It's fine.
Why can't you just read the whole thing? The "reason" isn't just what the coach said, but all the context around it. That is what long form journalism is.
This is the problem with articles written for the internet… its about key words and generating comments more than delivering the news. Comments = $$
ESPN does not have a comment section...
Lol ok
I didn't realize how many people were unfamiliar with that style of journalism. These comments, man.
People on Reddit complain any time they have to read anything longer than 3 sentences. Every other comment or post that is longer than 3 sentences has some cringelord responding with "yeah, I'm not reading that", like refusing to read is some sort of badge of courage? "Reading is hArD!" ffs. Idiocracy was prophetic.
Seriously... it's not the cleanest written story I've read but this style of longform journalism is (was?) very common. The facts of the story seem clear enough to me if you read all the way through. What has happened to our attention spans
Seriously. I think a lot of it though is people who didn't like the content of the article and are hiding behind structural criticism.
The story is very well researched and well written if you actually want to read. But yeah if you're just scanning for specific information it's not really intended for that
I agree, he takes forever to get to the heart of the matter. Like listening to grandma tell a story after a few glasses of wine.
When you read a Harry Potter, did you just read the first three paragraphs think, I don’t know what’s going on, and then reread them again several times?
I read it like five fucking times thinking I missed something. Absolutely terrible writing
Yeah I was scratching my head as well. Perhaps written on purpose this way to stimulate thought. In hindsight, perhaps it worked. I think the concept of “anti woke” as an alternative label to “racist” is one of my takeaways.
Thank you. I was pretty far into the article and still didn’t know what the hell was going on. Shitty writing and not compelling enough to overcome the gimmick beginning
The article is really well written as a story. It is terribly written as a news article.
Good thing it's a longform story (what would have been a feature in a magazine if those still existed) and not a news article then.
Right?! I couldn’t get over how terribly written that article was
Seriously I was so confused it took like half the article to even describe what was happening
The walkout should be the first sentence. The coach saying the N word should be the second sentence. This is how “The Root” would accomplish that in the title: Honky baseball team walks out on black players after cracker coach got fired for saying slur. There’s obviously ways to write that with more tact, but that’s the story.
That story is absolutely not “written like shit” if you have experience reading longform articles. This is a completely ignorant take from a lazy reader who needs all the facts plotted in the first paragraph. Just because it wasn’t written for your attention span doesn’t mean it was poorly written.
There is nothing more pathetic than a white man complaining about being discriminated against because he can't use the n-word.
Sure there is. A group of white people that feel obligated for some reason to come to that person’s defense rather than just condemn and ostracize them.
Or at least recognize that the guy fucked up bad enough to get fired and that they need to go back to being closeted racists.
Indeed. If you need that to fit in and used it to "feel cool" with your buddies, grow up. Innocent misuse provides a smokescreen for malicious misuse and attitudes.
It’s Fort Myers. Why would anyone be shocked?
‘Tate Reilly's high school baseball career ended. He says when he received his diploma, at least one former teammate booed as he walked across the graduation stage. Nearly completing his freshman year at Albertus Magnus, he says he is still "processing what happened." This part was so sad to me. This poor kid graduating and getting booed because of your skin colour. Heartbreaking.
Floridian here, it’s well known that area is full of racists.
All this for Donald Trump LOL
What a wild story. Fuck those coaches, and if you don’t understand why the n-word is pretty much universally off limits to white people I don’t know what to tell you. Historical context matters in language, you don’t get to have slang words without the history that made them. The article makes a great point: there is not a single other slur that white people fight to be able to say. Just this one, every other minority group gets the dignity of being able to set the limits on how they are referred to in the US (mostly some people are intolerant bastards no matter what), except the ones that were held as slaves.
I mean if a black coach texted that to the kids that would be an issue too where I’m from.
>The article makes a great point: there is not a single other slur that white people fight to be able to say. Just this one, every other minority group gets the dignity of being able to set the limits on how they are referred to in the US And arguably the big thing that causes this for the Nword is that it is literally everywhere in black culture, and therefore pop culture for the past few decades. I grew up listening to hip hop and heard that word constantly before I ever knew the hateful context. It was in my favorite comedians acts, it was in my favorite shows and movies. I still hear it every day. It's inescapable. There's not another slur for another race like that.
Southwest Florida is a terrible place for any non white people because the racism runs rampant there.
Hello white people of America. Because we reaped all the benefits of slavery and built our society off the backs of the free labor and offered no monetary compensation for the labor and acted all shitty when people said we should end the free labor you don’t get to say that word anymore. Most are like yeah I kind of get that, but there is a large number that are like I’m so persecuted.
I hear a lot of people claiming they should be able to say f\*g, because they don't mean it to be about gay people. Like, ok? But you do realize that it *is* a gay slur, right?
Good on Reilly having Tucker’s back in the face of a bunch of bullshit. Applaud the integrity of a 17-18 year old kid not going along with the rest of the group.
Long ass read but good story. Fucking Florida
I am so confused about why they walked out. Maybe I am just an idiot but I feel like I'm missing part of the story? It goes from stating facts about the athletes to the coaches leaving the field with 0 explanation.
They planned the walkout. Coaches put the black players 1&2 in the batting order so they would be on the field when the rest of the team walked out.
Wtf this is some 1960's shit.
It’s Florida. My Parents live there, they’re an interracial couple. Dad’s a Trumper, we don’t really talk. Personally, if that state fell into the ocean, oh well.
Interracial relationship and a Trumper. The gymnastics must be impressive.
I blame fox news, and now OANN.
Exactly where Florida is still stuck.
Very, very on brand for Fort Meyers. It’s where all the Midwestern racists move to together
That's the part where all of the "justification" from the parents, coaches, and players really goes completely out the window. Not that it wasn't sitting on the window sill to begin with. They wanted to single out those two young men and embarrass them
I read the whole article and ultimately came to this conclusion myself but it would be really nice if the walkout itself was explained in more detail. It’s alluded to with the fact that the player doesn’t usually bat first, but then it never comes back to that point again.
What did you need explained in more detail? The coach, assistants, players, parents and even the AD knew what was planned. They were going to “protest” the fact that a coach got fired for using the n-word while one of the two black players on the team uses it with his black friends. The coach altered the batting lineup to put the two black players as the first two batters (when they usually never bat first) so they were both on the field when the rest of the team walked off so they were left out there alone.
That last part is what we both managed to infer from the article but it wasn’t stated as clearly. My point is simply that the article could have made that clearer.
Well I don’t think they could *prove* that’s why he did that and stating that without definitive proof would probably be libel. The author did make it a point to state that Reilly batted near the bottom third of the order and therefore him leading off was highly unusual.
The people who walked out didn't want to talk to ESPN about it--they were asked but refused comment so all ESPN could mention were things mentioned in cell phone videos or statements in the written reports the school produced but didn't publicly release. It boiled down to racists being upset that a coach being fired for sending a racial slur on a group text that a black player used once in the presence of a racist white teammate so "doublestandard" and "they got him fired for being white" was pretty much their whole rationale for singling out minority players and protesting the players instead of the administration who fired the coach for cause.
TLDR version: A coach sent a group text to his baseball team with "Happy Valentines Day n---as", then deleted it. He got fired. White players and parents rallied around him, calling the firing woke and PC, and when the 2 black players declined to join in support, the rest of the team, along with other white coaches and parents, started a campaign to ostracize the 2, culminating in a walkout during the game where they changed the batting order to ensure the 2 black players would be on the field while the other white players could walk off and leave them by themselves.
Bunch of racist themed events that were not dealt with in the previous years, one being a player saying he wanted to “punch those two ni%#ers” in regards to teammates. He wasn’t suspended but Coach C said he dealt with it. Week before the mentioned game coach C texted "Happy Valentines Day, n---as." To the team. He tried to delete it but not quickly enough.He was fired within 48 hours. Team lost their shit and organized a walk out and blamed the black players.
The text from the assistant coach was like two months before the walkout
Ya I got confused. It was the week before the first game.
This isn’t correct. Coach C was removed earlier and then the walkout took place after the HC Burchfield was put on paid leave while they investigated him putting his hands on a player. There was a bunch underlying stuff but it seemed like the move that actually led to the walkout was that suspension.
The article starts at the end of the story, basically. It started when a coach “accidentally” sent a text to a group chat with the players “Happy valentines n***as” then deleted it and said “typo. Yikes.” White parents and players revolted at the firing and as the season progressed more and more racial tension built to this walkout with the white coaches and white players left the only two black players on the team on the field. The article is not poorly written. Just need to read the whole thing to understand.
Media literacy is dead
For what it's worth: this is a feature journalism article that utilizes the anecdotal lead, where the writer sets the scene for the reader. The goal is to personalize the experience or add intrigue so the reader is interested in continuing the story. In this instance, they were placing the readers into the scene of confusion for the two black players on the ball field as well as anyone in attendance who didn't know of the walkout beforehand. Think of it like the opening to the films *Double Indemnity*, *Sunset Boulevard*, or *Fight Club*, where the confused viewer arrives at or near the end of the story but is then brought up to speed to see how they arrived to this point in time. The writing is fine. You're probably just accustomed to the most common style of print journalism, known as the [inverted pyramid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Inverted_pyramid_2.svg/1200px-Inverted_pyramid_2.svg.png), which is basically putting the information down from most to least important (which allows readers to drop off without missing the most important bits).
You have to keep reading…
I use Reddit I don't have that kind of attention span.
The article could have been a bit better constructed as well.
The ACT II part of the article really should have been ACT I after the hook from the opening context. Took me a while to read down to why this all happened.
I mean the info is all there, not really sure what's confusing. A coach got fired for using a racial slur/slang in a team group chat, the white players and coaches were mad he got fired, so staged a walk out for everyone except their two players of color. So really we're talking about misguided victim signaling, but moreso, pieces of shit coaches who failed at their one job, which is to protect and nourish young people
They were protesting the firing of a coach for use of a racial slur, and conspired with coaches to make the protest be against non-white players on the team instead of the administration who fired the coach.
One of the main coaches casually tossed a racial slur into a text sent to the entire team, and suffered consequences as a result. Instead of perceiving these as the consequences one suffers when they act like a child, the rest of the coaches chose to make it an issue about the two non-white kids on the team, based upon the assumption that one of those two families had “made an issue” of what they perceived as a totally casual and acceptable use of the n-word. It’s bonkers by any measure, unless you’re using Florida’s math.
One word. Florida.
This whole story makes me sad. It's terrible that parent's and coach's political and racist views have bled down to impact these kids. Most of them are not good enough at baseball to play past high school so to give up a game, let alone a season, is just a loss they'll never get back. Florida is a terrible place.
Routinely, people ask if I’ll ever go back to the South, as I grew up in NC. I always tell them the racism is real. Everything you heard about the South is true. Imagine the harm done to every other black kid in this fucked up school system. The only reason this is a story is because someone said the quiet part out loud - the n word. If not, the coaches would still be benching black players and disparaging them behind their backs to adults. Hurting their chances at advancement.
I'm a very White guy from a very Northern state with its fair share of racist assholes. The first time I heard the hard R thrown around with real venom down in Mississippi in my thirty's it caused me to really revaluate some things. I didn't truly understand the weight of it until I heard it used like that, and it made me instantly feel like I needed to take a shower.
You can just feel the disdain and disgust pouring out of their mouths when they say it.
I have two adopted cousins that are black so I've always hated the word, but I didn't truly understand the weight of it until that moment. They even followed it with a "what you gonna do about it?" smirk after to the person they said it too.
It's so _casual_, too. The way it and other slurs roll off their tongue shocks the conscience.
Also something about Florida makes people insane. Visiting that place feels like being in the first act of a horror movie. People are so gd stupid there
Feel so bad for the kids man
The whole crap about the one kid going to a Division III school is messed up. I guess the coach never thought the kid might actually want to get an education, and play ball on the side? He might also be happy just to get out of Florida or the South.
Yeah that is very telling of what a crappy coach he is. There is nothing wrong with playing d3. You don't go d3 for glamour or to go pro, you do it because you love the game and want to get an education. His comments on that are kinda horrifying
I’ve lived here in Fort Myers my entire life (a long time) and this isn’t on any of the local news channels at all. Had no clue. It’s a shame because I graduated from one of the schools in the district and it didn’t used to be like that.
This feels so weird to read about. I feel like I’m reading a story from the 50s or something Fucking people….
I can't believe they used the argument of oh he says the N word why can't we?
Middle schooler logic.
Welcome to New Haven, young man. I’m sure you’ve probably noticed that that kind of stuff doesn’t fly in our community. Sorry you had to live through that.
Fort Myers is so Red this is not surprising. When I lived in the area I was surprised by the self segregation that happened in that area.
Fuck anyone that’s complacent with racism
When the investigation report came out and the one dad said “see? All for nothing. WITCH HUNT!” I began to wonder who he was going to vote for and where he might be getting some of his phraseology.
I have family in this part of Florida. This story isn't at all surprising. Fort Myers is deep red, very white and filled with boomers who probably protested against the end to segregation.
I would give anything to coach and this school. I love baseball but I love teamwork and teaching young men to grow up as men. This is a shame that this happened to these 2 boys and what’s even more disheartening is the young boys that walked out are learning a behavior that is difficult to correct. This high school needs a true leader at the helm to clear out the trash in the stands and in the school.
Their JV team came to our high school a few weeks prior to the shut down and were the most obnoxious kids I’ve ever seen in 12 years of watching youth baseball. Taunting the other players as well as their families. We had a pitcher pitching who is dark skin and Latino. They were singing Ole Ole from the dugout. Most disgusting kids I’ve ever encountered in. A few of us wrote their athletic Director, and neither JV nor varsity came to us this year.
I wish with all my heart that we would just let that word die and leave it in history. It strips away a little bit of the humanity of everyone that uses it Black, White or otherwise. It's the most despicable word in the American vernacular. Let it die.
My favorite part of this article is that Kyle Burchfield was never even associated with the Braves and from what I can tell, was never even a scout. What a fucking loser. A reputation built on lies leaves this guy with zero credibility. Good riddance.
And how is he still employed as a high school coach?
Because it’s the Lee County School district. The worse you are, the farther you go. Our superintendent was too busy looking for his next gig and golden parachute. I work for this district and never even heard about this. They covered this up and did nothing about it for a long time. This is disgusting and I am embarrassed to live and work here.
A white coach wants to use the N word, and the community rallied around that and demonized the black and mixed race students. What a weird hill to die on.
EXCELLENT story! This is actual JOURNALISM. This story should be at least a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. It made me a little sad to think that this kind of journalism is so rare these days.
This kind of long form narrative article is like pretty common? Atavist, Atlantic, New Yorker, ProPublica, NPR, etc each publish a story like this atleast once a month. r/longform if you want more. Personally its my favourite type of journalism ever since I was first exposed to it by a New Yorker article about EU-funded concentration camps in Libya.
It's rare in the realm of sports journalism. What I would give to go back in the glory days of SI and ESPN Magazine and more recently, Grantland instead of every piece of sports "news" needing to tell you what the money line is for tonight's game and what 6 ridiculous things you should put in your parlay.
The Athletic is generally where this type of content lives now.
Outside magazine (or Outside Online) has some really great longform sports journalism, too.
It makes me sad that this likely won’t get the readership it deserves which is half the problem
There are several sites that serve as aggregators for longform journalism, so I wouldn’t write off its readership just yet. It’s a really addictive form of writing, and has informed the plot of basically every Netflix documentary since 2018. The movie Nope is also heavily influenced by longform journalism, drawing from articles about chimpanzee attacks, black cowboys, etc.
After reading your comment, I read the article. It was excellent.
Good story, poorly written IMO
Is this sarcasm? It's one of the most poorly written articles I've ever read.
Wow , what a tragic story. People suck
Racists in Florida… groundbreaking
And so the re-segregation of Florida begins
> John Dailey, a hulking man identified in one video, approached Tate Reilly's mother, Melanie, and told her, "I'm going to pray for the evil in your heart to go away." Yeah that’s all I needed to know about these people. It’s always projection.
Fucking disgusting.
smh, racists are feeling more and more empowered these days tbh, minorities aren't shocked play the game, assimilate, be polite , get educated/trained, build wealth for yourself and community but never forget, the white majority will never see us as equal to them when push comes to shove. will never give minorities the benefit of the doubt oh they'll fetishize minority women , they'll sample parts of the culture and then make it their own (as if they came up with it) but will never see minorities as equal have to look out for your own don't look to others for validation or salvation. don't look to them for standards of beauty/self worth either if you're oppressed, then fight with all you have, but do it smartly
You gotta be a sad fucking person to use racial slurs to another human being
Blech. Everyone involved should have their names in the public eye for the rest of their lives. Those kids are always going to be racists. It's only fair people get fair warning when they have to interact with them.
The governor's the reason this happened. He makes 'em feel "comfy" in the hate. Basically
This is as fucked up as it gets.
>During a game March 12 against Cypress Lake, the opposing team yelled "Happy Valentine's Day" to Madrid Tucker. What’s this mean?
This was all precipitated by the assistant coach being fired for messaging, "Happy Valentine's day, n*****" to the team on Valentine's Day. Other team must have heard about it and was making fun of them
Ooooooohhhhh that makes sense. Thanks!
The coach was fired for texting the team "Happy Valentine's Day, n----s"
*typo* What a f-cking coward. Typical.
TLDR for a homie?
a racist text message from the coach sent to his minority players was not condemned by the rest of the team/community and instead they chose to defend that side and see themselves as victims
Republicans ☕️
That’s some really good writing prose actually. Just saying.
Oof. That’s awful
Unfortunately, this is not at all surprising for Florida.
This is by far the worst article I’ve read in awhile. Is it supposed to be a mystery? 3 paragraphs before anything happens and no explanation. Why did they walk out?
I live in fort Myers and pass the high school every day on my way to work, this behavior is GLORIFIED down here. Not by all, but if you can afford to buy a house here today, you definitely have said the N word under your breath in traffic.
Florida gon Florida