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    anyah8sbunniesKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:40pm

    That was actually a decent apology from the editor....

    The article sounds pretty terrible

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      I'm Fart and I'm Smunnyanyah8sbunnies
      2/17/16 6:43pm

      I know, for once it wasn’t, “I’m sorry if the article offended anyone.” They actually straight up apologized for it being a horrible article.

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      RegalAlienanyah8sbunnies
      2/17/16 6:49pm

      That was the one bright spot in this whole debacle.

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    HarvestMoonKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:46pm

    “...without the potential of an NFL career to suppress his behavior, Holtzclaw seemingly became a completely different person.”

    Because careers in the NFL always suppress abusive behavior.

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      RumberaHarvestMoon
      2/17/16 6:55pm

      Yeah, that sentence in particular made me stop, slack jawed, for a full minute.

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      Mr.Noir, Liberal Hippie KingHarvestMoon
      2/17/16 6:56pm

      Seriously. Those NFL players sure are known for their good behavior.

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    Marlene FreaktrickKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:55pm

    That article is the peak of privilege. It starts out with how a man wants to be a pro football player, he works towards it but then doesn’t get to his goal. Which apparently is reason enough for turning into a serial rapist? Are you fucking kidding me? How many men and women have pursued dreams of being a professional athlete? Did they all become serial rapists? Did they all then pursue jobs that would give them power over people that they could take advantage of? No. Then it’s not likely connected whatsoever. The assumption that someone when they haven’t achieved a goal is then stripped of their power over their own destiny is the peak of privilege, because it assumes that the person should be given that goal regardless of talent and then that it is reasonable to take out their inadequacies on those who have less power in their lives in every way. I feel like steam is coming out of my ears.

    As a football player, he had believed he was in charge of his own destiny, now he was stripped of his power.

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      greysweaterMarlene Freaktrick
      2/17/16 7:05pm

      Yeah, I said something similar above. Not getting one’s way is not a blanket excuse for bad behavior. There are thousands of NCAA football players every year who, undrafted, just join society and do something else. Why this unknown player from a non-elite football school felt so entitled to be drafted is amazing to me, and does not excuse his disgusting crimes.

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      grapesIickMarlene Freaktrick
      2/17/16 7:20pm

      Christ. What the fuck was this writer thinking? “Stripped of his power” is how you describe VICTIMS, not people sulking over missing out on the NFL.

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    I'm Fart and I'm SmunnyKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:42pm

    Seems like a good place to put this:

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      Marlene FreaktrickI'm Fart and I'm Smunny
      2/17/16 6:59pm

      omg this is so good I can’t believe I’ve never seen it

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      The Antisocial Social WorkerI'm Fart and I'm Smunny
      2/17/16 8:53pm

      The stupid shit about her drinking like a fool detracts hugely from from this.

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    BowlofCherriesKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:44pm

    While it never should have been published in the first place, kudos to the SB Nation editor for that apology (an actual apology in which responsibility is taken and failures admitted!) and for taking it down promptly. This may leave me in the grays, but Gawker hasn’t always been quite so prompt or apologetic when they’ve published a story that should never have been published.

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      Marlene FreaktrickBowlofCherries
      2/17/16 6:57pm

      I really want to know how it got up when it was so not ok with the editors. Did he have access to publish on his own?

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      Cherith CutestoryMarlene Freaktrick
      2/17/16 7:17pm

      Deadspin suggests sort of tongue in cheek but also sort of not that maybe the editors didn’t even read the thing.

      It was 12,000 words.

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    Hoyo AfrikaKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:39pm

    Holtzclaw is continually described as a man who actively worked to stay out of trouble—as if it’s a shock when previously law-abiding men decide to rape women.

    This is how racist today's world really is. This man can go out and rape plenty of women yet we're suppose to believe that deep deep deep down in his lily-white heart, he was torn about forcing himself inside of black women? Meanwhile, black men rape because it's in their genes. I'm so over this day. I need my bong.

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      Lady Cannibal SharkHoyo Afrika
      2/17/16 6:44pm

      I tried to star your comment twice. Once for the general sentiment and another for the last sentence and deleted the first star. Apparently I need to put mine down.

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      Hoyo AfrikaLady Cannibal Shark
      2/17/16 6:46pm

      Don't be throwing it out of your high-rise window! We don't need to follow in Amanda's footsteps. So done with this week's hump.

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    HarvestMoonKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:48pm
    As a football player, he had believed he was in charge of his own destiny, now he was stripped of his power.

    And this is how high school and college football programs churn out sociopaths.

    Definitely sign your kids up for fall!

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      HarvestMoonHarvestMoon
      2/17/16 7:06pm

      Just realized most of the cops in my hometown were on the high school football team.

      Guess ex players are drawn to a life where you get to carry guns and exert control over other people’s lives.

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      erikaHarvestMoon
      2/18/16 3:15am

      Sadly not shocking at all. Bullies are gonna bully as long as they can.

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    LostAnotherBurnerPasswordKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:42pm

    Hey, maybe this is a step up! Instead of blaming women for men who rape and murder (if only she had been nicer and not hurt his feelings he never would have been compelled to commit violent acts against women!) we can blame the NFL for not drafting every sad man who wants to play professional football.

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      greysweaterLostAnotherBurnerPassword
      2/17/16 7:07pm

      Listening to sad men reminisce about their high school/small time college football days is always such a bore, but I suppose now I also have to fear these guys in case their failure to be professional athletes makes them evil soulless criminals.

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      AnglKatLostAnotherBurnerPassword
      2/17/16 8:18pm

      King of the Hill would have been a very different show reimagined by this author.

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    weebleswobbleKara Brown
    2/17/16 6:46pm
    Without an NFL dream to aspire to, perhaps he felt that his sacrifices had been for nothing. As a football player, he had believed he was in charge of his own destiny, now he was stripped of his power.

    The next bit is supposed to be something a long the lines of:

    As a man who lacked the fundamental respect for the rights and safety of other human beings, in particularly vulnerable Black women, he decided to take his failings out on others. He became a serial rapist who assaulted at least 13 women, preying on innocent women who he thought could not fight back, convinced of his own invulnerability and a conviction that he had the right to everything he wanted. He does not deserve respect, his right to recovery should not be ever spoken of in the same article — let alone inappropriately long run on sentence — as the women who survived his assaults, and he should waste away in jail buried under the weight of the sins he committed.

    Then the article ends with a link to organizations that support victims of sexual assault and police brutality.

    Everyone involved with this should be forced to volunteer with survivors.

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      greysweaterweebleswobble
      2/17/16 7:00pm

      Such a weird defense of this dude. He didn’t have an NFL dream so he became a serial rapist? I don’t have an NFL dream and I’m not a serial rapist. I imagine billions of other people could say the same thing. Why is someone reaching so hard to find an excuse for such a bad guy?

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      xkspgreysweater
      2/17/16 7:17pm

      I think— as many are saying— it could have been interesting in a “how do we understand someone who commits such reprehensible acts?” sort of way, but it was just... bad. And I blame the editors for the whole mess more than the writer.

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    fighting polish is David Schwimmer as Rob Kardashian SrKara Brown
    2/17/16 7:01pm

    I read that article this morning after the main SBNation account kept pumping it over twitter and genuinely couldn’t believe what I was reading.

    And I mentioned this over in the Deadspin comments, but the really disappointing thing is that SBNation has been big on promoting their own work with the “It’s On Us” campaign, a White House initiative to bring awareness to sexual assault on college campuses. Actions and words and all that, I suppose.

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      Cherith Cutestoryfighting polish is David Schwimmer as Rob Kardashian Sr
      2/17/16 7:22pm

      Yeah, I really like SBNation. Both their articles and their usual understanding of this issue. Appreciate the prompt action and genuine apology. But so disappointed.

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