"Shoulder pads are hard and stiff. Your hands are, are tender and they can move and caress the ball. That's kind of gay, but hey, close."

- Brian Kinchen, ESPNU commentator, calling the Northern Illinois-Iowa game Saturday. He was chastising a receiver for dropping a pass. An uncomfortable silence followed Kinchen's statement before play-by-play man Clay Matvick resumed. (During the silence you can almost hear Kinchen thinking, "Uh-oh.")

One report says there was 5 seconds of dead air.


The network has suspended him from his job....he's off the air...and facing possible loss of his job. In any event, this is a significant indication of how public tolerance for discriminatory expressions has diminished. There is no report, as yet, that the network did it in response to complaints by GLBT organizations.

The segment was available at
http://rellavent.blogspot.com/
but it has been pulled even though the link is still there.

Perhaps things are getting better faster than we hoped.

I hear young teenagers using that expression...I'm not sure if they understand how derogatory the remark is or they're just repeating something they heard elsewhere. When I hear them say it I always ask if they are expert in gayness. That seems to quickly end the talk. Unfortunately, there is too much testosterone in junior high...so they try to give off a "macho" image and impress both the girls and the boys.
Interesting, sometimes amusing but usually annoying because of the ignorance and intolerance.

Wendy--

On one (soft) hand, as a card-carrying TS, I am (and should be offended) by a remark like that. It is demeaning and insulting, and should not be tolerated.

On the other (soft) hand, I think an official reprimand and apology, some sensitivity training, and perhaps being moved to some games that few people would watch for the rest of the season is punishment enough. I don't really think the man meant it to be insulting...and in one sense, he's right. Shoulder pads for football are hard. Soft hands for women or football players (or, for that matter, women football players, a number of which I count as friends--and one in particular is my hairdresser!) is a real plus. Caressing the ball, however, sounds kinky.

Shoulder pads in my blouses and dresses (and in a few shirts, jackets and blazers) aren't hard--they're nice and soft. Perhaps Mr. Kinchen should try a set, and walk a mile in our pumps.

Luv 'n hugs,

Mina Sakura
"Almost-Angel, T-Girl Genius, and Ultra-Flirt"

I agree, the remark was possibly not intended to be hurtful....but it was. The fact that millions of people use the expression "That's gay" on a daily basis, however, is reason enough to make sure that they see that it isn't. If the man uses that expression on a daily basis, which he likely does, then if it hurts him it is only fair. He hurts others every day and to do so on the air hurts a lot of people. Too many sports figures get away with outrageous behavior, have their wrists slapped, and go right back to making a fortune. People see this and decide that they can behave badly without punishment. Seeing this man get serious consequences for a serious lapse of judgement may do a lot of good. I wonder if the man will even change his daily use of the abusive phrase if he does lose his job. It's his right to free speech but our right to limit his access to a pre-paid public forum. I would boycott the advertisers if he was allowed to get off without some serious action being taken. A public apology, on the air, during a game broadcast, would not be inappropriate here.

A few years ago the word 'gay' had an entirely different meaning.

"A public apology, on the air, during a game broadcast, would not be inappropriate here."

Wendy, hon--

I concur. Will it happen, THAT is the question.

Mina

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/[...]550880/

BOSTON - A radio talk show host was fired Friday after he made a derogatory comment about the weight and sexuality of the Green-Rainbow party candidate running for Massachusetts governor.

WRKO-AM pulled host John DePetro from the air after he made the comments Thursday. It announced Friday that he had been fired....

...he told The Boston Globe in a story posted Friday on its Web site that he was "stunned" that he had been fired.

He said he had called the candidate, Grace Ross, to apologize for calling her a "fat lesbian.".....

....The host, who calls himself the "Independent Man," said he made the remark because he was exasperated that Ross and independent candidate Christy Mihos were eating up time during a debate earlier in the week that included Republican candidate Kerry Healey and Democrat Deval Patrick.

He said it was then that he told listeners he wished someone would "tell the fat lesbian to shut up."...

...DePetro had also been reprimanded by station management in July for using a slur often aimed at gays in reference to Matt Amorello, the former chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

Wolfe said that after DePetro was suspended in that case, the host was warned that "any further comments of this kind would be dealt with in a severe way."

I guess he's not a sports fan or he's a slow learner. Hooray for WRKO-AM radio..

"He who does not study history is doomed to repeat the class."

Awwww, geeeeeez...I can't beleive this one!

I'd say this is a case of "slow learner."

Mina Sakura