Since Beeze brought us the Tim Joyce investigative report on the Sex Abuse Scandal within the USA Olympic Swim team both of us have spent a good deal of time trying to get this story sent out to the very media Joyce calls out. We were up until nearly 4 am Monday morning; this is the time of day where newsrooms around the country and their producer’s are putting together the morning broadcasts and we got an unusual amount of traffic as we spent a good 90 minutes tweeting the link to both the Gab and WBAL sites for them to see exactly what it was that outraged us. At the end of the day you’ll be really surprised who picked up this story, a little online newspaper in Toronto Canada called “The People at Risk Daily”, and we thank Lisa A. McLeod for doing so, she clearly gets it, but CNN, ESPN, NBC, every news anchor and top gun reporter (and yes B.O.B., even Bill O’Reilly got one from me) could not have been less interested.
In the last 48 hours I’ve been reeling over this, all the while I can scan the channels and see Olympic Coverage, Olympic Coverage, Olympic Coverage, Spoiler Alert, Gabby Douglas etc…USA Swim Scandal? Nada! The cowards Joyce speaks of in the mainstream media, you know the ones who have to answer to a higher authority before ever airing anything without the stamp of approval from the “Politcal Correctness Department” because it’s taboo to step on the toes of the likes of NBC and the billions they doled out for Olympic broadcast rights, or ESPN who can’t offend anything or anyone in sports until it’s obvious the rest of the planet will hang the offender out to dry too, i.e. Jerry Sandusky. Part of what’s wrong here very well could be Joyce’s timing of the story. Joyce’s story hit the web July 31st, the Games were underway and if you’re working on an Olympic story whether it’s a competitor fluff piece or a hard story like this you’d think timing shouldn’t matter, it’s about the USA Olympic Swim team, it talks about the very coaches who are now being investigated for said abuse but that’s not what Bob Costas is going to be allowed to talk about after interviewing Michael Phelps who just broke the Olympic medal record…just can’t have it. When Beeze posted the story at the Gab early Monday morning we weren’t even 24 hours into the shooting of the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, that got top bill and rightfully so, but my problem is why is a news organization like CNN or FOX News not able to cover more than one top story, they do it all the time and on a slow news day they still manage to fill their slots with plenty of crap to keep their anchors talking.
I started thinking; just maybe the reason isn’t the timing of the games as much as it is the story has “USA Swimming” in the title and not Penn State. It sure seemed pretty easy to point the finger at a school in a college town, say the administration and coaches covered it up, district attorney’s and police departments knew but basically looked the other way while Sandusky molested boys in the Nittany Lion locker room shower stalls, as I recall no one died, but Sandusky went to trial, was publicly humiliated, Paterno was forced out as head coach and into the grave. I’m not minimizing the abuse of Sandusky, personally I look forward to the day there’s breaking news he was found swinging in his cell, I’ll be more than okay with that sound bite. But when we’ve got numerous coaches, suicide, sexual abuse, cover-ups, a girl who got pregnant from a coach, there’s something seriously wrong when no one wants to ask the question - What the hell is going on with the USA Olympic Swim team and why hasn’t anyone appointed a special prosecutor from the US Attorney’s office? Why hasn’t a congressman asked why is this being swept under the rug? Oh yeah, it’s an election year, they have bigger fish to fry, their careers. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons got more attention than this and that was for perjury about steroid abuse…(is this making sense to any of you yet)? Why, because they were multi-million dollar, high profile athletes that makes it okay? Where are our priorities? I’m sorry, when the safety of young girls (and most of you know I have a daughter so you know where my anger is coming from) are being compromised by the very coaches entrusted by parents to train them to represent our country and it’s covered up for the sake of the reputation of an organized sport and the ole boy network that oversees it I can’t fathom why this isn’t front and center and I’m not seeing headlines with coaches being escorted into police stations cuffed and jackets hiding their faces, just like Jerry Sandusky...this story mirrors Penn State in so many ways. The differences, it's on a much larger scale, over a longer period of time, involves not one but many coaches and children and 16 year Sarah Burt walked herself in front of a tractor trailer and committed suicide. Yeah, it makes you just scratch your head doesn't it?...or want to go out and hurt someone.
B.O.B I believe was who made the comment that when the games were over, the closing ceremonies have concluded and athletes, networks and reporter’s come home this might just rear its ugly head. I thought the same thing too. If that’s the case, I won’t be surprised, but I’ll have a lot of mixed emotions if I do see it. First, I’ll be extremely pissed off if I hear Erin Burnett, Kyra Phillips or Soledad O’Brien talking about this like they just found out about it, that I can assure you isn’t the case, they all got it the morning Beeze and I tweeted “talking heads” from here to the moon and back. If Bill O’Reilly talks about it I’ll be glad FOX covered it instead of pumping sunshine up Mitt Romney’s ass while we still listen to him and Harry Reid trade barbs over Mitt’s tax records, because in the grand scheme of things, this is what I really want to know about. Wrong! Sure, I’ll be glad to see this get the attention it deserves, but God help whoever it is that does so if they got this story originally from us, I’ll be calling them out for doing exactly what it is I believe they’re doing, lying in wait to pounce when the timing is just right - after the games. Which we all know is the wrong reason, it’s just the politically correct reason, and that’s horse shit.
Sarah Burt deserves better, her family deserves better. Tim Joyce deserves the same recognition for having the guts to break this story as Sarah Ganim got when breaking the Sandusky story, and we all know that story wasn’t really “breaking news” either, it was a story that resurfaced on the heels of one reporter who was just not going to take NO for an answer. I’m here to say, I’m not taking NO for an answer either.
Got to go now, I need to tweet the hell out of this to the same mainstream media that ignored the last story and I suggest you all do the same…don’t you take NO for an answer either.
This will not be a normal "Monday Moaning"...No jokes, no pics of the kids...No videos...No talk of the Browns sale...That's for another day...Right now we need to talk about something much more serious...
This is Sarah Burt...She's dead...And her story, and the story of many others have been kept far too quiet, for far too long...A story that will remind us, that child sexual abuse and covering it up, is a serious problem, and it's happened at more places then just Penn State...Dealing with having been sexually abused by her USA Swimming coach had become too much, and too hard for Sarah Burt...At 16 years old she stepped out into traffic and was killed by a semi-truck...
This post is based on the incredible, and hard journalistic work of TIM_JOYCE...I can not do this story justice, please read his work HERE...And HERE...
I cannot understand how we all haven't read and heard more about this...This seems to be abuse, and cover-up on a much larger scale then we saw at Penn State...Why have we not heard about Sarah Burt? Why with all the horrible Olympic coverage, have we not heard about this? Why am I only learning about a Swimming coach named Andy King, that sexual abused kids for 3 decades, and was sentenced to 40 years in jail for it, today?
Yes, Swimming is not a mainstream sport...Sure, it's something we don't really pay much attention to until an Olympic year...But this is USA Swimming...Overseen by the U.S. Olympic Committee...How and why would they keep this quiet? Even worse, why is Tim Joyce the only guy to have the balls to go after them, and dig into this story?
Well, as Joyce pointed out, the media is "lazy"...I agree, and I'll go a step further...They're lazy, and they're afraid...They are afraid to offend anyone...Somewhere along the line they decided to be everyone's friend...Even when something awful happens, they'll report it, but they won't dig too deep...Then they let it blow over and wait for the next big splash...
Yes, I'm generalizing here...But I find it to be true of the majority of the media...How many reporters are covering the Olympics? A shit-load right! So why, when John Leonard, head of the American Swim Coaches Association, said he thought Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen’s world record 400-meter individual medley victory was a result of performance enhancing drugs, why didn't any of those reporters call him on his bullshit? Why didn't they ask him why he has firmly opposed all attempts to adopt a zero tolerance policy regarding inappropriate behavior by coaches?
As Joyce reported HERE, "Nearly ten years ago when such a policy was being pushed by coach Dick Shoulberg who had “seen and heard too much”, Leonard, also in no uncertain terms, came out strongly against such a policy. Said Leonard at that time, the “possibility of abuse of this policy against abuse, is huge”, and that “I would work against the adoption of this policy and urge others to do likewise.”"
Numbers of coaches facing accusations allowed to resign quietly, with no reason given...Numbers of hush-hush deals to protect predators, and to protect the name of USA Swimming...Nearly non-existent background screening of coaches...Coach Rick Curl paying the Davies family and signing a non-disclosure agreement after having abused Kelley Davies between the ages of 13-16...Curl has never denied the detailed accusations brought against him from the Davies family...Curl has moved to Australia...Gee, I wonder why! Maybe he knows a shit storm is about to come crashing down on him and USA Swimming....
There are clearly a mountain of breakdowns that have gone on here...It seems almost everyone involved in USA Swimming knows there is a problem with sexual abuse going on...Almost everyone seems afraid to step up and say/do something about it...There has been a massive cover up going on to protect the creeps...And of course, to protect the good name of USA Swimming...It gives you an awful feeling that there may be no one involved in USA Swimming, that isn't a scumbag...
And then there is the failure of the mainstream media, to not dig into this...To not follow up on past stories...To not ask the hard questions...Clearly there were plenty of rumblings, but only Tim Joyce had what it takes to speak up for the kids that had their innocence ripped from them...
My goal for this post is to make as many people aware of what has been happening to kids in the US Swimming program for decades...To make the media aware...And hopefully the work of Tim Joyce will inspire future journalists, and remind the old one of how it should be done...I hope you'll help me spread the word.
Australian hurdler, Michelle Jenneke...Watch the whole video...She's hot...She has a nice warm up routine...Oh, and she runs the hurdles pretty damn well too...
I could care less about the Olympics, but I'll check the guide to see when the Women's Hurdles is on...
Yeah, that's a picture of Bobby Petrino when he was just a little horn-dog...Boy, his dick really messed up his world...But Petrino, and his stupidity got enough attention last week...Fuck him! This week I'm going to write a bit about me...
There's a major change happening in my life right now...You've all read plenty about me working at The Fish House...All total, I've spent 17 years working there...Mrs. Beeze and I met there...It's possible that we made our first born daughter there...Well, the big bosses upstairs have decided to start moving people around in the company...And I'm one of those people...After 17 years in The Fish House, they're kicking me over to one of their sister restaurants...I'm heading to one of their steak houses...Don't worry, I've cooked plenty of steaks at the Fish House, and other places...I'll be fine, except for the extra money I'll be spending in gas...I'm not happy about the move, but I'm holding back right now...Trying to be a good soldier...
But my friends at the Fish House sent me off in style...Making me a cock and balls cake...Then handing me a bag of goodies...They gave me a ball gag...A candy cock ring...An English cock ring and ball cage...A butt plug...And lube...Where else can you get going away gifts like that...Luckily this weekend was the Mrs. and my anniversary!
-Now onto sports...I wrote a couple days ago about THIS big loss to the Notre Dame Football team, and how it seems to be becoming a problem...
-Then news broke that the Cleveland Indians were signing Johnny Damon...Seriously, WTF!?! Nothing says winning like a washed-up, 38 year old, rag-arm, outfielder, 10 years past his prime! They'd be better off signing an injured Grady Sizemore...Oh wait, they did that too!
Of course they would do this, just days after I PRAISED them for locking up some of there young, core talent...
-Now we hit the NHL...The playoffs started this past week, and so far the games have been action packed...But the discipline is a little fucked up...Saturday night Carl Hagelin threw this shot at Daniel Alfredsson...
Hagelin got a 3 game suspension...Now the hit was a bit high, but it wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of shots I've seen this year...But even worse, this happened just days after Shea Weber slammed Henrik Zetterberg's face into the glass...
All Weber got was a little fine...Are you fucking shitting me...That was ten times worse the Hagelin's hit...Besides the fact that Hagelin doesn't have any history of dirty hits or violence...While Weber is well known for his physical play, and isn't the cleanest guy in the league...This is some,fucked up, retarded bullshit here!
-Speaking of fucked up, retarded bullshit...The stupid ass Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductions were this weekend...And this year was one of those special years were the ceremony is actually held in Cleveland, you know, the city were teh Hall of Fame is located...We're so privileged to be allowed to have the ceremony once every 3 years...Holy fuck, who made this anal rape filled deal...
Then there is the fact that the local media can't control themselves when this happens...Each station has 4 reporters camped outside the same damn place...All going bat-shit crazy because one of the Rolling Stones showed up...Oh, look it's George Clinton and some B-listers...I can hardly fucking contain myself...I better break out that cock-ring and ball cage!
By Saturday night, I was fucking over it...I took to Facebook to share my frustration..."I'm really fucking sick of all the local media outlets, and their non-stop Rock & Roll Hall of Fame coverage...1. Have you been there? It's over-priced and not very impressive...2. If the inductions are such a big deal, why the hell isn't it on TV anywhere...3. Enough with the Guns & Roses talk, and stupid Axl...They only released 3 albums, and only one of those was good...Yet Rush and their 19 studio albums, shit they released 2 in 1975, along with their multiple live albums, are not in yet...Axl, Slash, Duff, the junkie drummer, and insert rhythm guitarist, aren't even worthy of being roadies for Rush...The R&RHOF can suck my ass!"
And I stand by every word I wrote there...Seriously, I went to the R&RHOF once...It cost way too much for what you get...I'll never spend another dime there again in my life...Seriously, Madonna, The Beastie Boys, Guns & Roses are in...But RUSH isn't...Shit, I hate KISS, but they should have been in long before the countless numbers of non-Rock & Roll acts...And ahead of G&R who have had much less of an impact on the industry then those douchebags KISS...
And there are plenty of inductees that I wouldn't call Rock & Roll...More pop type stuff...And I have to ask, while not a fan of Chicago, they should be in there long before a lot of this other shit...And you know what, put Journey in there too...Mother fuckers were gods of the Rock Ballad and Stadium Anthems...
All that bitching about the stupid R&RHOF has me angry as shit again...So I'll close with a picture of my little girl...Already in the 90th percentile in height, here she is trying to take her brothers old big-wheel for a spin...
