Opinion

4 The Daily Aztec Opinion

Nov. 10 - 16, 2021 EDITOR: Aaliyah Alexander • opinion@thedailyaztec.com

Jon Gruden’s bad behavior is despicable yet not surprising

by daniela ramirez STAFF WRITER

What could be one of the biggest losses for the Raiders yet is not in a game but their head coach.

Jon Gruden “resigned” as the head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders with ten years of misogynistic, racist and homophobic language in emails sent to former football executive Bruce Allen and other elite personnel.

“I do know this, at that point of my life, eleven years ago or ten years ago, I am sure I vented a little bit…” Gruden told The Athletic. However, “vented a little bit” is an understatement.

Gruden’s vulgar thoughts and remarks shared to Allen from 2011 to 2018 is not just a moment of letting off some steam, but is representative of the true beliefs he holds. Gruden is just another privileged white man who got away with it for years and should’ve been fired when the incidents started to occur.

Gruden’s emails range from Caitlyn Jenner to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. The emails were discovered by an ongoing investigation into the Washington football team, which Allen used to manage back in 2004 to 2008.

Allen used his work email, which in turn, is how Gruden’s emails came to light even though it was through his personal email account. The New York Times

was the first news source to review the emails and to share them with the public.

Gruden said in many emails that the NFL needs to stop hiring women, gay people and players who protested against the national anthem. Gruden complained, shamed and disrespected almost everyone he could that didn’t fit his way of life.

In similar emails, Gruden told Allen that Jeff Fisher, former St. Louis Rams coach “needs to stop drafting ‘queers” while Gruden ironically coached Carl Nassib, the first openly gay active player in the NFL. This is not surprising since Gruden also criticized Michael Sam who came out as gay in 2014 while in the NFL.

Gruden doesn’t stop there with his “venting” sessions with Allen; the ex Raiders coach then called Goodell a f*ggot and a “clueless anti-football pussy.”

My take: Gruden did not say his opinion of Goodell to his face, so who’s really the pussy?

Not only is Gruden homophobic and sexist, but he is a racist too. Another racist white man living in his privileged, self absorbed world, with his once 100 million dollar coaching contract.

DeMaurice Smith, the NFL players association executive director, worked with Gruden for over ten years. Working on “Monday Night Football” together, Gruden refers to Smith as “Dumboriss” and says the only reason why Smith is on the show

is as a color analyst.

Gruden also goes on about Smith’s appearance “Dumborris Smith has lips the size of Michelin tires,” he wrote in emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

All comments were never brought to light until now since Gruden only spoke this way to his favorite ranting buddy Bruce Allen.

For years, Gruden has spoken about NFL officials, sports journalists and prominent figures like our former president Barack Obama. It seemed Gruden had something to say about everyone and everything in the world.

The NFL promotes racial equality yet the franchise hires a

Screenshot from Jon Gruden’s InstagramWhere is ‘cancel culture’ when it comes to an actual person worth punishing?

coach that is the poster child for inequality. Jon Gruden is not the only one. There are more coaches and staff that have terrible agendas who are under the table right now just as Gruden was for years.

The NFL was required to force Gruden to resign. If not, the league would be condoning his behavior, parishing the NFL’s whole motto: “It Takes All of Us” referring to the on-going fight to end racism, social injustice and inequality.

This stands for everyone except apparently your coaches, NFL.

Daniela Ramirez is a junior studying journalism.

Anti-aging practices won’t keep you young

EDITOR IN CHIEF Catlan Nguyen

MANAGING EDITOR Trinity Bland

NEWS EDITOR Katelynn Robinson

OPINION EDITOR Aaliyah Alexander

MUNDO AZTECA EDITOR Noé Sandoval

ASST. MUNDO AZTECA EDITOR Karina Bazarte

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Ryan Hardison

ASST. ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Cristina Lombardo

SPORTS EDITOR Jason Freund

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Andrew Finley

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Amanda Orozco

PHOTO EDITOR Noelani Sapla

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Mackenzie Stafford

ASST. MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Jayne Yutig

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Hemen Mesfin

STAFF WRITERS Eugenie Budnik Christian Houser Nick Coppo Marian Cuevas Morgan Ray Sumaia Wegner Daniela Ramirez

SENIOR STAFF WRITERS Lucelis Martinez Marco Perez Sara Rott

CONTRIBUTORS Hailey Risch ________________________________

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Brian Arnold

________________________________

by aaliyah alexander OPINION EDITOR

To be frank, I despise anti-aging propaganda.

I didn’t know how much I detested anti-aging tactics until my Nutrition 313 professor listed off a ridiculous amount of methods some individuals use to prevent aging.

The thought of people going great lengths to disguise a natural process for human beings struck a nerve in me because some individuals don’t get the privilege to see their “older” self due to untimely death at young ages. I would bet a pretty penny that a 21-year-old who died in a car crash would love to trade places with a 78-year-old in a heartbeat.

Humans weren’t designed to look young their whole life. If we were, then that would be a fact of life, but it’s not.

I view wrinkles and grey hair as a badge of honor. If one makes it as far as getting grey hair and wrinkles, it implies years of growth and life experience.

Whoever convinced people to view growing older as an undesirable process owes an apology to the millions of people getting botox, surgery or spending insane amounts of

money for anti-aging products.

“Can we go back to bodies being functional and not like barbie suits,” Tiktok user Kiera Breaugh said. “Why do we have the expectation to look 20 forever? Why are we giving it so much power and chasing after it for our entire life?” I couldn’t agree more. When I look at my grandmothers and grandfathers, great-grandmothers and grandfathers, great aunts and

Graphic by Aaliyah Alexander

Anti-aging propaganda shames a natural process. We need to make aging normal again.uncles, I don’t see “ugliness” and a failure to preserve youth, I see strength, history and beauty.

Instead of wishing I can look 20 forever, I pray I get to see myself 20 years from now.

Knowing one day I won’t have my young body and face prompts me to enjoy and nurture it while I have it and, at the same time, appreciate the thought of it completely changing in the future.

One person I feel embodies the

message of embracing the natural process of aging is actress, singer and television host Tracee Ellis Ross.

Instead of engaging in surgeries, botox and other antiaging tactics, Ross engages in natural routines that she outlined in her “five commandments for staying young”: giggle as much as possible, get your sleep, drink so much water, have as much sex as possible and love with a full and open heart.

To be clear, I’m not opposed to individuals wanting to look and feel healthy as they progress in age — that should be a goal for everyone — but there is a difference between wanting to maintain health and wanting to preserve your teenage body and skin.

At the end of the day, we can’t be “forever young” as Alphaville put it. In fact, you should be grateful if one day you experience a head full of grey hair and wrinkled tattoos.

Until then, take notes from Ross and just drink your water, workout, love, laugh and enjoy the journey of life.

Aaliyah Alexander is a junior studying journalism and international studies.

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Nov. 10 - 16, 2021 EDITOR: Aaliyah Alexander • opinion@thedailyaztec.com

Opinion

The Daily Aztec

5

Magic Johnson’s retirement speech continues to impact people today

by trinity bland MANAGING EDITOR

Watching Nelson George’s project “The Announcement” with NBA Entertainment in seventh grade taught me tons about consequences.

I thought the film’s primary objective was to take viewers down a historical path concentrating on former NBA superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his abrupt retirement from the Los Angeles Lakers. However, it centered Johnson’s journey to publicly disclosing something extremely personal and the influential aftermath of one press conference that became a cultural phenomenon.

It has now been 30 years since that press conference. On Nov. 7, 1991, Johnson made people stop and stare as he announced his retirement as well as confirmation he contracted the HIV virus at The Forum in Inglewood, California.

Thankfully, it’s been awhile since I’ve walked the halls of middle school but “The Announcement” is still captivating and my favorite documentary. I could say it’s because of my fascination with Johnson’s basketball brilliance in the 1980s and my eagerness to learn more about his story aside from athletics, but I’m obsessed with the film’s beautiful depiction of his road to advocacy while also demonstrating the complexities of public perception.

Examining the deep preparation it takes to make an announcement of this

magnitude — Johnson’s retirement coupled with the devastating reasoning behind it and the vastly unknown ways his career and life would change — the film takes viewers on a voyage through the then 32-year-old’s larger-than-life declaration.

Testing positive for HIV in 1991 was widely regarded as a death sentence — meaning fans automatically became terrorized, preparing to watch a beloved sports hero die rapidly and excruciatingly.

Johnson’s announcement officially ended a career that spanned two college seasons at Michigan State and 12 seasons with the Lakers, who drafted him in 1979.

During his time as a versatile point guard, the three-time MVP helped revolutionize the position with incredible passes and court-length drives. Johnson had a surreal ability to know when to shoot and when to pass the ball. His dazzling powers on the court earned him the moniker “Magic.”

Despite his basketball success, charming charisma and dignified 6-foot-9-inch build, Johnson accepted responsibility for his reckless past and handled the dark consequences he faced 30 years ago with grace, courage and even a few appropriate jokes to lighten the awkward atmosphere for everyone.

Nevertheless, Johnson did what he had to do: he forged ahead and deliberately educated the media about a disease most either embarrassingly whispered about or completely ignored, believing — like the superstar himself — it could never happen

to them.

“I think sometimes we think, well, only gay people can get it — ‘It’s not going to happen to me,” Johnson shared in his announcement. “And here I am saying that it can happen to anybody, even me, Magic Johnson.”

Arguably, this is what made Johnson a world-changer.

What patterned tie he chose to wear on that nightmarish day was probably among the things Johnson took into consideration before the announcement, but the questions he were to be asked immediately following the breaking news, the headlines of major newspapers and the discourse on every news station for the foreseeable future were all factors that contributed to his overall trepidation viewers could sense.

Johnson defied odds by not just surviving, but by truly prospering for decades to follow. From his stellar MVP performance in the 1992 NBA All-Star Game, his goldmedal winning participation in the U.S. Olympic “Dream Team” later that year and an emotional NBA comeback in 1996, to his remarkable success as a businessman, philanthropist and ambassador in the fight against HIV, Johnson has continued to live up to his nickname.

Similarly and heartbreakingly, throughout the deadly global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have been naive and remain uninformed.

With press conferences held by politicians and medical professionals disseminating

Graphic by Shalika Oza

The magic of Johnson’s announcment will never fade.incessantly changing information about the world as we know it today, it can be overwhelming to stay engaged.

Johnson knew his announcement would be one to remember, obviously. However, the relevance and tenacity of his message are everlasting: you think something couldn’t ever happen to you but it can.

Trinity Bland is a senior studying television, film, media and Spanish. Follow her on Twitter @trinityaliciaa.