Four for Four . . .

I warned you yesterday that today was going to be a long day, and it was, and the result is a rundown. I might stop giving an intro after this one . . .

1. The Miami Heat lost its 15th game in a row, this one to the San Antonio Spurs. By one point. Yep, it's still an L. They haven't won in over a month, and their coming schedule isn't getting any easier with their next six games including the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, and Detroit Pistons. These are all good teams who will probably beat up on the Heat unless they figure out a way to get out of this mess. This has sped past ridiculous and is now in the territory of busting apart at the seams.

2. Kelly Tilghman returned to the air and gave an apology. Rehearsed but pretty good. She has learned her lesson, and hopefully people will start thinking before they speak. She is lucky to still have her job in the post-Imus era, so hopefully this is the last out of line thing we hear from her. I won't hold my breath, though.

3. I love (no pun intended) how Oregon still hates Kevin Love so much for going to UCLA to play baskebtall that they boo him when he comes home. Yes, they booed when his name was announced in the starting line up in Thursday night's game against the Oregon Ducks. I know that the kid said he was prepared for it, but all the preparation in the world won't take away the sting of hearing your hometown boo you. If it had been just a few booes, then fine, but it sounded like the entire arena. Come on, people, grow up. How many NCAA basketball championships does Oregon have again?

4. I saw this article discussing a "caddy snack" and was curious as to what was meant by that. I'll give you 10 guesses, I don't think you would come close. What happened? Two caddies in Hawaii stole and ate a man's dog for whom they were caddying. A German shepherd puppy. Would that happen on the mainland U.S.? We have some sick people here but that might be too brazen even for us. The fact that it was two people makes it even more crazy. I've heard of puppy chow, but this crosses the line.

5. World #2 Rafael Nadal was summarily swept out of the semifinals of the Australian Open by France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Some may call this an upset but real tennis fans know that "Rafa's" ranking is artificially inflated because of his awesomeness on clay. Now he's definitely a great player, and has notched some wins on other surfaces, but he is not the #2 player in the world on the hard courts like the ones they are playing on now. Great win for Tsonga though, catapulting him into his first ever Grand Slam final where he will meet the winner of the other semi between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Djokovic has the goods, but this is Fed in a slam so my money is with him. Either way, Tsonga has his work cut out for him, but kudos are in order for just making the final. On ESPN, they said Tsonga (pictured above) resembles Muhammad Ali. They also said he has a head the size of a turkey. So are they implying that Ali's head is the size of a turkey? Or is that a faulty syllogism?

Not Your Best Work

I was going to do a Rundown from the Run-down but I decided one story needed its own post.

Now I am sure Golfweek magazine thought that putting a noose on its cover to highlight the Kelly Tilghman controversy was a good idea that might sell more issues and capitalize on her comments.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that no one who is African-American took any part in the decision to place the above image on the cover. Tiger's the only prominent African-American (among other races) in the sport today, so I'm guessing there aren't too many working at Golfweek either. And they probably didn't see The Great Debaters either.

I really don't care what they thought they were trying to say because this image is in poor taste. The lighting gives the noose an ominous look, too, which I'm sure was intended but did not achieve the intended effect.

Some might liken it to putting a burning cross or a swastika on the cover, but the difference here is that the noose is not only used to kill, but to kill a particular race of people.

This from the New York Times:

Dave Seanor, the editor, said the intention was not to be “racially
provocative,” but to illustrate a noose tightening around Tilghman, the Golf
Channel and golf.

He said: “There weren’t a lot of other ideas for the cover;
either you put Kelly out there or this image, which is emblematic of what this
controversy is about.”

The magazine, with a circulation of 160,000, nearly
all of it by subscription, has received about 100 to 150 demands for
cancellations, but as far as was known, no advertisers have pulled out.

I will tackle this in pieces. First, well if that was the intention, then why isn't there a picture of a noose tightening around Tilghman's neck? Too much? Well so is the noose. Especially with recent noose placings around the country fueling racial episodes, most notably in Jena, Louisiana.

Second, if you are the editor of a publication, never in your life should you ever explain why you went with a poor choice by there were not many other ideas. Put a picture of Kelly, a picture of Tiger, or a picture of Kelly and Tiger. Anything but a noose.

And I haven't read the article but I am sure it is not some great expository on race in golf.

Magazines are struggling now as it is. While 100 people might not make a huge difference to a subscriber base of 160,000, I wonder how many people won't pick it up off the newstands, and if those 100 might turn into more as this story gains traction. My guess would be that none of that would make a dent in their bottom line now, but just wait until Reverend Al leads the boycott. Be afraid, Golfweek, be very afraid.

Two Weeks Suspension Ought To Cure It

Even the vote of confidence from Tiger Woods couldn't save Kelly Tilghman from being suspended from her job on the Golf Channel for two weeks.

As I discussed yesterday, golf announcer Tilghman stated during a broadcast that lynching Tiger "in a back alley" was the only way that young up and comers could take over his throne. Tiger's agent says Tiger didn't bat an eye, and that he and Tilghman are friends (and some of my friends have their own thoughts on why Tiger didn't mind . . . ).

But the Golf Channel cared. In truth, they had to do something. Don Imus can't get his show cancelled for using offensive language calling black women names, and then nothing happens to dear Kelly when she talks about killing America's sports darling in a racially offensive manner.

Perhaps it was Al Sharpton's call for her firing, and Tiger's treatment of it as a non-issue. The Golf Channel just split the difference.

The more that I think about it, I have to wonder if Tilghman's comment set the ladies back a big. Unfortunately, as is often the case with minorities, when one woman does something, we all tend to take the blame. It's hard enough for us to get on TV doing announcing in a men's field as it is. The fact that she couldn't come up with a witty response to Nick Faldo's comments on Tiger's "prowess" unfortunately reflects on all of us, providing the bigwigs just another reason to keep us in the reporting jobs and away from the color commentary.

Now Kelly has time to finish reading that best selling self-help book "How To Recover From An Unfunny, Racist Joke About Tiger Woods" by her own sportsmen, Fuzzy Zoeller, whose racial joke Tiger actually said he found amusing. Happy reading, Kel.

Did I Say That Out Loud?

Sometimes, people say things that they don't mean. Sometimes, they say things that are insensitive.

And sometimes, people just don't think before they speak and what comes out is, to put it bluntly, just plain dumb.

Golf Channel (yeah, I'm surprised anyone caught it either) announcer Kelly Tilghman, the first full-time female play-by-play golf announcer, and a former golfer at Duke University, was apparently trying to say that the young players will not be able to touch Tiger Woods unless they physically take him out of the game.

What she ended up saying was that the players should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley." Two days later, she apparently apologized.

Yeah, I can't even get mad at this one because it is too obviously ignorant to invoke any real deep-seated emotions. Following on the heels of Don Imus, this just goes to show how difficult it is for us to step into the shoes of people who are not like us. It's one thing to say something seemingly racist in private, but when it is said in public, I must assume that the speaker didn't think there was anything wrong with what he or she said.

And then you get heat for it, and you learn to think before you make jokes that might offend people. I wouldn't fire her, though. She's relatively new to the game (the broadcast game), and she made an insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, the most hallowed American athlete there is. That is punishment enough.