Are you kidding me? USA Today media columnist....

[jason_whitlock]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/mccarthy/2006-11-26-weekend_x.htm

ESPN football analyst Michael Irvin says he's sorry for his comments on Dan Patrick's national radio show a week ago that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo's athletic ability must be due to African-American heritage.
"It's clear I was joking around. But I understand my comments were inappropriate. I apologize for those comments," Irvin said in a phone interview Sunday, after appearing on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown.

ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said Irvin will appear on The Dan Patrick Show on Monday, while continuing his TV gigs.

"Generalizations about heritage are inappropriate even in jest, and what Michael said was wrong. We have spoken to Michael about it," Soltys said.

Irvin's comments mark the latest talent flare-up. This year ESPN fired columnist Jason Whitlock for trashing colleagues Mike Lupica and Scoop Jackson in an interview. The network also fired baseball analyst Harold Reynolds. Fox Sports booted baseball analyst Steve Lyons for on-air comments about Lou Piniella's Hispanic background.

Irvin said he tries to bring fans inside the world of the locker room. But he admitted he "crossed the line" when he joked some slave "brother" must have had relations with one of Romo's maternal ancestors. "Certainly, in this case I crossed the line," he said. "I need to learn how to better draw the line between bringing people into the locker room and the boundaries I should not go past as a broadcaster."

David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel pointed to a possible double-standard in his column. White sportscaster Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was canned by CBS in 1988 for making similar comments.

But the stylized, Kabuki-style reaction to these media-driven controversies suggests there's hypocrisy to go around. Some critics screaming for Irvin's head are driven more by jealousy or animosity for a TV personality they don't like. It's also frighteningly easy to screw up on live TV/radio.

What Irvin needed was for an ESPN colleague such as Tom Jackson— who was not on The Dan Patrick Show with Irvin — to stop him from firmly planting his foot in his mouth.

Of course, when Jackson asked Irvin, "Are you retarded?" as he did on-air this year, he was criticized.

 

[Bubbler]

I really can't deign to give much of a **** about Michael Irvin.

 

[fmrsped]

Start working them corners, bra.

And Bubbler, I believe the big guy was referring to this writer saying ESPN fired Jason Whitlock.

 

[MCEchan36]

Jason, I wish that while you were still at the WWL, you just went up and sucker-punched Irvin in the mouth. Irvin is one of the chief reasons why I've watched less and less of ESPN over the last few years. I thought the new guy in charge was supposed to be clearing house of assholes and ****tards like him.

 

[Bubbler]

Start working them corners, bra.

And Bubbler, I believe the big guy was referring to this writer saying ESPN fired Jason Whitlock.

I re-phrase then, I can't deign to give much of a **** about the whole issue.

 

[jason_whitlock]

Has there ever been a writer tucked this comfortably in a source's hip pocket?

I'm embarrassed for McCarthy and USA Today. Just call McCarthy's column ESPN Today.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Yeah, whatever.

 

[outofplace]

Well, I can't respond to his comments about the firings at ESPN, except to say that leaving out the reason for Reynolds' dismissal stuck out and left a big hole in the story.

Jason, I'm curious to see what you have to say about his explanation of your departure from ESPN.

His apologetic support of Irvin, however, is a joke. The only reason it isn't hypocritical for ESPN to keep Irvin after saying something exactly as bad as what Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder once said is they were employed by different networks.

The best part is the comment about how easy it is to screw up on live air. That's part of the job, to not screw up live, at least not to say anything that will embarrass your employers.

 

[outofplace]

Has there ever been a writer tucked this comfortably in a source's hip pocket?

I'm embarrassed for McCarthy and USA Today. Just call McCarthy's column ESPN Today.

Wow, I agree with you on one. Even without any inside knowledge of these situations, I read it the same way.

 

[jason_whitlock]

I'm not referring to the thing about me getting fired. I did get fired. Big deal.

I'm talking about McCarthy rationalizing Irvin's behavior and suggesting that Irvin have a babysitter for all live interviews. He excused the whole thing and pretty much said, "well, you can't expect this idiot to act properly. He needs a babysitter."

This corner is getting worked.

 

[fmrsped]

I'm not referring to the thing about me getting fired. I did get fired. Big deal.

I'm talking about McCarthy rationalizing Irvin's behavior and suggesting that Irvin have a babysitter for all live interviews. He excused the whole thing and pretty much said, "well, you can't expect this idiot to act properly. He needs a babysitter."

This corner is getting worked.

I misread, I'm sorry; I thought for a sec you had left, and that's what you were disagreeing with.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Irvin's sustained presence does the cause of diversity no good.

Now, the cause of clownish obtuseness, yes . . .

 

[JBHawkEye]

I loved how McCarthy thinks Tom Jackson is the voice of reason, then throws in the oh-by-the-way-he-said, "Are you retarded?"

 

[Left_Coast]

If Irvin can't get fired for having a crack pipe in his glove compartment for his, um, er, um, friend (wink, wink), he's not going anywhere.

Frankly, I'm glad Whitlock is NOT at the World Wide Misleader. Why be associated with that crap and schtick?

 

[heyabbott]

Patrick needed to ask Irvin if he was high when he made the original comments. Given Irvin's history of drug use, his glassy eyed appearance and slurred speech patterns, it was a question that needed to be asked.

 

[lantaur]

But the stylized, Kabuki-style reaction to these media-driven controversies suggests there's hypocrisy to go around. Some critics screaming for Irvin's head are driven more by jealousy or animosity for a TV personality they don't like. It's also frighteningly easy to screw up on live TV/radio.

It's one thing to make a mistake. It's another to say something utterly stupid and irresponsible.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

That's what you get from the paper whose motto is "Diversity -- Above EVERYTHING"

 

[D-3 Fan]

But the stylized, Kabuki-style reaction to these media-driven controversies suggests there's hypocrisy to go around. Some critics screaming for Irvin's head are driven more by jealousy or animosity for a TV personality they don't like. It's also frighteningly easy to screw up on live TV/radio.

Since when did all critics became jealous of Irvin's success? That is a lazy and contrived statement to make. This wasn't about jealousy. This is about being responsible for what you say and how you say it. And yes, Mr. McCarthy, we don't like Michael Irvin and his tap-dancing routine on ESPN. What he said about Romo was demeaning and in the words of my grandmother, "ig'nant" (ignorant). Trying to be funny when saying it make him or anyone in that case looks stupid to viewers and critics.

Too bad Jeremy Schaap wasn't given a second Parting Shot on Sunday to get one in on Irvin, like he did on Manning and the Bears. A slap on the wrist and a pat on a head isn't enough for Irvin with respects to punishment.

Maybe having Mark Shapiro leave ESPN and work for Prince Danny Snyder wasn't enough to clean up the WWL and cut out the mumbo jumbo.

 

[jason_whitlock]

That's what you get from the paper whose motto is "Diversity -- Above EVERYTHING"

say what?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

JW --

Diversity is valuable.

But as is so often the case with McPaper, McCarthy is largely defending the indefensible.

Were the topic someone white, in this instance, McCarthy would have thrown him under the bus.