Michael Irvin Says That Tony Romo's Great, Great, Great Grandma Must Have "Pulled Some (Black) Studs Up From The Barn," Because That's The Only Way One Can Be A Great Athlete

He was laughing as he said this, which sort of mitigates it as intended as a bit of silly schtick.

Still, the fact that nobody's talking about this, whereas Rush Limbaugh was already fired by this point in his ESPN-inappropriate-racial-remarks controversy, speaks volumes.

This happened some days ago, and I only just heard of it. Not quite the media firestorm of the Rush Limbaugh comments, is it?

You may have missed when noted sociologist and anthropological expert Michael Irvin stated that Tony Romo must have African lineage in his genome, which explains why the Dallas Cowboys quarterback is such a good athlete.

Said Irvin on a national radio show this week: "He doesn't look like he's that type of an athlete. But he is. He is, man. I don't know ... some brother down in that line somewhere ... I don't know who saw what or where, his great-great-great-great-grandma ran over in the 'hood or something went down."

But he said it and I do not believe Irvin was kidding. The host of the show apparently did not think Irvin was joking, either. He responded to Irvin, "Oh, that's the only way he can be a great athlete?"

"That's not the only way, but it's certainly one way," Irvin replied. "If great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandma pulled one of them studs up out of the barn (and said), 'Come on in here for a second,' you know, and they go out and work in the yard. You know, back in the day."

I'm not sure I should be outraged! by this. I know I'm not. Although I suppose it is the equivalent, sort of, of suggesting that a bright black person must have "some white in 'im."

Maybe it's time for everyone to just stop making such a big deal over such remarks -- on both sides of the racial aisle.

Apparently... ESPN is simply ignoring the story altogether. Just refusing the mention their employee's gaffe.

Again, they didn't seem shy about weighing on Rush Limbaugh, who suggested something far less incendiary. He suggested not that there was any sort of actual inborn difference between blacks and whites, but that the media was a bit too "solicitous" in claiming that Donovan McNabb was a great quarterback to be mentioned constantly in the same breath as Brett Favre.

(And, of course, he was right. McNabb is/was a good quarterback, but not a great, and certainly not in the league of the NFL's all-time elites like Favre.)

Of Course... McNabb wasn't the only quarterback touted far beyond his skills or accomplishments.

I'm a New York Giants fan, so I tend to notice when sports commentators apparently don't ever watch the NY Giants play.

If they did, they would stop saying stupid things about how critical Jeremy "Hands of Stone" Shockey is to the offense, or that Eli Manning is "maturing" and has the promise of being a great quarterback.

Ummm, no, he's not maturing, and he'll never be great. He aspires to be above-average. If he makes it up to Jake Plummer level, he can count himself lucky.

Update/Correction: ESPN Mentioned Story. The Commish notes:

Actually, Sportscenter (ESPN's flagship sports highlight show) played the Irvin clip last night. So they're covering it.

And here's Michael Irvin's apology, in which he says he tries to give fans an insight into what type of things are said in the locker room. He explicitly apologizes. This is from ESPN.com, and it was linked on the front page as early as a few hours ago (although it's since been moved down to the front page of the NFL page because other headlines have moved in):

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2677581

So Irvin isn't exactly getting a pass. But he won't be lambasted like Limbaugh was.

posted by Ace at 07:28 PM

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