Fox baseball announcer fired immediately after yesterdays As-Tigers broadcast.
Hyperion
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Interesting, the replacement appears to be of Hispanic background.
From a NY Times article:
But the firing is the second action Fox has taken against Lyons for making insensitive ethnic comments. Two years ago, he was suspended without pay for making light of Shawn Green's decision, when he was with the Dodgers, not to play on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
"He's not a practicing Jew," Lyons said. "He didn't marry a Jewish girl." He added, "And from what I understand, he never had a bar mitzvah, which is unfortunate because he didn't get the money."
In a statement, Fox apologized to viewers who had been offended and acknowledged that Lyons had "exercised poor judgment." Lyons never made an on-air apology. At the time, a Dodgers spokesman said that Green had not been offended by Lyons's words.
Reporting was contributed by Jack Curry
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"He's not a practicing Jew," Lyons said. "He didn't marry a Jewish girl." He added, "And from what I understand, he never had a bar mitzvah, which is unfortunate because he didn't get the money."
but he gets fired for the Pinella wallet comment?
OMG
Speaking of this subject, has anyone seen lately the old Bad News Bears movies? The little blond kid made a comment in that movie that dropped my jaw to the floor. Boy have times changed. I have to say though that I liked the days better when people just didn't give a s**t of what someone else said.
I'm half Amish and I live near Amish country and I hear people make comments all the time, not knowing that I have a ton of Amish relatives. One guy at work the other day said, "wow, smells like an Amish person in here". Oh well, I don't care, doesn't bother me one bit. If people want to be an ass, let em, I ain't gonna change their minds.
Also, an employee such as this shows a lack of interest in his job when he doesn't want to stifle himself from making comments like that. If he truly cared about his job, he wouldn't have risked making those comments.
Remember - Fox made a business decision here and it was the right decision.
Also, an employee such as this shows a lack of interest in his job when he doesn't want to stifle himself from making comments like that. If he truly cared about his job, he wouldn't have risked making those comments.
Remember - Fox made a business decision here and it was the right decision.
Well stated. Anyone working in a corporate environment should not be surprised at the decision Fox made.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Does saying someone is "hablaing espanol" and joking about having to "keep an eye on his wallet" because someone spoke spanish constitute racist comments? I don't think so. But the comments also added nothing to the context of the telecast itself. They were not funny nor were they entertaining. They were awkward at best and idiotic at worst and spoke to the fact Steve Lyons had no place in the broadcast booth in the first place.
So let's recap:
You sucking at a job + making stupid comments after being warned by the boss + last year of contract = FIRED
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What happened to just not taking everything so seriously? Why do people feel so threatened by everything now days?
Clearly, some comments go way over the line. Say, Bryant Gumbel going on about black athletes, GOP convention, etc. Or John Rocker saying something stupid. The test for me at least would be, would I want my kids to say it?
Joking about a wallet...(rolls eyes)?
From the article, he never connected Pinnella's background with the lost wallet.
This is like the kid being suspended from school for making a paper gun, or the 93 year old grandmother in a wheelchair being searched at the airport. Sheer madness.
However, aside from Pinella when he occasionally pipes in with comments that follow the logic of a major league manager, Lyons and the other guy are crappy... the other guy especially, he really doesn't know anything about baseball.
I wonder how many on-air personalities for fox and foxsports are hispanic? How many upper management positions are held by hispanics?
I'm willing to bet these positions are DOMINATED by whites, and this poor announcer had to be the network's scapegoat to prove 'hey, we're sensitive to the hispanic community!'
What a joke.
<< <i>Of course the suits a fox will fire a broadcaster for things like this to cover up their own racist policies. >>
Exactly what racist policies are you referring to?
<< <i>I wonder how many on-air personalities for fox and foxsports are hispanic? >>
There are some. Go check the FOX bios.
Whether or not you agree that his Lyons' comments were racially insensitive or not, I'd hardly categorize him as a "poor announcer", more like an "idiot announcer" for thinking there wouldn't be consequences for what he said on national TV. I mean, c'mon, this guy is a freakin' broadcaster and he doesn't get it? And as bighurt pointed out, this isn't the first time he's ruffled feathers in the booth. His comments about Shawn Green were worse than these. Bottom line is that most people with even a modicum of intelligence realize what they can or cannot say in certain situations, and if Lyons was too dopey to realize that, I don't blame FOX for canning him. Like it or not, this is the world we live in today.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Two of the three commentators in the booth for the Tigers-A's ALCS game were of Hispanic origin, Ax. Think before you speak.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>I wonder how many on-air personalities for fox and foxsports are hispanic?
Two of the three commentators in the booth for the Tigers-A's ALCS game were of Hispanic origin, Ax. Think before you speak. >>
How many permanent on air sports personalities are hispanic?
One of the two, the replacement, was hispanic...coincidence? Hardly.
Look at the NFL team, even the dirtbag team announcers for FOX are all white.
For fox execs to sit there and feign outrage is ridiculous - they need only to look at their own hiring practices and see they are just as guilty (if not more so) than this more schlub of an announcer.
By the way, by no means am I defending what this guy said. It's simply hypocritical for an organization such as fox which seems to keep minorities out of the limelight to get riled up.
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I agree there. He's very poorly spoken and adds nothing to the broadcast.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
Good for you, why not more broadcasters with Polish ethnic background ? Or did you merely mean Lou lacks Polish speaking skills ?
Just kidding of course, but I do have a question about Lyons' more serious remarks ( as felt by some ) regarding Green's religion. According to some of my Jewish friends there are many "passive" Jews who casually observe certain holidays and traditions to get some time off from work. Perhaps Lyons merely felt Green was being a hypocrite ??
<< <i>hypersensitivity rules the day. >>
Barndog,
Did you ever realize that you were black?
take over the damn show, but just speak Spanish, ok? As your English really sucks! I'll be ok with English "sub-titles" at the bottom of my TV set, this way I can have the volume on mute, so I don't have to listen to the all Fox bs, plus all those Spanish TV commercials? Oye Vey!
Mucho Frio Servesa Grande!
rd
edit: P.S. A heads-up! Cookie Rojas is the Spanish announcer, for all the Florida Marlins Spanish radio games, plus all the SAP Spanish language TV games. He is quite popular here in South Florida, with all his Spanish language radio broadcasts and SAP TV. Plus he is a very knowledgeable baseball guy!
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Anyone think for a second said announcer will be in the booth for next year's playoffs?