betED.com - The View from the Couch - by Gavin McDougald!
October 18th, 2006 - Lyons-ized
Steve Lyons. It has long been strange to me why he was hired in the first place ? and how he kept his job for as long as he did has been nothing short of a mystery. The lifetime .252 hitter, whose only true claim to fame prior to calling games was dropping his pants at first base, never even hinted at being interested in being a journalist. He was always ?Psycho.?
?Psycho? was both his nickname and shtick. He even called his autobiography (what he had to write about god only knows) Steve Lyons: PSYCHOanalysis.
?He?s just crazy,? folks would say, ?You never know what Psycho Lyons is gonna do next!?
So, a further mystery to me is why he was fired for saying something stupid last week.
I mean, was that not his job? Let?s see if we can figure out why?
Fox issued a statement reading, "Steve Lyons has been relieved of his Fox Sports duties for making comments on air that the company found inappropriate."
Hmmm?Fox huh. Maybe he called George Bush a twerp. Nope, it was an almost completely nonsensical exchange between Lyons and the new Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who was serving as a guest commentator.
Let me replay the scene for you:
Piniella suggested that light-hitting A's shortstop Marco Scutaro should not be expected to remain hot.
"That's like finding a wallet on Friday night and then looking for one on Sunday and Monday," he said.
Later, Piniella, who's of Spanish heritage, said that A's slugger Frank Thomas needs to be "en fuego" and not "frio."
"He's habla-ing some Espanol, and I'm still looking for my wallet," Lyons said to laughs from Piniella and Brennaman.
"I didn't understand him and I don't want to sit close to him, now."
Piniella again laughed.
?.and cut.
That was it. Racist? According to Fox ? yes. According to me, it?s just stupid banter during a four hour broadcast. Something we sports fans hear practically every single day. One talking-head needling another talking-head that they think rates as hilarious hi-jinx.
Okay, if you were probably the most racially sensitive person in the world you may just have had you hackles raised a tad but otherwise, well, it was just Steve Lyons being Steve Lyons.
And there lies the problem. Steve Lyons is a jerk as a broadcaster. He has been since he was first hired by Fox when they first got baseball. Either in studio or calling games, you could almost be guaranteed to want to slap your forehead at least once a broadcast over something stupid he said.
There was his perceived anti-Semitism after maligning outfielder Shawn Green, who is Jewish, for sitting out a game on Yom Kippur in 2004, saying:
?He?s not even a practicing Jew. He didn?t marry a Jewish girl. And from what I understand, he never had a bar mitzvah, which is unfortunate because he doesn?t get the money.?
Bah-da-bing.
That time Fox merely suspended him and apologized for his insensitivity.
Then there was his Italian-American slur. Lyons discussed Yankees' catcher Italian-American Sal Fasano, and how you don't want to cross him:
"Well, you know Fasano is the type of guy "who knows a guy that knows a guy."?
Bah-da-boom.
That time? Nuttin. Hey, it?s only the Italians. Fahgetaboutit. They are all in the Mafia you know.
This time however, for a comment that could be construed as an insult to some, he was immediately called on the carpet and booted off the air.
The third time was the charm, or in baseball?s parlance, the classic third strike. Fox must have given him an ultimatum and after game four of the ALCS, they decided enough was enough. It?s a stretch to say the banalities Lyons uttered were racial in nature. Mostly they were just stupid, but at least the perception was there.
Therefore, Fox got to kill two birds with one stone. They now appear to be completely intolerant when it comes to racism, and they ditched their in-house Psycho.
All I can say is, it was about time.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Get your MLB playoff wagers in now!
October 18th, 2006 - Lyons-ized
Steve Lyons. It has long been strange to me why he was hired in the first place ? and how he kept his job for as long as he did has been nothing short of a mystery. The lifetime .252 hitter, whose only true claim to fame prior to calling games was dropping his pants at first base, never even hinted at being interested in being a journalist. He was always ?Psycho.?
?Psycho? was both his nickname and shtick. He even called his autobiography (what he had to write about god only knows) Steve Lyons: PSYCHOanalysis.
?He?s just crazy,? folks would say, ?You never know what Psycho Lyons is gonna do next!?
So, a further mystery to me is why he was fired for saying something stupid last week.
I mean, was that not his job? Let?s see if we can figure out why?
Fox issued a statement reading, "Steve Lyons has been relieved of his Fox Sports duties for making comments on air that the company found inappropriate."
Hmmm?Fox huh. Maybe he called George Bush a twerp. Nope, it was an almost completely nonsensical exchange between Lyons and the new Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who was serving as a guest commentator.
Let me replay the scene for you:
Piniella suggested that light-hitting A's shortstop Marco Scutaro should not be expected to remain hot.
"That's like finding a wallet on Friday night and then looking for one on Sunday and Monday," he said.
Later, Piniella, who's of Spanish heritage, said that A's slugger Frank Thomas needs to be "en fuego" and not "frio."
"He's habla-ing some Espanol, and I'm still looking for my wallet," Lyons said to laughs from Piniella and Brennaman.
"I didn't understand him and I don't want to sit close to him, now."
Piniella again laughed.
?.and cut.
That was it. Racist? According to Fox ? yes. According to me, it?s just stupid banter during a four hour broadcast. Something we sports fans hear practically every single day. One talking-head needling another talking-head that they think rates as hilarious hi-jinx.
Okay, if you were probably the most racially sensitive person in the world you may just have had you hackles raised a tad but otherwise, well, it was just Steve Lyons being Steve Lyons.
And there lies the problem. Steve Lyons is a jerk as a broadcaster. He has been since he was first hired by Fox when they first got baseball. Either in studio or calling games, you could almost be guaranteed to want to slap your forehead at least once a broadcast over something stupid he said.
There was his perceived anti-Semitism after maligning outfielder Shawn Green, who is Jewish, for sitting out a game on Yom Kippur in 2004, saying:
?He?s not even a practicing Jew. He didn?t marry a Jewish girl. And from what I understand, he never had a bar mitzvah, which is unfortunate because he doesn?t get the money.?
Bah-da-bing.
That time Fox merely suspended him and apologized for his insensitivity.
Then there was his Italian-American slur. Lyons discussed Yankees' catcher Italian-American Sal Fasano, and how you don't want to cross him:
"Well, you know Fasano is the type of guy "who knows a guy that knows a guy."?
Bah-da-boom.
That time? Nuttin. Hey, it?s only the Italians. Fahgetaboutit. They are all in the Mafia you know.
This time however, for a comment that could be construed as an insult to some, he was immediately called on the carpet and booted off the air.
The third time was the charm, or in baseball?s parlance, the classic third strike. Fox must have given him an ultimatum and after game four of the ALCS, they decided enough was enough. It?s a stretch to say the banalities Lyons uttered were racial in nature. Mostly they were just stupid, but at least the perception was there.
Therefore, Fox got to kill two birds with one stone. They now appear to be completely intolerant when it comes to racism, and they ditched their in-house Psycho.
All I can say is, it was about time.
Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch
Get your MLB playoff wagers in now!
