Typical Iowa State: Paul Shirley.

by WaterlooChazz on Jan 28, 2010 10:34 PM CST

You may recall ISU's Paul Shirley: a hustle player who played for Larry Eustachy and Tim Floyd. Shirley's best year at ISU included averaging 10 points per game and almost 7 rebounds per game.

He played a total of 18 games for three different NBA teams in three seasons, and I believe he played in some foreign countries after that.

At some point, he began writing for ESPN.com, often about his experiences in those foreign countries, and sometimes about other things.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=shirley_paul&id=2198685

Apparently, writing about those things began to bore him, as he recently wrote some posts for Flipcollective.com that basically questioned if Haiti's citizens were at least partially to blame for their misfortunes after the earthquake, and also questioned why people were donating money to alleviate those misfortunes.

http://www.flipcollective.com/2010/01/26/if-you-rebuild-it-they-will-come-by-paul-shirley/

ESPN.com soon fired him, and he then wrote another post that basically said "I'm not sorry, but I apologize if you were offended."

http://www.flipcollective.com/2010/01/28/a-reaction-by-paul-shirley/

http://backporch.fanhouse.com/2010/01/27/espn-cuts-ties-with-paul-shirley-over-controversial-haiti-remark/

Is this what we can expect of ISU grads? Or is this way better than what we already expect of ISU grads? Discuss.

Unless otherwise expressly indicated by BHGP editors, this FanPost is strictly the viewpoint of the author and is not endorsed by BHGP in any way.

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Comments

I really, really don't want to delve into this here.

I won’t delete this or scold you or anything, but… this is a door best left closed. Please.

I got more rhymes than Wade Lookingbill's got dunks

by Adam Jacobi on Jan 29, 2010 2:57 AM CST reply actions

But Oops,

…there is literally no other place on the webnets to discuss this little-talked about topic.

/sarcastic asshole’d

MORE ZAZZ! I DEMAND MORE ZAZZ!

by Bucketochicken on Jan 29, 2010 8:30 AM CST up reply actions

Forgive me...

I wasn’t thinking about how it could morph into a political debate. I was, however, thinking about how it could protray an ISU alum as a complete jerk.

I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn't want to do it. I felt I owed it to them.

-- Judge Smails

by WaterlooChazz on Jan 31, 2010 12:50 AM CST up reply actions

Paul Shirley story

So I’m a big Paul Shirley fan. I was a diehard Iowa State fan growing up (the reason I cannot, despite ISU fans’ insistence to the contrary), I was devastated when they lost to MSU in the Elite 8 that year, and I followed Paul all through his journey as a writer. Enough preface, moving along.

Back when I had a MySpace account, I was “friends” with Paul. On one particular day, he posted an invite to all his “friends” to a Halloween party. All we had to do was respond with reasons why we should be invited. I’d never met the guy, but figured what the fuck, so I sent him a message. My reasons: 1) I was married, so I wouldn’t be looking to take away from women there. 2) I was in law school, so I knew plenty of smart women. 3) We all knew how to drink. After reviewing my reasons, the invite was then extended to attend.

I showed up with my 7-month pregnant wife and 3 female-friends from school. Paul, who is 6’10", answered the door dressed as a Smurf. He’s the biggest fuckign Smurf I’ve ever seen. As we enter, I then realize we’re the shortest ones there. By a foot. No joke, Paul’s brothers are all his height, and he had a bunch of his basketball-playing buddies there. It was a trip.

While we’re there, we end up playing flippy-cup on a door that’s set up in the middle of his family room. My wife was also playing (albeit with water; she was pregnant, after all). But when people walked in, all they saw was the pregnant chick chugging along with the rest of us, and everybody was so terribly confused. It was a trip.

I was invited back a couple of other times to hang out as well. Paul’s actually a really fun guy to hang out with, and his group of friends are equally as entertaining. That’s my Paul Shirley story.

by imadirtyoldman on Jan 29, 2010 10:22 AM CST reply actions

I was gonna wear a condom, but I figured, when's the next time I'm gonna be in Haiti?

by YouCanPutYourEddsInIt on Jan 29, 2010 10:34 AM CST reply actions

//Bad Idea Jeans'd

by YouCanPutYourEddsInIt on Jan 29, 2010 10:35 AM CST up reply actions

Haiti, you've been found guilty.

His arguments regarding philanthropic conservancy and population control would be valid and far less explosive were it not for these people being victims of a natural disaster.

His thought processes are strange though – very few men consciously think “I shouldn’t be riding this ho bareback… I could get her pregnant and our infrastructure can’t withstand earthquakes.”

No one is that forward-thinking.

by tigerhawk00 on Jan 29, 2010 3:17 PM CST reply actions

Holy crap, what a strange piece.

By his logic, “Wow Parkersburg, that was really stupid of you to bulid a town where a tornado might come through, guess you guys are on your own.” The leaps of logic he makes are jaw dropping.

And count me among the people who have enjoyed many of his blog posts on ESPN. Not to mention that the only time in my life I’ve vocally, passionately rooted for Iowa State was the 2000 Midwest regional final. Man did I want them to win that game. They deserved to.

by DonnyDonovan on Jan 29, 2010 4:14 PM CST reply actions

Actually

By his logic, "Wow Parkersburg, that was really stupid of you to bulid a town where a tornado might come through, guess you guys are on your own." The leaps of logic he makes are jaw dropping

He pretty much says that it isn’t their location that caused such damage, it is the ineptitude of the people they have placed in charged. I read that he is slamming the government for not improving buildings such that they can better withstand an earthquake.

From the article:

If it were apparent that Haiti would likely rebuild in an earthquake-resistant way, and if a cure could be found for hurricane abuse of island nations, then maybe one could imagine putting a sustained effort into rebuilding the place. But that would only be feasible if the country had shown any ability to manage its affairs in the past, which it has not done.

…give me the courage and the ability to so conduct myself in every situation that my country, my family, and my friends will be proud of me.
-Nile Kinnick

by Hawkeyewith49Jackrabbits on Jan 31, 2010 2:14 PM CST up reply actions

These are the paragraphs to which I was referring

After the tsunami of 2004, the citizens of the world wailed and donated and volunteered for cleanup, rarely asking the important – and, I think, obvious – question: What were all those people doing there in the first place? Just as important: If they move back to a place near the ocean that had just been destroyed by a giant wave, shouldn’t our instinct be to say, "Go ahead if you want, but you’re on your own now."?

We did the same after Hurricane Katrina. We were quick to vilify humans who were too slow to respond to the needs of victims, forgetting that the victims had built and maintained a major city below sea level in a known target zone for hurricanes. Our response: Make the same mistake again. Rebuild a doomed city, putting aside logic as we did.

And now, faced with a similar situation, it seems likely that we will do the same.

He does later back down a little bit, but, early in the piece, he basically scolds people for choosing to live where they live knowing disaster could strike (and tell me where in the world it couldn’t. We all face the potential of something).

by DonnyDonovan on Feb 1, 2010 10:37 AM CST up reply actions

Ok I can see that

The tsunami is a bit absurd (fishermen pretty much have to live on the coast) but I half agree with him on New Orleans. It is a great town but rebuilding below sea level is just stupid.

…give me the courage and the ability to so conduct myself in every situation that my country, my family, and my friends will be proud of me.
-Nile Kinnick

by Hawkeyewith49Jackrabbits on Feb 1, 2010 6:00 PM CST up reply actions

Amsterdam is well below sea level.

MORE ZAZZ! I DEMAND MORE ZAZZ!

by Bucketochicken on Feb 1, 2010 9:59 PM CST up reply actions

Ah, Amsterdam

I was there breaking in the new millenium. A least I think I was. Don’t really remember much.

"The possibility of physical and mental collapse is now very real. No sympathy for the Devil, keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride." HST

by Dip-Shit on Feb 9, 2010 12:52 PM CST up reply actions

Deserved to win?

ISU played hard but came up short. This was arguably the best basketball team in their schools history (if you want to argue 1944 was better that’s your right). But “deserved to” win that game? The final was 75-64. ISU had a three point halftime lead but I don’t remember any controversy in the second half that would suggest MSU “stole” the game. So why did they deserve to win in your eyes?

by MSULaxer27 on Feb 5, 2010 12:01 PM CST up reply actions

I didn't mean "deserved" in the sense that MSU "stole" the game.

And bear in mind it’s been 10 years (and I’m not first and foremost an ISU fan so I don’t remember every detail the way I do certain Iowa games). All I meant was that ISU played very hard and very well, went toe-to-toe with the eventual champ in what was basically a road game (the game was in Detroid IIRC), and, took a 7 point lead with about 5 minutes left. I think there was a controversial call with about 2 minutes left and the game tied where MSU got the ball on the possession arrow. They called a dual foul when, arguably, it should have been called just on the MSU player. In fact, I think Shirley was involved in that play.

And MSU only won 75-64 because they hit all their foul shots down the stretch once ISU was desparate. That game was extremely close and hotly contested for 38+ minutes. That was my point. The winner of that game, whomever it had turned out to be, was probably going to win it all.

by DonnyDonovan on Feb 7, 2010 10:22 PM CST up reply actions