For a few years now, we have entered the era of the HOT SPORTS take, from TV to radio to Twitter, we have had a constant slew of personalities trolling teams and saying off the wall things for ratings, for clicks and for attention. And while it seems more and more these days that people take sports way too seriously, and live and die rooting for a team with changing parts, and insulting strangers because of differing sports allegiances, Dan Le Batard represents a side of sports culture that needs a stronger voice. While this goes on, there are also some who have taken the approach of seeing the light hearted side of sports. The goofiness and the anarchy of a sports Cathedral that we have all come to worship at that is when boiled down, still is just a game. Some of us still know how to have fun with our sports, and even laugh at our teams, and ourselves. One the biggest proponents of this attitude has been ESPN and Miami personality Dan Le Batard.
And now ESPN has suspended him for it.
See when LeBron James left the Miami Heat, many fans wanted some sort of thank you from James that they still have not received. While witnessing this sentiment built around him, Dan laughed at the seriousness once again that had inhabited his city’s sports fans. He also very clearly stated that he disagreed with the feelings of those around him and said numerous times that he felt that LeBron had fulfilled his contract and owed the Miami Heat nothing.
Last week, Dan and his radio show decided to have some fun and point out the absurdity by purchasing this billboard in Akron, poking fun at LeBron for not thanking fans and barbing him to let him know where his rings were won. Notice the comic sans:
Le Batard was suspended for two days by ESPN following the billboards going up that he purchased, and ESPN then released this completely tone deaf and over reactionary statement on the suspension:
“Dan LeBatard will be off the air for two days, returning Monday. His recent stunt does not reflect ESPN’s standards and brand. Additionally, we were not made aware of his plans in advance.”
First of all, anyone who had listened to Dan’s show for the past week was not only made aware of his plans in advance, but were also made aware of the intent and joking nature of the act. Dan spoke for multiple days about how ridiculous this was going to be and was simply doing it for that reason. To throw in some anarchy and fun into sports, which apparently is a suspension warranting act in the haloed grounds of ESPN. The same haloed grounds which allowed Stephen A Smith to return to the airwaves the next day after he made comments regarding the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal in which he claimed women have a responsibility to prevent their own beatings and said that women should not “provoke” their significant others to abuse them in the ways that Rice had his wife.
ESPN released a statement on Stephen A. after the fact in which the word “suspension” was never actually used, and neither was such harsh wording about the ESPN brand. From ESPN’s own hypocritical mouth, they let us know that if you add fun, a little anarchy and some ridiculousness into sports, you are tarnishing a sacred brand, and if you do the same trolling, poking fun at LeBron and your name is Skip Bayless, you will receive a seven figure contract to spew nonsense on a terrible morning show that feeds off the viewership of the dimmest bulbs in the sports fan world.
Le Batard could not have been any more clear on the nature and feeling behind his stunt:
“Le Batard said Wednesday that taking out the billboards is “all meant in fun — which, of course, will turn into Cleveland people getting filled with rage, poison and irrational hostility and want to use those billboards as a guillotine. Sports are so great, the more irrational the better. This is a publicity stunt disguised as a movement … It’s just fun anarchy.”
So what exactly is ESPN punishing here? How does a company that claims to be protecting a brand from a lighthearted stunt allow Skip Bayless to lie about playing high school basketball, Colin Cowherd to claim Pacer fans weren’t attending games because of race, and Jemele Hill to compare Kentucky’s head basketball to Charles Manson? All of which went unpunished.
It seems that in the eyes of ESPN if you say something outrageous, offensive or even downright moronic to create a stir on their airwaves, it is completely fine with them. But if you dare, if you have the audacity to have a perspective on life that allows you to poke fun at the absurdity of yourself and others and how we operate in the realm of sports, then you must be punished. If you dare to joke around a subject as serious as what city a millionaire plays hoops in, you are tarnishing a brand. If you even try to inject a drop of fun into the sports world as we know it, you simply must be suspended. There is no room for any of that on the ESPN airwaves, and if you watch it on a regular basis, you already knew that.
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