Let me first state I am an avid Imus in the Morning viewer.
With that stated I obviously think what Imus and Bernard said was blatantly racist and uncalled for. There is no doubt about that. Now that the announcement that the show has been suspended on MSNBC TV for two weeks, which I don't know if that means much since he is on WFAN too which he probably gets more listeners through. But I do have a couple thoughts on the matter that I have not expressed through different blogs.
- Why did Bernard not apologize today?
- Like many people who are defending Imus or don't understand the controversy are saying why is Imus under so much fire yet musical artists of all sorts who can think before they sing and write lyrics get away with this all the time.
- I am no racist what so ever but I am tired of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson getting behind every racist comment made by anyone semi-famous and gaining publicity for it. I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish besides bring these in most cases mistakes to the fore front. Maybe one of their fans can tell me.
- What is a two week suspension from MSNBC TV going to do? Lets say he is suspended from WFAN too, what is this going to do? Like he said this morning he does not need a welcome to Jesus, or however he phrased it moment. He has had time to reflect on it. I don't know what a suspension will do.
Lastly and perhaps my biggest point and question it is Monday, April 9. The racist and ignorant comments were made on Wednesday, April 5. Why wasn't everyone on top of him on Thursday or even Friday? Why didn't Sharpton and Jackson get on his case the next day? Did something spark them? If this is so important to guys like Sharpton and Jackson why isn't it put to the forefront last week when it happened? Did his apology on Friday get them riled up? I am very confused. Why didn't the 80+ newspaper columns that came out on the weekend come out on Wednesday? I don't remember Tuesday being the biggest news day in the world. There is just something weird about this that I think has something to do with the people that have power in the media.
Those are just my thoughts on the. I think I am going to leave it at that. If more newsworthy material comes out of this I may post my comments. But I already think it has been blown out of proportion so this probably doesn't help. Feel free to comment.
Your Monday morning tidbits:
- Zach Johnson won the Masters yesterday afternoon. Great final round 69 and he held off two big names in Goosen and Woods. Tiger just didn't look himself on Sunday. We saw a quick glimpse with the great second shot on 13 but he was just good from there on out paring in. He had his chances with the par 5 on 15 and a ten-footer on 16 but just couldn't close the gap. Great win by Johnson though.
- I guess it's cold outside and it's snowing in April in places it shouldn't be. So there is talk of the Cleveland Indians vs. Orange County Angels game being moved to the Left Coast.
- All Big 12 fans are happy, well except for Kansas fans. It seems like Julian Wright is leaning towards going to the draft. Hello top five pick.
- The college basketball merry-go-round continues to turn. Reports have South Alabama coach John Pelphrey going to Arkansas and Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon meeting with Texas A&M officials this afternoon.
- Lakers lose to the Suns and will probably meet them again for another seven game series dandy in the NBA
- Be ready for a lengthy DL report from the MLB today. A lot of cold weather injuries it seems happened this first week in baseball. Most significantly Chris Carpenter's injury seems worse then first thought of by the Cardinals.
- Don Imus apologized in length this morning for the remarks he made last Wednesday towards the Rutgers women's basketball team. I watch and listen to Imus daily and I know that he is a good person. This morning he was talking to all the new listeners and hopefully they got his message that the comment was wrong and stupid but in his heart he is a good person towards all people. The Imus Show blog is here.
Finally I would like to just say considering Tiger and the Masters. People say he was just another ordinary golfer on Sunday. Well he still shot a 72 on Sunday. And he still finished in a tie for second. That is no ordinary PGA Tour golfer to me. Yes he was not "Tiger-like" but he had a great tournament despite playing probably a C- game. Tiger is not an ordinary golfer and did not look it on Sunday.
