Today, baseball announcer Steve Lyons was fired as an announcer. He had been the announcer throughout American League Championship Series. Personally, I think America needs to STOP being so sensitive! Here is why he was fired.

Lyons had been working in the booth for the ALCS alongside Thom Brennaman and Piniella, the No. 2 broadcast team for Fox this postseason.

A call to Lyons' cell phone was not immediately returned Saturday.
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.

Are we getting too racially sensitive? Or is it just that white people in America can't make ethnic jokes and slurs?

I have been called "Haole" many times in a derogatory here in Hawaii. Haole in itself means foreigner and is used to make fun of white or black people visiting or living in Hawaii. Isn't that racial? Just today I saw a bumper sticker that stated, "Slow down! This is not the mainland!" This bumper sticker generalizes all people not from Hawaii and from the continental U.S. as speeders and is offensive to me.

Our country places too much emphasis on your non-American heritage then shames people for making jokes about peoples heritage. It seems every month that their is a new "... Month" like "Hispanic American" month or "African American" month. Then when Americans call people "African American" or Hispanic American" they are told, "Please don't call me that, I am American."

So, you are an insensitive racist either way! I had an excellent co-worker whom I called African American and she told me that she was American and to call her black. I have also had the opposite happen.

Are we becoming too sensitive? In good faith, are we pointing out the differences in Americans too much?

How can we become a nation of Americans when half the people want to be respected for their ethnic heritage and the other half want to be called American?

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My favorite person to quote, and one of the best leaders of this country, said that the one thing that will bring about the downfall of America is the creation of a hyphenated America. A land where every one is ...-American. Native-American, African-American, Mexican-American, ect... He went on to say that the key to our future would be to create a land where we are proud to be American, and completely embrace the fact that we are part of the best country in the world. If you want to be something else, then go be something else somewhere else. If you want to live in America, then be American! We need a rebirth of Americanism!

BTW...anyone know who I'm refering to?

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Joeninpo

The tyrant custom, most grave Senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down

I would say FDR, Truman or Pat Buchanan. Maybe even JFK.

Mike

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Close! I'll hold off revealing to see if anyone else can nail it.

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Joeninpo

The tyrant custom, most grave Senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down

I was going to say FDR too, but a quick Wiki search tells me it's Teddy. Sorry, I cheated.

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Hook 'em
Bear


Texas Longhorns
2005 College World Series Champs
2005 NCAA Football Champs

Awwww! Cheater! Hehehehehehe. No prize for you, cheater!

And what's really funny is that I should hate that man more than any of our other presidents since me and my sisters were the first generation of my family to be born off the reservation. He had too many good points, though. When you put things in perspective, it's amazing how the old guys could see the future...

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Joeninpo

The tyrant custom, most grave Senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down

I checked the net, but couldn't find any reference to the Steve Lyons story. Anyone have a link? Thanks.

Sorry Willy! I should have posted the link.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061014/D8KOL5H00.html

Mike

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