WEEKLY COLUMN By Deigo Mack
Last week in
Oklahoma City, during an OKC Thunder NBA game, play-by-play
announcer Brian Davis, said during a broadcast that OKC’s star player
Russell Westbrook was "out of his cotton-picking mind" after he made
his ninth assist halfway through the second quarter of the team's final
regular-season game. This slip of the tongue brought about a one game suspension for OKC’s
experienced announcer Brian Davis.
What a shame? The offensive statement set
off a chain of reactions.
First, Davis apologized publicly for his
insensitive phrase.
In a statement to ESPN, Davis apologized
for using the phrase, which drew criticism for its racial undertones.
"It is
with great remorse and humility that I accept this suspension for the
insensitive words I used during Wednesday's broadcast," Davis said.
"While unintentional, I understand and acknowledge the gravity of the
situation. I offer my sincere apology and realize that, while I committed a
lapse in judgment, such mistakes come with consequences. This is an appropriate
consequence for my actions."
Secondly, Brian Davis was
suspended for game one of the 2018 NBA playoffs, which means he loses a days’
pay, returning just in time to see his verbal victim, seven time All Star guard
Russell Westbrook in pure form. MVP candidate Russell Westbrook has scorched
opponents and averaged a triple double for a second straight season – mind you
– which is equivalent to, well, no one. Westbrook became the first player in
NBA history to average a triple double in multiple years but his feat was
overshadowed by Brian Davis statement, and life in sports continues with the
next drift of a headline.
The names may change but
the game stays the same.
It was way
back in 1947 that Jackie Robinson broke color lines in Major League baseball,
but it was in 2007 Don Imus said “Nappy headed hoes” in describing African
American Rutgers women basketball players. His racist comment resulted in a
longer suspension than Brian Davis, complete with network lawsuits and other
litigation, but he also returned to work.
Back in 2008 when Tiger Woods was the number one player
in golf, announcer Kelly Tilghman was asked a question concerning Woods
matching up against his competition. Everyone was trying to dethrone Tiger at
that time so her response as a proven golf announcer was respected by all.
So that day, another slip
of the tongue happened.
The story went
something like this.
Someone asked Kelly Tilghman “What should younger
competitors do to beat Tiger?”
Without any hesitation “Lynch him in a back alley,''
Tilghman replied.
This same
racist reference landed Kelly Tilghman a two week suspension from her job on
the Golf Channel. Her repentance also came with a direct apology to Tiger
Woods, for whom she had known for years, and an apologetic press release
stating a new ‘mantra of attrition’.
Words
like “unintentional, inappropriate, regret, and suspension,” pop up soon after
a fall from grace.
But it’s
just another day in sports.
We all
continue in a perfect union of ignorance, holding each other closely, dancing
off beat in our secluded world of wins and losses, never realizing how loud our
voices are in sports - nor how this same voice echoes across American culture.
So we
chug along like a loaded freight train.
Steadily
moving but sometimes burdened by extra baggage.
Meanwhile
everything flows along just fine until another slip of the tongue happens on live television, instantly opening up
old wounds in sports culture. This then, reminds us of the last time - which
reminds us of the time before that – which reminds us of…well, you get my
drift.
It’s like
a never ending song.
From basketball to golf, to football to figure skating, to
whatever sport you can name, we all know an untimely word still burns. Runaway
words from a few sport commentators range from insensitive racial comments to
gender biased words against those who live differently from us.
Currently in our sports systems we’re all be
proven guilty of Group Dynamics.
That’s a system of behaviors and psychological
processes occurring within a community group. Sigmund Freud would be proud but that’s
a new way to say an old
thing. You’re either in the ‘intergroup’ or considered second tier in the
‘outer group’. Starters or bench warmer? Rookie or veteran? Winner or
loser?
The competitive nature of sports
is built in its DNA.
I once heard a swimming
champion at a Manhattan bar saying:
“The only one who likes second place – is he who’s in
second place.”
But a new
sport is being played right in front of our eyes,
without
cleats, helmets, bats, mats, grass and definitely, with no class.
This new
sport is all bullish fecal matter – for
lack of a better term.
And
unbeknownst to regular folks, this
new game is called - slip of the tongue.
To play,
all one needs is a microphone, a responsibility to be a non biased professional,
and a nice suit. Being college educated, having a great resume and years of
experience get lost in a single moment on live television. The goal is to
remain employed after saying a derogatory term while broadcasting. Once you
complete that part, you immediately qualify for a bonus round of prepackaged
public relation statements, personal apologies and you’ll win your job back by
saying it was a ‘slip of the tongue’. The long
list of respected commentators who bit this apple can start a
‘Who’s Who’ frat club. This slip of the
tongue fraternity sidestepped their ugly comments and oppressive statements
like blitzing lineman on a November Sunday.
Surprisingly, they were
unified on their aroma too.
It really stinks.
By accepting such behavior
in sports commentary, we fumbled at Jimmy ‘The Greek’ Snyder’s theories on the
breeding of black athletes and Michael Irvin’s musing about the
African-American genetic influence on Tony Romo. We made ample space for Don Imus’s
line about the Rutgers women’s basketball team. Add in Steve Lyons’s comments
on Jews and Hispanics, plus Rush Limbaugh racial opinions of Donovan McNabb
which was as equal in offensiveness as Ben Wright’s views about female golfers
and the dirty remarks he made about their breasts. Brian Davis recent
suspension seems like an insect on a car window. Most likely it will happen
again sometime in the near future.
Here’s a new play by play.
Some well respected
broadcaster will have a routine slip of
the tongue.
But this time we won’t accept their apology or their repentant jargon of excuses.
We won’t even expect them
to be suspended from work. We’ll just choose to retire all
slip of the tongue games for the sake of sport lovers worldwide, which mean broadcasters
will no longer have that exit door when confronted about their statements.
Hopefully we’ll learn to charge them according
to their venomous verbiage.
No cash or credit cards will be accepted
either.
We’ll only accept change.
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