The Rutger's Women's b-ball team

at CNN

The team broke its silence Tuesday on the controversy that has raged since Imus called the players "nappy-headed hos."

Several players said they would welcome the chance for a face-to-face meeting with Imus.

"I would like to speak to him personally and ... ask him, after you've met me personally, do you still feel in this category that I'm still a 'ho' as a woman and as a black, African-American woman at that?" said Kia Vaughn, a sophomore center.

"I achieve a lot, and unless they have given this name of 'ho' a new definition, then that is not what I am."

Carson said, "We haven't personally received an apology. And personally, if someone were to apologize to me, I would feel better if I heard from them themselves. Reading it in a newspaper or watching on television or hearing it on radio doesn't serve any justice to what he said."

Coach C. Vivian Stringer praised the accomplishments and character of the team members, five of whom are freshmen.

"Before you are valedictorians of their class, future doctors, musical prodigies, and yes, even Girl Scouts," she said. "They are young ladies of class, distinction, they are articulate, they are brilliant, they are gifted. They are God's representatives in every sense of the word."

Stringer described the underdog team's hard work to bounce back from defeats early in the season to face off against the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers for the national championship.

"Ultimately, they ended up playing for the national championship," she said. "No one believed in them but them."

Another player, Heather Zurich, said the uproar over Imus' remarks took the joy out of their achievement.

"Our moment was taken away," Zurich said. "We were stripped of this moment by degrading comments made by Mr. Imus last Wednesday. What hurts the most about this situation is that Mr. Imus knows not one of us personally."

i'm in the "fire him" camp. what kind of example is he making for his young son? for his millions of listeners? this isn't an isolated example of his. his racist remarks and impersonations have gotten him in hot-water before. it's cheap humor, not worth the mega-bucks he's making.