Later, Piniella said the A's needed Thomas to get "en fuego" - hot in Spanish - because he was currently "frio" - or cold. After Brennaman praised Piniella for being bilingual, Lyons spoke up.
Lyons said that Piniella was "hablaing Espanol" - butchering the conjugation for the word "to speak" - and added, "I still can't find my wallet."
"I don't understand him, and I don't want to sit too close to him now," Lyons continued.
Fox executives told Lyons after the game he had been fired.
Piniella, approached before Saturday's Game 4, declined to comment on the situation except to say: "No, he's not here today."
A Blog of Current Events and Ancient Issues.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS SO I TOO CAN BE OFFENDED
5 comments:
PIneilla said that OAK needed some production out of their big guys and said Scutaro's big game on Friday was a lucky fluke like "finding a wallet". He then said they need to get "en fuego".
Lyons ran with the joke and said that he can't understand Lou's "habla-ing espanol" and now he can't find his wallet, as if you can't trust a spic.
After 11 yrs, Fox must have been looking for a reason to dump Psycho just as ESPN must have had designs on dumping Reynolds. The suits prick up their ears for anything uttered which is less than perfectly PC and the rest is easy.
The context of the remark is totally lost in the AP translation, as is the context for when Lyons "once pulled down his pants on the field during his playing days," as if it were some kind of lewd display that is related to this latest transgression, when in fact he forgot where he was and dropped his pants on first base to tuck his shirt back in, and then, immediately conscious of his lapse, quickly pulled them back up and laughed at himself.
This seems well within the bounds of jocks talking trash to one another. Had Lyons said the same thing off camera, Piniella would have looked like a dork complaining. But since maybe one sensitive ear was listening, Lyons is the Gavrilo Princip of the playoffs. Another point for American Puritanism.
I was watching this game and although Lyons was a bit out of bounds, he was just going for a laugh and he got one from Pineilla. I'm really curious if Sweet Lou was offended and went to the brass or if the brass was just looking for a reason to promote diversity by promoting Jose Mota.
In all actuality, I had no idea that Lou Piniella was even Hispanic. Am I the only one? Did Lyons know, I wonder.
There seems to be a disconnect between the way athletes talk on and off the field and the way that sports journalists portray it. If networks are going to cover sports then they should get over their tea party manners and realize that inside sports there is much politically incorrect ribbing. These aren’t politicians trolling for voters, but gladiators here to entertain us.
I knew Piniella’s heritage only from reading his book back in the late 80s.
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