Pep TalkIt happened with Rush Limbaugh. It happened with John Rocker. It happened with Joe Namath.
Those in the public eye in sports will say something, and then everybody watching, listening or reading will just look around and say, Did that just happen?\ It might offend a specific ethnicity (see Limbaugh), many groups at one time (see Rocker) or simply make you cringe and wish for the moment to go away (see Namath)—but the imbecilic comments provide either a glimpse into the makeup of our American society or simply a great piece of video on EbaumsWorld right next to the Aicha music video and that little kid getting hit with a basketball.
It was halftime of the Iowa-Minnesota basketball game in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. At the time, I was sitting on press row, wondering whether or not the Vincent Grier dunks I had just seen had really happened.
The entertainment at the Hawkeye-Gopher halftime break took the award for most uninteresting eight minutes of the tournament. On the big screen, former Michigan Wolverine now Indianapolis Colt defensive back, Marlin Jackson was playing a 16-year-old Iowa fan in a car-racing video game for Xbox 360. The winner would receive a video-game system, but I would hope the teenager would've gotten the prize no matter what.
Think about those times when you watch two of your friends play Madden. And multiply that by 25,000. Fans in the Conseco Fieldhouse got bored... real fast. But the promo guy tried to spice things up. He'd ask Jackson what it was like to play with the Colts or question the kid on when he really had learned to drive.
But that's when the bomb was dropped. With Jackson struggling and the young gun well in front and on his way to a new Xbox 360, promo guy, microphone in hand, urged Jackson to improve on his driving technique.
""Come on, Marlin,"" promo guy recommended, for all fans to hear. ""Pretend like you're driving from the police.""
Take a second and read it again.
Now, let's assume the Caucasian promo guy didn't even consider Jackson's African American ethnicity when making the statement. Let's also assume that promo guy didn't know that Jackson, when back at Michigan, hit a guy in the head at a bar, opening a cut that required 17 stitches, and then ran before the cops got there. Let's assume all that. That didn't stop the Conseco Fieldhouse capacity crowd from having a somewhat quizzical reaction.
I looked up from the stat-sheets, and everybody had that ""did that just happen"" look on their faces. Murmurs started up around the crowd, and someone from the family section behind me screamed, ""He did not just say that!""
But promo guy had said that. A showing of true color for promo guy? I'd like to think not. A lapse in judgment? Probably. Promo guy most likely isn't a racist, but you never know. I'd like to think that a guy trying to make his career in holding a microphone would have more sensibility than that, but I could be wrong. Just look at Keith Hernandez.
The former all-star and gold-glover, now color commentator for the New York Mets made an interesting comment last weekend. During the Mets-Padres game, San Diego's masseuse Kelly Calabrese was sitting in her team's dugout. Upon Hernandez spotting Calabrese, he quickly asserted his stance on women in his workplace.
""Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair?"" Hernandez said during the broadcast on Sports New York, the Mets new network. ""What's going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout.""
""I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout,"" Hernandez continued.
Hernandez laughed and added: ""You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there—always have.""
While promo guy didn't have a chance to apologize—he didn't even have a chance to do another promo—Hernandez got his opportunity. He took full advantage of it, too.
""Some of what I said was inappropriate,"" Hernandez said Monday. Well put Keith.
So, whether you're a Conservative-radio host, drunken former-QB, Big Ten promo-guy or sleazy gold-glover, you're in the public eye and you're game for public scrutiny.
And I'm sure Seinfeld wouldn't have had a man crush on a guy like that.Sam Pepper is a junior majoring in political science. He can be reached for comment at sepepper@wisc.edu.
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