While many good things happened in sports in the decade of the aughts, as a broadcaster, one thing that stands out for me is how thin skinned we've all become.  Thanks to innovations like You Tube and blogs, a comment made innocently by an announcer becomes world news in a matter of minutes. And not good world news at that.

The bar for "offensive" has been lowered to a point where you can't even crawl under it.  Broadcast companies, sensitive to both advertisers and the growing number of organized protest groups would rather hang an employee out to dry than defend them.  The absolute worst thing that could happen to a company like Disney, which owns ESPN, is an organized protest against one of their resort properties by some angry fringe group.  That leverage is used all the time by people who feel that they have been wronged by the WWL

While some of the comments do cross the line (Don Imus), announcers fear suspensions and perhaps even firings with each and every word.

I will tell you this: If you have never, ever been in front of a live microphone, you have no idea what it is like to be any of these people.  Sometimes, someone sets you up for a good comeback.  You don't even hear it in your head, you react as if you are in a bar or sitting around the living room.  While that is exactly the degree of comfortability you are looking for, sometimes you just slip.  Or say something you might think is funny, but eh audience may react differently.  Not to mention the team.  Or the sponsors.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.  I can tell you first hand I've gotten in trouble for things I have said, most of them meaningless and inoffensive.  But since one person took offense, it spreads like the H1N1 virus until someone in a tie is yelling at you and you are forced to apologize for something that was no big deal in the first place.

My point is, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. But more often than not, comments that somehow get taken out of context and become controversial are really not that at all.

Here are three examples, just from the last three months,  of where people said things not nearly as offensive as the over reaction indicates:.

Bob Griese: The longtime ABC announcer has no history of being controversial, in fact just the opposite.  Many people find Griese vanilla, which may explain his being moved to the 11am (Central) crew with a game that has a much lower profile.  On October 24th, during the  Ohio State-Minnesota game (see what we mean by being moved to low profile?!) the crew was asked to do a promo for the upcoming Sprint Cup Race.  When the list of those in the chase were mentioned, Chris Spielman asked "what about Juan Pablo Montoya?" to which Griese responded "He's out having a taco."

Montoya was not offended by the remark (He said he enjoys tacos) but Griese was benched for one game by ESPN anyway, even after apologizing on air a couple of times.  The punishment certainly didn't fit the crime, especially when you examine Griese's intent and the fact that he has spent years leading charity campaigns to underprivileged residents of Miami.

Jemele Hill: ON December 18th, Hill and Skip Clueless were talking about the Kentucky head coaching job and the comments Bob Knight made about Kentucky coach John Calapari.  It is a secret to no one that Calapari has more baggage than a little old lady on an airplane at Christmas (my apologies to elderly women everywhere.)

Hill made the point that the Kentucky faithful were interested in one thing and one thing only by saying that Kentucky fans would “cheer if Charles Manson were coaching the team, as long as he was winning.”  (The Big Lead)

I thought it was interesting how this was covered.  Most blogs said Hill made the comments about Calapari.  She did not.  She made them about Kentucky basketball fans and she was 100% absolutely right.  And you can substitute Kentucky basketball fans with any one of a number of college or pro teams (Indiana basketball, Alabama football, the New York Yankees, the Montreal Canadians, the Dallas Cowboys, etc.) and the comment would still make sense.

In comparison to some of the other things she has said or written, (the Hitler remark about the Celtics, the batteries remark about Brett Favre) this was absolutely nothing except Hill used the name  "Charles Manson" who is alive and serving a life sentence for murdering several people as opposed to "Attila The Hun" used by most sportscasters as a safe reference to someone who is evil.  Attila died in 453, so the chances of his relatives bringing a lawsuit are slim. 

I, myself, have used the phrase on the air that so and so is a bigger choker than Albert DeSalvo (aka "The Boston Strangler")  But if you say Albert DeSalvo, the shock and awe has worn off by the time people remember who Al was (which is the point). And oh yes, he's been dead for 36 years.  And he killed more people than Charlie Manson.

Attila's name is often involved as a way to brand a conservative (i.e. "Pat Buchanan is just to the right of Attila the Hun." ) Most people laugh, more because Attila the Hun is a silly name and because they have no clue who he was, but they assume he was a right wing general of some kind.  The point is that had Hill used Attila's name in place of Manson, there would be no discussion.  But since she modernized it, she lit a fire under herself.

Given how many other transgressions she has had, Hill probably won't be on ESPN anymore, which is ironic. ESPN used to like putting on people who could stir the pot.  With Hill, you never know what she is going to say next and hat does drive viewers to the TV.


Paul Steigerwald: Monday night, when handing out a sponsored hit of the game award, Steigerwald's partner, Bob Errey said in summing up the highlight, "the Hobey Baker winner went down, real hard." Steigerwald responded "Not as hard as Hobey Baker went down, though. He went down in a plane crash."

Okay, a little morbid, but who exactly did Steigerwald offend?  A man who died 91 years ago?  War vets? Plane crash victims (they are all dead anyway.)  Yet, on the Internet, you would think Steigerwald said something questioning Hobie Baker's courage, lineage and motivation.  This was a much too much ado about absolutely nothing.