I wasn’t offended by the Women’s Tennis article by Ben Rothenberg.  I read the article about the negative response Rothenberg’s piece received and I think people took it the wrong way.  Readers were offended by the quotes not by the author’s opinion.  It wasn’t an editorial, Mr. Rothenberg didn’t write his opinion or reaction nor should he have.  I was disgusted by Tomasz Wikorowski’s quote: “It’s our decision to keep her as the smallest player in the top 10.  Because, first of all she’s a woman, and she wants to be a woman.”  But this made me not like Tomasz Wiktorowski, and it made me think he was a sexist, not Ben Rothenberg.  Ben Rothenberg was trying to point out that Serena William’s confidence was good and empowering in a society that thinks having muscles is “manly.”  However,  I do feel like they presented it poorly on twitter.  Using that quote made it look like they were agreeing with Coach Wiktorowski and it made it look like the quote was attacking Serena Williams.

On the contrary, I thought the Taye Diggs by James Hannaham was very offensive.  When I read the line “If you start to salivate when you hear the phrase ‘‘black men with jobs,’’ then Diggs is your guy.”  I was shocked.  Diggs was obviously trying to make a joke but it was far from funny.  I thought he mentioned Taye Diggs’ race a few too many times.  Hannaham kept mentioning Diggs was black and said he is “Black America’s most eligible bachelor.”  It would have been acceptable to mention it once or twice because Diggs says he was overjoyed to be cast in the role because he never thought they would be open-minded enough to let a black person play it.  But Hannaham went a little overboard.  Unlike the Women’s Tennis piece, Mr. Hannaham wasn’t quoting someone else.  I definitely feel the black men with jobs line should have been taken out.  A journalist must be extra careful when using his/her own words, whether it’s stating an opinion or making a joke, especially when dealing with such a sensitive subject.