Sports Media Watch presents the 10 dumbest comments made by sports media personalities over the past 10 years. Don Imus does not count.
#10: Bob Griese‘s bad joke (2009)
Ethnic stereotypes rarely go over well. Just ask ESPN college football analyst Bob Griese, who was suspended for one game after a comment about NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
During a 2009 college football telecast, ESPN promoted its NASCAR coverage by showing the Top 5 drivers in the Sprint Cup standings. Montoya was not among the top five, prompting Griese’s colleague Chris Speilman to ask where he was. Griese’s response? “He’s out having a taco.”
Griese apologized — twice — before the end of the day, and Montoya seemed nonchalant about the incident. That did not stop ESPN/ABC from suspending Griese for one week.
#9: Gary Thorne on the NBA and the bloody sock (2004, 2007)
Writing for the Bangor Daily News, ESPN play-by-play voice Gary Thorne had choice words for the NBA following the 2004 brawl — saying the league was “quickly becoming the nation’s most expensive gang, if not the most dangerous.”
While others have no doubt written (and thought) worse, what makes Thorne’s comment particularly notable is the fact that he broadcasts Major League Baseball and NHL games — sports that not only have more than their fair share of fighting, but also have had fan-player confrontations (i.e., Frank Francisco months before Artest, and Bruins players going into the stands at a Ranger game in the 70s).
Thorne followed that up several years later with an on-air bombshell about Curt Schilling‘s famed bloody sock during Game 6 of the ’04 ALCS. During an Orioles/Red Sox game, Thorne — play-by-play voice of the Orioles — said that the sock “was painted. … Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR” (ESPN.com, 4/27/07).
Not surprisingly, the Red Sox and their fans were not pleased. Schilling: “Needless to say it was blood, my blood, and it was coming from the sutures in my ankle … You’re either stupid or bitter if you think otherwise.”
Thorne later apologized, explaining that he misunderstood Mirabelli.
#8: Steve Lyons gets himself fired (2006)
Rarely does an announcer get fired during a playoff series. But FOX MLB analyst Steve Lyons got the boot during the 2006 ALCS, thanks to a convoluted comment about Lou Piniella, “habla-ing Espanol” and stolen wallets.
During Game 3 of the ’06 ALCS, Piniella — then a FOX analyst — compared the success of the Athletics’ Marco Scutaro “to finding a ‘wallet on Friday’ and hoping it happened again the next week.” Later, Piniella used the terms “en fuego” and “frio” in a discussion on the A’s Frank Thomas. Lyons then remarked that Piniella was “hablaing Espanol,” adding, “I still can’t find my wallet. … I don’t understand him, and I don’t want to sit too close to him now” (Baseball Musings, 10/14/06).
FOX acted quickly, firing Lyons before Game 4 of the series. Lyons maintained that he was not trying to offend. “The fact that I had mentioned that [Piniella] was speaking Spanish before I said that my wallet was missing was an afterthought in my comments. … [I]f I made a mistake, the mistake that I did make was coupling the fact that Lou spoke Spanish, and the fact that I said my wallet was missing, in the same sentence. But to me that?s still a far-reaching connection to think that I was trying to say anything racially insensitive” (The Biz of Baseball, 10/23/06).
#7: John Saunders, Tim Legler and Greg Anthony on the Pacers/Pistons brawl (2004)
In the immediate aftermath of the Pacers/Pistons brawl, emotions ran high. As proof, consider the words of ESPN’s usually even-keeled John Saunders.
“The Pistons fans, based on what I saw there, are a bunch of punks,” he said, “It’s easy to throw beer on top of somebody who’s already down. It’s easy to throw a punch at somebody when you’re behind them. Show that you’re not a sissy! Just do it right. It just makes me mad — that is ridiculous, that’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen” (NBA Friday Coast to Coast, 11/19/04).
The NBA Shootaround crew was, at the time, comprised of Saunders, Tim Legler, Greg Anthony and Stephen A. Smith. Saunders, Legler and Anthony saved most, if not all, of their criticism for the fans in Detroit. Anthony: “To have the fans overreact like that, it is a disservice and a discredit to the game.” Legler: “The Detroit Piston fans are the ones responsible for the escalation of this, obviously. … The blame should be put on the Detroit Piston fans, without question.”
ESPN’s Mark Shapiro criticized the broadcasters, which “contributed to the announcers” eventually “altering their stances and second-guessing their initial commentary” (USA Today, 11/23/04). Shapiro: “I wish the studio hadn’t laid the blame solely on the backs of the fans Friday night.”
#6: Bob Ryan on Jason Kidd‘s wife (2003)
In 2003, the Nets and Celtics met in the playoffs for the second straight season. During the previous year’s playoff series, then-Nets G Jason Kidd, his then-wife Joumana and his son were the subject of taunts during games in Boston. Specifically, fans chanted “wifebeater” at Jason, who had been charged with domestic abuse in ’01.
Boston Globe writer Bob Ryan appeared on Boston’s WBZ Sports Final in the lead-up to the ’03 series, when the discussion turned to the Kidd family. Ryan had choice words for the Kidds, specifically Joumana — who he called an “exhibitionist,” before adding, “I mean she needs (inaudible) to smack her” (ESPN.com, 5/8/03).
Ryan was initially unrepentant, even when given an opportunity by host Bob Lobel to recant. “Why should I say anything different than I said all playoffs last year?” he asked.
After he was suspended from the Boston Globe one month without pay (and barred by the paper from appearing on ESPN programs), Ryan was more diplomatic. Ryan: “It was, of course, atrocious judgment on my part. … I wish to state clearly that I am aware of the very real problem of violence against women in our society, and that in no way is it a joking matter.”
#5: Jemele Hill brings up Hitler, Charles Manson (2008, 2009)
ESPN writer Jemele Hill needs to work on her analogies, as evidenced by two separate incidences towards the end of the 2000s.
In 2008, Hill wrote an article entitled “Deserving or not, I still hate the Celtics.” At one point in the article, she equated rooting for the Celtics to feeling sympathy for Adolf Hitler. “Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim,” she wrote, “It’s like hoping Gorbachev would get to the blinking red button before Reagan” (WBZ, 6/16/08). The comments were later taken out of the article, and Hill was suspended without pay.
The next year, Hill again made waves with another ill-conceived comparison. In a discussion on ESPN First Take about Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari — the only coach to have two Final Four appearances vacated at two different schools — Hill reportedly argued that Kentucky fans would cheer their team even if Charles Manson were their head coach, as long as the team was winning (The Big Lead, 12/23/09).
Hill apologized to Kentucky’s athletic director, and her future as an ESPN television personality was “in doubt” (TBL, 12/23/09).
#4: Leonard Shapiro, Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser on Sean Taylor (2007)
Washington Post sportswriters Leonard Shapiro, Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser were quick to blame the victim after Sean Taylor was murdered in ’07.
After Taylor was murdered in his home in late 2007, Shapiro, Wilbon and Kornheiser went out of their way to pat themselves on the back for not being surprised. Shapiro: “Could anyone honestly say they never saw this coming? … Clearly, [Taylor] seemed to embrace the thug image on and off the field, and the fact that he rarely spoke to members of the media only enhanced his reputation as a moody, enigmatic athlete we hardly ever got to know” (msnbc.com, 11/27/07). If you “hardly ever” got to know him, then how exactly can you be ‘not surprised’ at his fate?
In a chat done after Taylor was shot, but before he died, Wilbon wrote that “There’s a ton of speculation about the details of his condition and the details of the incident, but this isn’t a blog and we’re not going to get into wild guessing and speculating here” (Washington Post, 11/26/07). He apparently forgot what he had just written, considering he then proceeded to condemn Taylor despite (admittedly) not knowing what he was talking about. Wilbon: “[T]his latest news isn’t surprising in the least, not to me. Whether this incident is or isn’t random, Taylor grew up in a violent world, embraced it, claimed it, loved to run in it and refused to divorce himself from it. … We have no idea what happened, or if what we know now will be revised later” (Washington Post, 11/26/07).
On Pardon the Interruption the night of Taylor’s death, Kornheiser brought up how his daughter teared up following the news of Taylor’s death, and lamented not being able to feel the same way. Kornheiser: “[Y]ou and I are cynical, and we’re cynical by trade. And we know that in the coming weeks, there’s going to be reporting in the Washington Post, and reporting in the Miami Herald, that’s going to peel away all the layers of this, and some of it is going to get very dicey.”
Overall, all three began speculating wildly about a player none of them knew. As it turns out, Taylor’s death was not the result of his lifestyle catching up with him.
#3: Dana Jacobson roasted (2008)
Everybody makes mistakes. However, not everyone unleashes a drunken tirade of expletive laden sacrilege.
Speaking at a roast of ESPN Radio broadcasters Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, ESPN First Take anchor Dana Jacobson made “an absolute fool of herself,” getting drunk and “cursing like a sailor” (USA Today, 1/23/08). All of which was bad enough to begin with. Things got worse when Jacobson, who graduated from the University of Michigan, began to taunt Golic (a Notre Dame grad).
Jacobson “made vulgar references about Notre Dame,” (USA Today, 1/23/08), and reportedly “used an expletive in connection with Notre Dame, Touchdown Jesus and Jesus” (Los Angeles Times, 1/24/08).
Jacobson was suspended for one week due to her comments, and was blasted by both the Catholic League and the Christian Defense Coalition — the latter of which organized a protest on ESPN’s Bristol, CT campus. Jacobson apologized when she returned to the air, saying “say how truly sorry” she was for her “poor choices and bad judgment that night” (Sports Media Watch, 1/28/08).
#2: Kelly Tilghman on Tiger Woods (2008)
Generally, advocating the murder by hanging of the world’s best golfer (or anyone, really) is not going to be accepted well.
With that in mind, it was no surprise when Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman was thrust into a storm of controversy after her remarkably inappropriate comment about Tiger Woods. During an on-air discussion about Woods’ dominance in early 2008, Tilghman joked that the best way for players to challenge him would be to “lynch him in a back alley” (ESPN.com, 1/17/08).
Tilghman was suspended for two weeks. The story attracted the attention of cable news, Al Sharpton, and the editor of Golfweek magazine — who approved putting the image of a swinging noose on the cover, and was fired afterwards.
For her part, Tilghman noted that she used “some poorly chosen words.” Tilghman: “I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments.” (ESPN.com, 1/17/08).
#1: Jason Whitlock on everything
Unlike others on this list, FOX Sports writer Jason Whitlock is here not because of one comment, but because of his entire body of work.
Throughout the 2000s, Whitlock made his living making bold, often crass statements about race, sex and sports. From the hypocritical (reveling in the debauchery of NBA All-Star Weekend in one column and then decrying it in another) to the absurd (arguing that black NFL players involved in ‘hip hop culture’ had given NFL “owners and coaches a justifiable reason to whiten their rosters”) to the merely pathetically offensive (referring to what he calls Serena Williams‘ “unsightly layer of thick, muscled blubber”), Whitlock seemed to top himself with every column.
Much of this was done under the label of “real talk” or “truth,” as if Whitlock were saying things that nobody else dared say. Of course, that was true. Most writers wouldn’t dare talk of the “Black KKK,” or rail against hip-hop demeaning women while referring to Erin Andrews as “sideline barbie” and trashing Serena Williams’ body size.
No one individual column or statement by Whitlock qualifies him to be #1 on this list. Unlike Tilghman, Jacobson and others who made one ill-advised or idiotic statement — and even unlike Thorne and Hill, who are repeat offenders — making these types of comments is Whitlock’s ‘thing’. It’s his entire career.
