Sportscasters 2.0

Old Chip doesn't like sportscasters not named Ken & Mickey, I guess, but I'll tell you that I actually like to hear about statistics and strategy and so on, so maybe he and I don't like the same announcers. I'll agree that some are too loud and self-important, and I'm not big on the inane banter about where the announcers had lunch or what ties they wear, etc. But I like the stats and the second-guessing. That's what makes the game interesting for me -- especialy baseball.


The Suspect -->

But all this brings me to the Steve Lyons story, which I suppose is obligatory fodder for liberal bloggers this week. I didn't like Lyons that much on his merits. To me, he's neither funny or insightful, and often inane. As sportscasters go, he never really made much of an impression with me. Dime-a-dozen kinda guy. So I was surprised that Fox had him in the booth at all. When they fired him for a supposedly insensative comment made on-air in Friday's NLCS game, I was surprised he wasn't fired a lot earlier for mediocrity. No hard feelings, buddy, but it ain't the hardest job in baseball.

I was watching the "game in question" when Lyons and Piniella were chatting, and Lyons made the comment about looking for his wallet, and not wanting to sit next to Piniella. There was a short awkward moment, and I thought for a moment, "Did he really just say that??".

The three announcers seemed too quiet for a second, like it usually is when people realize that someone's just said something a little awkward. But then, I may be projecting a little, too. I didn't hear the precursor to that exchange, which turns out to be pretty important to the context, so the wallet comment really stuck out like a sore thumb. The exchange I missed is ably described here by InsideBayArea.com's Andy Altman-Ohr:

Early in Friday's game, Marco Scutaro was included in a graphic with Frank Thomas and Nick Swisher noting their "0-fors" in the ALCS through two games. Lou Piniella scoffed that Scutaro was even included in the graphic, for although the shortstop had a super ALDS, expecting similar production would be "like finding a wallet on a Friday night and looking for one on Sunday and Monday, too."

OK, so I missed that in real-time, and it makes the wallet comment a lot more comprehensible. Ha-ha, just good ol-fashioned unfunny sportscaster joking. Maybe. But I still don't get why Piniella's use of Spanish argot prompted Lyons to say, "I don't understand him, and I don't want to sit close to him now."

Again, odd. You could certainly interpret that to be culturally or racially intolerant, and juxtaposed with the wallet comment, it leaves you wondering, "Was he riffing on a stereotype, or just ribbing Piniella personally?" There's enough doubt there to give Lyons the benefit of the doubt. Deciding that the comment was racist or insensative is sort of in the ear of the behearer, and could just as easily be a case of awkward banter and bad timing. Lyons says he didn't even think Piniella was Hispanic at the time (I didn't, either, actually, and I feel a bit dumb about that now), but that misses the point. The interpretation is that Lyons associated Hispanics with missing wallets. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. I'm just sayin', I can see why some felt it was insensative, but that doesn't make it a hanging offense.

Fox fired Lyons from its national broadcast team the same day. I won't miss him, for the reasons I stated above, but I'm not sure the guy got a fair shake. Gerry Callahan at the Boston Herald points out the hypocrisy of Fox firing anyone for something so minor, in this excellent column.

Lyons' awkward comment is the sort that begs for a little explanation and an apology to anyone offended, not a rolling head. On the other hand, that HAVE to be better color commentators out there.