Categories
NFL General

Does Michael Irvin have some unemployment in him?


Maybe that comment Michael Irvin made in December about Tony Romo having “some brothers in that line somwhere” finally caught up with him. According to the NY Post:


One industry source believes the decision has already been made, and that some at the network view the outspoken Irvin as a ticking time bomb, ready to explode into a public-relations nightmare.

ESPN did not confirm or deny the report, but issued a statement, saying: “We are currently in the process of discussing studio assignments for next season.”
There is speculation that newly retired Bill Parcells could end up at the network, but there is no indication that a deal is imminent.

Upgrading from Michael Irvin to Bill Parcells is like upgrading from Kyle Boller to Steve McNair. It won’t nearly be as fun to watch in a Titanic sort of way but at least it won’t make you cringe every 5 minutes.

What exactly will Irvin do if he’s fired from ESPN? Maybe he can team up with Bryant Gumble for the NFL Network broadcasts and make that the biggest pig fuck in the history of sports broadcasting.

Links:
[NY Post]: JD SINGIN’ THE BLUES AS GARDEN RETURN NEARS
[The Fanhouse]: Michael Irvin Could Have A lot More Time to Do Illegal Stuff

Categories
Detroit Pistons

Do black people all look alike to you, Craig Sager?

Via the big lead comes this great clip of Craig Sager interviewing Chris Webber’s father and then afterward realizing that it was his AAU coach and then having to interview the real Mayce Webber instead.

Two things. 1) It’s a shame that it was Webber’s AAU coach and not just some random guy in the stands. 2) Too bad the guy didn’t look like Sugar Ray Leonard.

Categories
College Football

You can take Lamar Thomas out of Thug U…



Get him a body bag!

In addition to the 31 players who were suspended by Miami and FIU, one more piece of crap from the Miami Melee has hit the fan. Former Hurricane Lamar Thomas was broadcasting the game for Comcast Southeast and instead of pulling a Joe Buck, Thomas decided to go the exact opposite route:


You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don’t come into the Orange Bowl playing that stuff. You’re across the ocean over there. You’re across the city over there. You can’t come over to our place talking noise like that. You’ll get your butt kicked. I was about to go down the elevator and get into that thing.

Why don’t they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more? You don’t come into the Orange Bowl, baby — we’ve had a down couple of years — but you don’t come in here talking trash… You come in here talking smack, it’s time to get it on.

Well, Lamar Thomas is going to have to get it on somewhere else. Comcast canned him on Monday and will edit out his comments for any replays of the game. Thomas said that he got caught up in the emotion of it and that he was new to this “media thing”. We believe broadcasting 101 specifically says “don’t celebrate a brawl” but Thomas probably had someone take that exam for him.

[Miami.com]: Lamar Thomas fired over Orange Bowl brawl remarks

[All Canes Blong]: Random thoughts on Miami/FIU 2006

[YouTube]: Video of Lamar Thomas’ call

Categories
MLB General

Fox fires Steve Lyons for no good reason


Tom Brenneman (unwittingly) makes fun of a blind guy wearing a device that helps him see the game, issues an apology the next day, and all is well. Steve Lyons says something about a wallet after saying something about espanol and gets fired. Nevermind that the two statements were completely unrelated.

After Lou Pinella said something about Marco Scutero’s production being akin to finding a wallet on Friday and expecting it to happen again the next Friday, he added that the A’s were “frio” and needed to get “en fuego”. Steve Lyons said that Pinella was “hablaing espanol” and he still couldn’t find his wallet. From this, Fox made the connection that Lyons was claiming Lou (and other hispanics) steal wallets. If anything, the execs over at Fox are the ones who are racists. Most people watching it took it to be a friendly jab at Lou Pinella, his broadcast partner, not a racial remark. As far as we know, no hispanic leaders complained about the remarks.

For his part, Lyons apologized but said that the comment was not racially motivated and that Fox jumped to conclusions.


My joke was about a wallet. It had nothing to do with race. We were all laughing at the time. I’m being painted as a victimizer of Lou. At dinner later (with Fox announcers and production staffers), we all thought it was one of our better exchanges… I’m happy to apologize to anybody who took it that way. But it seems like a real stretch to lose your job over. It’s hard to understand.

So the moral of the story is this: you can make fun of the handicapped all you want as long as you apologize but don’t even think about linking two statements together if one of them has anything to do with race. Someone at Fox needs to take Logic 101. For example, here are two statements: 1) Tim McCarver sucks as an announcer. 2) Tim McCarver is white. The execs at Fox would conclude that white people suck at announcing. Meanwhile, most people would just conclude that Tim McCarver sucks — which is pretty much just a universal truth by now.

Links:
[Orlando Sentinel]: Fox Fires Lyons for Insensitive Comment
[USA Today]: Lyons defends honor after dismissal by Fox
[YouTube]: partial video of Steve Lyons comments