10446: More Musings On Moronic Megan Lochte.

The incredibly ignorant Megan Lochte has inspired a few additional thoughts.

Considering how triple jumper Voula Papachristou was dumped from Greece’s Olympic team for her culturally clueless Tweets mocking African immigrants—and officials at Euro 2012 were ready to penalize teams, countries and fans for racist behavior—it would be appropriate for Ms. Lochte to experience similar reprimands. For starters, she should be banned from attending any future Olympic events. And like the Euro 2012 teams and countries connected with bigots, the Ryan Lochte posse should be punished for its association with Ms. Lochte. After all, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Additionally, if there is truth in Ms. Lochte’s excuse that her 2008 performance was actually a staged skit, Maryland late night comedy talk show Closing Time, as well as its Baltimore-based comical host Mickey Cucchiella, should face disciplinary action too. Finally, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where Ms. Lochte studied multicultural marketing, owes an explanation regarding its curriculum.

10352: Let Madison Avenue Give Up The Gold.

Mercury News reported on the triple jumper from Greece whose racist tweet led to her Olympic expulsion. The Hellenic Olympic Committee dumped the athlete “for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement.” When considering the disciplinary action—as well as the fines levied on racist fans at Euro 2012—one can’t help but wonder what might happen if such measures were applied to Madison Avenue. That is, agencies caught producing racist and/or culturally clueless campaigns could be publicly reprimanded and forced to cough up wads of loot. Plus, make shops pay for failing to meet diversity goals. Send all collected cash to the UNCF or any minority youth outreach program of the month. Why, the amassed amount would be enough to secure a complete economic recovery for the U.S.—and Greece too.

Olympic athlete expelled over Twitter comments

By Demetris Nellas, Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece—Triple jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from Greece’s Olympic team Wednesday for her comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and expressing support for a far-right party.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee said Wednesday that Papachristou is “placed outside the Olympic team for statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement.”

Papachristou is in Athens and has not responded to calls from The Associated Press. The committee said she was to travel to London shortly before the track events start.

Papachristou’s Twitter account (@papaxristoutj) contains several retweets and postings of YouTube videos promoting the views of Golden Dawn, a formerly marginal extreme right party that entered the Greek Parliament in the recent two national elections—in May and June this year—by polling almost 7 percent of the vote.

But it was her attempt at a joke Sunday that went viral. Commenting on the widely reported appearance of Nile-virus-carrying mosquitoes in Athens, Papachristou wrote: “With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!”. Her tweet prompted thousands of negative comments that snowballed Wednesday.

Since anyone can access an unprotected Twitter account, Papachristou’s YouTube links and retweets inevitably became known. Several of her retweets were original tweets by Ilias Kasidiaris, the Golden Dawn spokesman and one of the party’s

18 Parliament members, who became notorious a few weeks ago for striking a woman Communist MP in the face and throwing water at another female MP during a TV talk show. Papachristou tweeted to Kassidiaris on his name day, last Friday, “Many happy years, be always strong and true!!!”

Papachristou’s initial reaction to the negative comments, on Tuesday, was to tweet: “That’s how I am. I laugh. I am not a CD to get stuck!!! And if I make mistakes, I don’t press the replay! I press Play and move on!!!”

Her attitude changed completely Wednesday and she has posted five apologetic tweets in less than two hours. The last tweet, a very long one in English, which she has also posted on her Facebook account, reads: “I would like to express my heartfelt apologies for the unfortunate and tasteless joke I published on my personal Twitter account. I am very sorry and ashamed for the negative responses I triggered, since I never wanted to offend anyone, or to encroach human rights.

“My dream is connected to the Olympic Games and I could not possibly participate if I did not respect their values. Therefore, I could never believe in discrimination between human beings and races. I would like to apologize to all my friends and fellow athletes, who I may have insulted or shamed, the National Team, as well as the people and companies who support my athletic career. Finally, I would like to apologize to my coach and my family.”

Before the publication of the last tweet, Democratic Left, one of the three parties in Greece’s coalition government, had published a statement assailing the “racist humor” and calling on the Hellenic Olympic Committee to expel Papachristou from the Olympics

“Let her make any miserable ‘jokes’ on social media while watching the games on TV. She definitely cannot represent Greece in London,” the Democratic Left statement said.

10253: Italy’s Racist Shot In Euro 2012.

From The New York Daily News…

Euro 2012: Italian newspaper shows striker Mario Balotelli as King Kong atop Big Ben prior to Italy’s match against England

Prior to Italy’s clash with England in Euro 2012, La Gazzetta dello Sport shows Balotelli, who is black, swatting soccer balls while atop Big Ben. Racism has been a concern at the European Championships, and Balotelli had said earlier that racism is unacceptable in 2012.

By Bernie Augustine / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Players competing in Euro 2012 were concerned that racism could be a problem with fans in Poland and Ukraine. They probably didn’t expect to be the subject of racial insensitivity in the press.

On Sunday an Italian newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, published a photo-illustration of Italy’s star striker, Mario Balotelli, as King Kong atop Big Ben swatting away soccer balls.

Although the intent of the cartoon seemed to be that Balotelli and the Italians would topple England, the execution was clearly done in poor taste. Italy won the match in a shootout, 4-2. 

Before the tournament kicked off, Balotelli — who was born in Palermo but is of Ghanainan descent — addressed his concerns about racism in Poland and Ukraine, the co-hosts for the European Championships.

“Let’s see what happens at the Euro. I hope that there will not be a problem,” he told France Footall. “Because I really can’t handle that.”

“I cannot bear racism, it’s unacceptable for me. If it had happened again I would straight away leave the pitch and go home. We are in 2012. It can’t happen,” the 21-year-old added. 

Despite efforts to stem any racist outbursts, racism has been an issue at the month-long tournament. In Italy’s group-play match against Croatia, Croatian fans directed racist chants at Balotelli and a banana was thrown onto the pitch during the match. The Croatian Football Federation was fined 80,000 euros ($106,000) last week for their fans’ actions.

On Monday, London’s Metropolitan police announced they were launching an investigation into racist tweets directed at two black English players — Ashley Cole and Ashley Young. Both players missed penalty kicks in the Three Lions’ 4-2 loss to Balotelli’s Italian squad Sunday.

Earlier this month, UEFA, soccer’s governing body, addressed complaints from the Netherlands about monkey chants from the crowd at a Dutch training session in Krakow, Poland.

10225: The Women Of Euro 2012.

10214: Racism Rules In Football.

FHM conducted a survey asking its readers about racism in the Euro 2012 tournament. Check out the infographic for the results.