Lyons dismissed by FOX for remarks

[foreverfree]

That's Steve Lyons. Those on-air remarks were to boothmate Lou Piniella. Anyone catch them?

And stay tuned, Mr. Wassall. At the end of this post I will make a suggestion for this board that is vaguely related to this post, or rather, the thread title.

[begin article]

Lyons dismissed by FOX for remarks
Mota replaces former Major Leaguer in ALCS broadcast booth
By Ian Browne / MLB.com

DETROIT -- The American League Championship Series underwent a quick lineup shuffle in the broadcast booth, with news coming down shortly before Saturday's Game 4 that FOX had dismissed analyst Steve Lyons for making a racially insensitive comment toward fellow color commentator Lou Piniella.
Lyons made a comment about Piniella's Hispanic heritage that FOX executives felt was inappropriate, forcing quick action.

"Steve Lyons has been relieved of his FOX Sports duties for making comments on air that the company found inappropriate," network spokesman Dan Bell told The Associated Press.

With Lyons no longer part of the crew, Angels announcer Jose Mota will be the third man in the booth for the rest of the series, joining play-by-play man Thom Brennaman and Piniella.

Piniella declined comment on Lyons' dismissal before the game, saying only, "No, he's not here today."

Lyons played in the Major Leagues for nine seasons (1985-93). In his post-playing days, he had established himself as a regular voice on FOX.

Lyons earned two Emmy Awards, one for "Outstanding Studio Show" in 1999 and the other for "Outstanding Sports Personality/Studio Analyst" in 2000.

However, his time at FOX did not come without incident.

In 2004, FOX suspended Lyons for making insensitive on-air comments regarding outfielder Shawn Green, who is Jewish, and elected not to play on Yom Kippur.

Last week, Lyons and Brennaman, during the National League Division Series between the Mets and Dodgers, mocked the glasses of a Mets fan. It turned out that the fan was partially blind, leading to an on-air apology from Lyons and Brennaman.

[end article, and here's the link]

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061014& content_id=1712730&vkey=ps2006news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb


Like I asked, did anyone hear the remark by Lyons? And in what context did he place it?

Now, that suggestion I promised. Don, I wanted to title this thread "[Steve] Lyons dismissed by FOX for [anti-hispanic] remarks [to Lou Piniella}". Unfortunately, the subject field is too small for long thread titles? I'm sure many a CF-er would appreciate a longer subject field. Is one forthcoming?

John



Edited by: foreverfree

 

[texasheat]

foreverfree--
This is the explanation given on CBS.Sportsline as to what was said to make Lyons get fired. Um, can anyone tell me what's wrong with this???

"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".

 

[Bart]

foreverfree--
This is the explanation given on CBS.Sportsline as to what was said to make Lyons get fired. Um, can anyone tell me what's wrong with this???

Has Lyons been fired for offending Spanish speakers by using the language incorrectly as a joke? Or is he being fired for implying his wallet could be stolenby Piniella who is of Spanish stock? Louis the one whobrought thewallet analogy into the conversation and Lyons simply continuedin a good humored way. This is pathetic!Lou should havedefended his broadcast partner by denouncing the entire ridiculous situation.Lou should be sympathetic as he has said and done many things in the past which could have been used against him forcinghim into retirement.

 

[Bear-Arms]

One word can describe this whole event: pathetic!

 

[LabMan]

Lyons has always been known as a zany kind of broadcaster,who balanced other serious members of whatever crew he worked with.He was always encouraged to act in this manner.In my opinion his"ethnic cleansed"firing was a set-up!


As in everyday life in Amerika today,the White male has very little access to first amendment rights in his "own homeland"!Notice that he was replaced by a non-white!The pattern of abuse developing against our own should be raising red flags every where,but where is the outrage?


All Whites who have been replaced,or discriminated against "simply for voicing an opinion"Should sue everyone involved non stop.The double standard involved here is glaring!How about comments by hispanic Ozzie Guillen,he was described by the media as being "witty"! Steve Lyons was "joking",thats what he was hired to do!The ethnic cleansing of our own,in all areas of life,will only continue to get worse,unless we put a stop to it!

 

[whiteCB]

The double standard held up to the white male is as prevalent as ever, with no end in sight. How the hell does one's twisted mind(FOX) ever find that racially insentitive? That is mind blowing sh*t.

 

[Bart]

I found a couple quotes attributed to Piniella that were pretty funny.


"I cussed him out in Spanish, and he threw me out in English."


"Statistics are like bikinis. They show a lot, but not everything."

 

[white is right]

Wow the Anglicised white male gets fired for "discriminating" against the Hispanic white male? (I always thought Pinella was ethnic Italian). I have never heard him talk about any ethnic discrimination on his part in baseball or life. I was always a fan of Sweet Lou's as a player but after this incident he is on my sh*tbird list as the stoolie rat.......

 

[whiteCB]

Yeah I always thought Pinella was white(Italian desent) as well. Does anybody know what exactly Lou is?

 

[Freedom]

Lou Pinella is definitely Sicillian. If it were Spanish, and he were in baseball today, it would definitely be "Pineyya." It would just help the career out. http://www.sicilianculture.com/history/0805.htm

He might have some ancestry from Mexico on his mother's side probably. Even so, from looking at him, it is still probably Creole/White of Spanish descent.

 

[Don Wassall]

Now, that suggestion I promised. Don, I wanted to title this thread "[Steve] Lyons dismissed by FOX for [anti-hispanic] remarks [to Lou Piniella}". Unfortunately, the subject field is too small for long thread titles? I'm sure many a CF-er would appreciate a longer subject field. Is one forthcoming?

John

John, unfortunately the Web Wiz software doesn't provide such a function.


I can remember reading that Pinella is Spanish. As has been pointed out most people thought he is Italian because of the vowel at the end of his name.


Whether Spanish or Italian, one thing he has always been considered until now is white and here's the proof: In all the periodic whining the corporate media does about a supposed lack of minority managers in baseball, Pinella has never once been listed amongbaseball's minority managers or among those being considered for a position. Felipe Alou, Ozzie Guillen andCharlie Manuel have been listed as so-called "hispanic" managers; Pinella never has despite numerous managing jobs. He has always been regarded as white, and properly so, much like Buck Martinez the announcer and former manager, who is of Spanish descent.


It took one innocuous remark by Steve Lyons to instantly flip Pinella into an "hispanic." The system must be really desperate for its periodic white sacrificial lamb. To fire Lyons for what he said is pure totalitarianism, and Pinella is just as despicable for not strongly standing up for Lyons.


One can only hope that after yet another one of these pathetic PC morality plays that more whites will awaken to the fact that they have no free speech rights on the U.S. Animal Farm even as they are being deliberately phased out demographically.Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[Bart]

Lou Pinella is definitely Sicillian. If it were Spanish, and he were in baseball today, it would definitely be "Pineyya.".

I thought he was Italian myself until recently.


http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Daily/CA_Daily_News/ 0,2342,817,00.html


Before playing Major League Baseball and posting 11 winning seasons out of 15 as a manager, Piniella grew up in Florida with the cigar industry. His grandfather, a Spanish immigrant, began working for Cuesta-Rey cigars as a tobacco buyer in the 1920s when the company was owned by E. Regensburg & Sons. In 1953, J.C. Newman acquired the company and moved to Florida from Cleveland, Ohio. Piniella's father was a well-known cigar distributor in Ybor, Florida and West Tampa throughout 50s and 60s, and Piniella's two uncles worked as J.C. Newman accountants for over twenty years.


Don, I think we hit send about the same time.Edited by: Bart

 

[foreverfree]

John, unfortunately the Web Wiz software doesn't provide such a function.

OK, thanks.

As for Sweet-turned-Sour Lou, I always thought he was Cuban, growing up in Tampa and all.

JohnEdited by: foreverfree

 

[LabMan]

Piniella now goes to the Cubs,but was that not the job that Joe Girardi was headed for? "Billy Beane",the general manager of the Oakland A's fires Ken Macha,and news reports say that third base coach Ron Washington may be in line for the job.


It will be an interesting off season!

 

[Skipperron]

And now get this. Lyons will keep his job but must of course, attend sensitivety training classes. Give me a friggin break....

 

[white is right]

Didn't Dennis Leary do that in his TV show The Job....

 

[screamingeagle]

According to the Chicago Tribune, Pinella is decendant from northwest Spain. He may be a Basque.