So more news has come out about Madonna and the adoption of a child from Malawi. And I find it more troubling as I hear about it. Madonna has a charity called raising Malawi by the way. Recently she donated $3 million, as I understand, to help the children of the country. These are great things. But she was granted this adoption immediately after that. Sounds bad right? Then you must understand that it’s also quite odd that she took the child out of the country. That’s odd because the law states that any child adopted cannot leave the country for 1 year. It is also a law, as stated by Fox news, that this child is not eligible for adoption. So given these facts, the sudden and publicized adoption of this child is even more troubling than I first though [in post Michael Fox and Madonna - 10.15.2006.1]. It feels like Madonna essentially bought herself a child. If that is the case it’s wrong on a dozen different levels.
In sports news there are 2 stories that are somewhat similar. One was brought to my attention by a colleague. The other I just ran into. The story I found was about an announcer, Lamar Thomas, who was fired by Comcast Sports SouthEast. Like in the case to follow it was his own fault. Mr. Thomas seemed to believe that cheering on a fight between Miami and FIU was appropriate. Not only that, but he suggested continued aggressions after the game, potentially inciting a riot. I would think a grown man would be more responsible. I would expect anyone who’s career involves sports would prefer to see sportsman like conduct rather than a free-for-all. Since this was not the case, I’m glad to see that Mr. Thomas was duly punished. For too long we see these incidents taking place and those that would promote or reinforce it have been given a pass.
In a separate incident, also containing an announcer, it seems that Steve Lyons was fired Friday by Fox Sports. What caused this sudden reaction? On its face it would seem that his comments to Lou Piniella were the cause. They were crude comments, base and insulting to anyone of Latino/Hispanic heritage. Comments like Mr. Lyons perpetuate a mistrust of Latinos, reveal Mr. Lyons dull wit, and his disrespect for the 2nd most popular language in the world.
Even with this affront, I would agree with my colleague that firing Mr. Lyons would be an overreaction. A fine or suspension along with Mr. Lyons publicly apologizing would be more proportionate. But it wasn’t the first thing that he has done. Just one month ago this crude individual took on a blind man, and in the past he has questioned the religion of baseball player Shawn Green. Given the intolerance that he has spewed on the airwaves for some time, this final act of disrespect to Latinos and Mr. Piniella was the straw that broke the camel’s back. And knowing that background information, I agree that he needed to be fired, hopefully to never be employed where his voice can reach no further than he can shout. At least that’s how I feel.
My conversation with my colleague will be discussed in a future post at Vass.
This is what I think, what do you think?
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