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Post by joetee316 on Oct 14, 2006 16:20:45 GMT -5
For comments about Lou Pinella. Lyons said Pinella is, "hablaing espanol." and other derogatory comments. I guess he wasnt nicknamed "Psycho" for nothing. I find it quite comical. I just thank God that Pinella isn't coming here.
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Post by 9 on Oct 14, 2006 16:29:38 GMT -5
Here's the whole AP story. This really seems like much ado about nothing. What he said wasn't worth losing a job over.
DETROIT -- Fox baseball broadcaster Steve Lyons has been fired for making a racially insensitive comment directed at colleague Lou Piniella's Hispanic heritage on the air during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
The network confirmed Saturday that Lyons was dismissed after Friday's comments. He has been replaced for the remainder of the series by Los Angeles Angels announcer Jose Mota.
"Steve Lyons has been relieved of his Fox Sports duties for making comments on air that the company found inappropriate," network spokesman Dan Bell said.
Lyons had been working in the booth for the ALCS alongside Thom Brennaman and Piniella.
A call to Lyons' cell phone was not immediately returned Saturday.
In the second inning of Friday's game between Detroit and Oakland, Piniella talked about the success light-hitting A's infielder Marco Scutaro had in the first round of the playoffs. Piniella said that slugger Frank Thomas and Eric Chavez needed to contribute, comparing Scutaro's production to finding a "wallet on Friday" and hoping it happened again the next week.
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."
This was not a first-time offense for Lyons, nicknamed "Psycho" during his nine-year big league career as a utilityman that ended in 1993 with the Boston Red Sox.
Hired when Fox began broadcasting baseball in 1996, Lyons was suspended without pay in late September 2004 after his remarks about Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Green is Jewish and elected not to play one of the two games at San Francisco that took place during the Yom Kippur holiday.
The network apologized for Lyons' remarks at the time.
Earlier in the playoffs, while working the Mets-Dodgers NLDS, Lyons unwittingly made fun of a nearly blind fan who was wearing special glasses to see the game.
"He's got a digital camera stuck to his face," Lyons said.
He also once pulled down his pants on the field during his playing days.
Lyons, 46, was a career .252 hitter with 19 home runs and 196 RBI for Boston, the Chicago White Sox, Atlanta and Montreal. He was a first-round draft pick by the Red Sox, 19th overall, in 1981.
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Oct 14, 2006 16:37:07 GMT -5
Way for Steve Lyons to take his pants off in front of 20000 people.
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Post by grover on Oct 14, 2006 19:53:17 GMT -5
Much ado about nothing? LOL Sure its fine if we say something like that in our house, or if they invite Ali G to the booth, but not for a guy doing color.
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Post by 9 on Oct 14, 2006 20:20:10 GMT -5
I still don't think he said anything that bad. Stupid? Absolutely.
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Post by grover on Oct 14, 2006 21:08:20 GMT -5
"I still can't find my wallet"? LOL That's like Jon Miller telling Morgan that the fried catfish and grits are on the way.
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Post by Jason Giambi on Oct 14, 2006 22:24:35 GMT -5
instant grits?
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 14, 2006 22:38:57 GMT -5
Ridiculously stupid thing to say. I understand why he was canned. He's lucky he was not called to the back between innings and sat out for the rest of the evening first.
Mind you it does not personally offend me, but it is something someone in his slot should not say.
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Post by mac0822 on Oct 16, 2006 8:11:30 GMT -5
I'm so annoyed about how the truth hurts people so much...
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Post by BigAl115 on Oct 16, 2006 10:40:28 GMT -5
This country has become way too sensitive ...this is just stupid ...he did not say anything derogatory
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Post by Chris on Oct 16, 2006 10:48:17 GMT -5
Lyons pulled his pants down and Hudler ate a live beetle on the field. What is it with these sub-par players?
Somewhere in Jeremy Giambi's closet, there must be some similar skeletons.
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Post by cactusjames on Oct 16, 2006 10:49:31 GMT -5
Spike Lee was on a MNF game and he refrained from saying anything racist or political. Lyons could have done the same. I think it's really funny what he said, and if Lou is speaking spanish in the booth someone is going to say something, but they take that shit seriusly when you're talking to millions of people.
You learn there's that line you can't cross. I learned it in radio, I'm not shcked he said it or got fired. And like Tom said,they had every right to yank him right out of he telecast.
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Post by grover on Oct 16, 2006 10:51:17 GMT -5
Right, it's no big deal to us, but to the rest of the nation it will be a big deal, and it;s not worth it really.
I'm actually really glad he said it, because listening to him is terrible.
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Post by Chris on Oct 16, 2006 11:07:23 GMT -5
I remember last year when Lyons remarked/questioned Charlie Steiner on the air (Lyons also does local Dodger broadcasts, partnered with Charlie Steiner) about Jack Buck. They were doing a Cardinals/Dodgers game, and somehow Jack Buck's name came up. Lyons was just verbally drooling over Jack Buck, talking about how he was the epitome of classy legendary baseball play-by-play men....he was going ON and ON and ON...I mean it went WAY beyond overkill and he finally summed it up with the rhetorical question to Steiner, something to the effect of, "Has there ever been anyone better than Jack Buck?"
After an uncomfortable silence, Steiner replied, "Ummm...I think OUR guy is pretty good" (referring to Vin Scully)
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Post by elliejay21 on Oct 16, 2006 14:05:25 GMT -5
Personally, I found Mr. Lyons' comments hysterical, in a you-just-totally-fucked-up-and-lost-your-job sort of way. There are things you can say at your own dinner table, at a bar with your buddies or at a friendly Hitler youth rally, that you simply CAN NOT say on the air. No matter how lighthearted or seemingly joking statements may be, this is baseball, which has a HUGE Hispanic/Latino audience, so what might be overlooked covering the Republican National Convention or the Stanley Cup Finals, will NOT fly under the RADAR on ALCS coverage. When you represent a network you really need to have the filter between brain and mouth FIRMLY in place... LOL! Somewhere in Jeremy Giambi's closet, there must be some similar skeletons. I don't think it's in his closet... I think airport security at JFK found it in his duffle bag... but maybe that stuff all went up in smoke... |
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Post by BigAl115 on Oct 17, 2006 11:25:48 GMT -5
I heard him on ESPN today and his comments were not at all off base .....His only real question was .Who did he offend ..I think that people have becoe way too sensitive nowadays...Now the moron analyst Lamar Thomas Should of Def been fire for his comments during the brawl Sat...I doubt he will work again .....
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Post by 9 on Oct 17, 2006 11:42:26 GMT -5
Yeah, his dumb ass was canned yesterday.
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Post by grover on Oct 17, 2006 23:05:14 GMT -5
Yeah, but for fucks sake, how many times is he going to be allowed to say stupid shit on air? He says Pinella took his wallet, makes fun of a handicapped person on air, made fun of Shawn Green saying he takes Yom Kippur off from baseball. The guy's a retard.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 18, 2006 9:04:52 GMT -5
While rotting on my couch yesterday afternoon fighting severe illness I saw an interview with Lamar Thomas on ESPN-News. He agrees he went too far, but attributed it all to his "love for the school." He also made sure to remind us that one of the players who was laying kicks in spent the day before visiting kids in the hospital "on his own accord." As for his comment about "hopping into the elevator to get in there himself" he reminded everyone that it would take 15 minutes to shuttle to the field that way, and at 36 "those kids would beat me up."
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Post by 9 on Oct 18, 2006 10:56:59 GMT -5
I love his logic: So if I visit a sick kid in the hospital, do I get to break a barstool over someone's head that night?
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 18, 2006 11:05:28 GMT -5
Here's Piniella's own take on the Lyons matter...
"There isn't a racist bone in his body," Piniella said of Lyons. "Not one. I know the guy personally. I know him well. He was kidding with me. Nothing more, nothing less. It was an unfortunate thing. None of it was intended, believe me. … Let's hope Steve gets himself another good job. He's talented at what he does. … You have to be careful what you say because it's a very sensitive world out there."
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Oct 18, 2006 11:14:12 GMT -5
That was nice of Piniella to do that. You don't see that very often. But Lyons should have been fired for pulling his pants down. Footage of both incidents can be found HERE! www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWf1a6O4hv8 |
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Post by Chris on Oct 19, 2006 13:42:18 GMT -5
The Dodgers have retained Lyons as an employee...he will continue to pair up with Charlie Steiner next season, in their usual role of relieving Vin Scully about midway through the game or so.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 19, 2006 13:53:16 GMT -5
Lyons also admitted he was on "warning" since the Green cracks, and was working with a zero tolerance over his head.
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Post by Chris on Oct 19, 2006 14:02:39 GMT -5
The weird thing about Lyons for me is that, when listening to him he sounds like he knows exactly what he's talking about and has some good insight.
But for some reason the mediocre ballplayer has a stigma with me, and I often, unfairly, dismiss his takes simply because he was mediocre.
Lyons does this to me, so does Rex Huddler. Rod Dibble is slightly more credible...but that's why I like guys like Ken Singleton and Kaat. Remy is pretty good too.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 19, 2006 14:05:52 GMT -5
Thats a little unfair. It still takes a Hell of a lot to play major league ball. What about all the great managers who could not "do it" in the majors? Also, only like 10,000 guys have ever played major league ball in history. I dont mind listening to any of them in terms of someone who has been there.
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MSBNYY
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Post by MSBNYY on Oct 19, 2006 14:09:48 GMT -5
Actually, most of the smartest guys in baseball were the mediocre to bad MLB players. Most of the superstars have a natural talent that doesn't require the same level of coaching. They can just do it. So they may not really KNOW the strategies and techniques.
It's very rare you see a HOF level player succeed as a manager. They're usually the mediocre to bad players. Hell, even Frank Robinson never won more than 87 games.
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$heriff Tom
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Post by $heriff Tom on Oct 19, 2006 14:11:08 GMT -5
Let Frank Robinson manage the Yankees of the last few years and he would win 97. In lots of cases, its what they were dealt with.
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Post by Chris on Oct 19, 2006 14:12:04 GMT -5
You're not the first person I've heard that from Balls. I've heard over and over that the average players make the better sports television journalists
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Post by jwmcc on Oct 19, 2006 14:12:43 GMT -5
I don't discount Lyons in the booth because he was an ex-ballplayer. I discounted him because he's a total schmuck, just like anyone Fox has thrown in the booth the last ten years.
Jw
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