The LA Clippers have suspended play-by-play announcer Ralph Lawler and color analyst Michael Smith for one game.
Why? Here’s the transcript of the conversation between Lawler and Smith, which occurred late in the game, was printed on the Los Angeles Times’ Web site:
Smith: “Look who’s in.”
Lawler: “Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?”
Smith: “He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA.” (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)
Lawler: “There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA,” repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.
Smith: “He’s the only one.”
Lawler: “He’s from Iran?”
Smith: “I guess so.”
Lawler: “That Iran?”
Smith: “Yes.”
Lawler: “The real Iran?”
Smith: “Yes.”
Lawler: “Wow. Haddadi that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.”
Smith: “You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?”
Smith: “If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.”
Lawler: “Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.”
Smith: “Especially the post players.
Lawler: “I don’t know about their guards.”
Is this racist? Nope.
Is it offensive? Nope.
Is it appropriate though? Probably nope as well.
Still, pretty funny… (and I’m Iranian, but regardless of that, I can see that broadcasters shouldn’t start to make comments on Blacks, Jews, Chinese, Spaniards, Iranians, Eskimos, etc).
The team agreed:
“We regret the remarks made by Clippers announcers Michael Smith and Ralph Lawler during Wednesday’s telecast,” Fox said in a statement about 2½ hours before the game. “While we believe that Michael and Ralph did not intend their exchange to be offensive, the comments were inappropriate.
“We extend our apologies to Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies and to anyone who was offended. We have addressed the situation with Michael and Ralph and have taken appropriate action.”
Hmm… if only they can now apologize to their fans for sucking for so long… Worth noting LA has a huge Iranian community, but they probably root for the Lakers.
Most shocking of all is the realization that people listen to Clippers’ broadcasts. And if you want to see what a 7 foot 2 Iranian basketball player looks like:
Time Warner takes a page from the book of “give people what they want”
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Duke in Top College Programs:
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All right, enough shameless promotion, now go and enjoy 54 years of SI at SI Vault.
Question: How long does it take for Jimmy Kimmel to get banned from Monday Night Football?
Answer: One quarter, tops.
Talk about cutting straight to the punch line.
It took Jimmy Kimmel a matter of 10 minutes to do what Dennis Miller needed two years to accomplish — getting the heave-ho from “Monday Night Football.”ESPN will no longer allow Kimmel any guest appearances on MNF after the ABC late-night host made several jokes about recently-fired analyst Joe Theismann, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Kimmel, who joined Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser and Ron Jaworski in the booth during the third quarter of the Giants’ 31-10 win over the Falcons, joked about where Theismann was, insinuated that Kornheiser got Theismann fired (their on-air chemistry was often a topic of debate last season), and later remarked, “I’d also like to welcome Joe Theismann, watching from his living room with steam coming from his ears.”
Kimmel’s comments were “classless and disappointing,” said Jay Rothman, ESPN’s MNF producer, according to the Times. “It was cheap. The more he went on, the worse he got.”
Read more.
I interviewed Chris Myers back in the day. I respect him and all, but man, just under the 4 minute mark of his interview with Ian Johnson, Myers says: “I know you were going to propose to your girl, so go on…”
The man totally wasted Johnson’s moment!
Anyway, click here, it’s the video on this page, at the bottom left under:
“Ian Johnson won the game for the Broncos … then he got the girl.”
HEATHROW, Fla., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire/ — The America Channel announced today that it has entered into multi-year, comprehensive video broadcast agreements with a number of distinguished NCAA Division I conferences including Big South Conference, Southern Conference, Big West Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Big Sky Conference, America East Conference, Patriot League, and Atlantic Sun Conference.
In addition to the sports broadcasts, The America Channel unveiled its new SportLife initiative. Specifically, The America Channel and the Conferences, their Student Athletic Advisory Committees (SAACs) and Universities, will cooperate to create video content about the aspirations, achievements, challenges, adventures, community service, and lifestyles of students and student athletes. The programming will be jointly developed and produced for The America Channel, and a substantial portion of the content will be created utilizing the talents of University students. The groundbreaking initiative will generate dynamic original content for The America Channel, from and about a highly desirable demographic. Target viewer demographics include young women and men, and teens approaching college age who are seeking athletic and academic role models. At least 50% of the sports programming and the jointly developed campus programming, will profile and showcase women students and women’s athletics.
“We are extremely excited about this new sports broadcast relationship,” said Tom Yeager, Commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association. “In addition, working with our Colonial Academic Alliance, The America Channel will be an excellent platform for content about our students and students athletes who achieve extraordinary things.”
The Conference agreements permit the acquisition by The America Channel of additional sports events. The America Channel’s SportsLife (TM) initiative will merge life and sport, providing real-life drama about students and student athletes who aspire, achieve, overcome, help others, and have fun.
“We’re honored to have such a depth of cooperation with these leading Conferences,” commented America Channel CEO Doron Gorshein. “The initiative is unique with extraordinary creative potential. We expect that viewers and advertisers will embrace it. We also believe that young people will be enriched by the programming about the aspirations, challenges and achievements of students and student athletes. We’re proud to be working with the Conferences on this initiative which combines compelling and cutting edge content with positive social purpose.”
“Our relationship with The America Channel represents a tremendous opportunity to showcase Big South Conference student-athletes,” said Kyle Kallander, Commissioner of the Big South Conference. “There are hundreds of compelling stories about the challenges, successes and adventures of the student-athletes and their teams, and we are excited that The America Channel is partnering with the Big South to tell them. This is also a wonderful way to provide exposure to student-athletes and sports in a highly differentiated way.”
“We are pleased to be entering into a relationship with the America Channel. The association will provide the Southern Conference, its schools and student-athletes exposure on a national level,” said Southern Conference commissioner John Iamarino. “The America Channel will provide viewers with a unique perspective that will underscore the aspirations, goals and hopes of student-athletes. It is a unique concept and we are excited to be able to share our story to television viewers throughout the country.”
“Our students undertake extraordinary personal challenges, lead by example, and achieve great things,” said Doug Fullerton, Commissioner of the Big Sky Conference. “The combination of sports and dynamic non-fiction storytelling makes The America Channel a wonderful television partner for a national and international audience. We look forward to an active role in helping to make this important initiative a success.”
“The objectives and demographics of this new initiative are unique among networks, and will serve our Conference well,” stated Dennis Farrell, Commissioner of the Big West Conference. “We believe this partnership will generate some extremely unique and powerful television content.”
“We are very excited about the agreement between The America Channel and America East to provide national exposure for basketball and other sports,” said Patrick Nero, Commissioner of America East. “The increase in TV exposure will help showcase the high level of play in the conference. In addition, the content partnership with The America Channel will provide the viewing audience with a more authentic perspective on students and student-athletes.”
“The America Channel provides access to a great new level of television broadcasting, but more importantly it is committed to sharing the news about how much good is embedded in college sports,” said Bill Bibb, Commissioner of the Atlantic Sun Conference. “Our student-athletes achieve on and off the playing floor, and many of them do so in a very compelling manner. We are excited about the chance to share their accomplishments, and to be a part of The America Channel as it tells the authentic stories about our country’s leaders in the making.”
“We are excited about the increased visibility that this partnership will generate for the Patriot League and its institutions,” commented Carolyn Schlie Femovich, Executive Director of the Patriot League. “In addition, The America Channel will provide the viewing audience with a real-life perspective on the students and student-athletes of the Patriot League and its mission toward balancing excellence in academics and athletics.”
Broadcasts of the games will commence in early November of 2007. The network will launch in advance of that date.
About The America Channel
The America Channel® is a new programming network that will explore and celebrate our communities, campuses, real heroes, and ordinary people who accomplish the extraordinary. The America Channel’s SportsLife (TM) initiative merges life and sport - combining broadcast of over 200 NCAA Division I sports games and matches, with real-life drama about the aspirations, achievements, challenges, adventures, community service, and lifestyles of students and student athletes. For more information please visit www.americachannel.us.
“This isn’t dating; this is getting married,” AFL commissioner David Baker said. “They are officially an AFL owner.
The AFL is a 19-team indoor football league.
“It is good for our fans,” added Baker, who in 10 years on the job and has seen franchise values for a team in Arena Football League increase from $400,000 each to about $20 million. “We have extremely young demographics who generally turn to (ESPN) as the first place to find sports information.”
Is ESPN unearthing a hidden gem, or getting in at a high price? Read more.
Latest Giant blowup?
Strahan loses his cool at [female] reporter. Why? Because she was doing her job… that is why.
The Giants are a mess. They started off well, Eli Manning was hitting everything. For a second I thought that Eli might actually go all the way, unlike his brother who has proven to be a Dan Marino-esque choker when it counts (of course, once again, “that could all change this year”). Before the death threats pile in, Dan Marino is a great QB, but he failed to lead his team to victory and for that, we say “choker when it counts.” Otherwise, great guy, fantastic athlete.
I don’t know, the journalist was doing her job. Read this and tell me if Strahan was out of line.
The Giants are a mess. That whole Tiki Barber nonsense about announcing your retirement when you are less than halfway into the season leading the league in rushing? More nonsense.
It seems like College Football is eternally doomed.
A few years ago experts decreed the system to be futile because it was impossible to really determine who was the Nation’s best football club.
That’s when the powers that be came up with the Bowl Championship Series. For more information click here.
The idea was to avoid this year’s scenario:
With a week left in the college football season, the Bowl Championship Series, the system instituted eight years ago to ensure that the two best teams in the country face off for the national title, is facing the biggest mess in its short history.
Three one-loss teams, Florida, Michigan and USC, are legitimate contenders for the second spot in the BCS title game opposite undefeated consensus No. 1 Ohio State.
Read more.
The Atlanta Falcons closed ranks around embattled quarterback Michael Vick, who was clearly stunned by reports that Jim Mora’s father referred to No. 7 as a “coach killer.”
Vick said Wednesday that he shut off his cell phone because he was getting so many calls about comments made by Mora’s father, a former NFL coach who shares the same name with his son.
“Honestly, I don’t even know what to say,” Vick said. “I think it was inappropriate. But, hey, when you’re commentating, I guess you’ve got a right to say what you want to say. I just keep playing football. At the same time, it’s crazy.”
Read more.
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