Letting Off Some Steam

A lot has taken place in the sports world recently. Pacman suspended and Imus fired.

As you all know Imus a radio talk show fellow made some crude comments on air following the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. Long story short, he referred to the Rutgers players as "nappy-headed hos." Controversy erupted. Al Sharpeton went on air to talk to Imus. MSNBC and CBS fired Imus.

First things first, the phrase Mr. Imus said on air is definitely one that should result in punishment. It was a childish remark that was plain disrespectful and uncalled for.

Second thing. He said "hos." Reread that if you want. Imus did say a provocative word, but it was "hos." He did not drop an f bomb or say the n word. The more important thing to look at is how words such as "hos" are so freely used now a days. Personally, I point the finger at the music industry. It seems in recent years the word "ghetto" has grown into a sort of "cool thing to do." I understand MSNBC and CBS may feel by not firing Imus, that would have sent the message to kids that language Imus said was okay. But I completely disagree. Everyone knows Imus did wrong. Everyone knows the words he spoke are unacceptable. The real question to ask is why is not all this negative attention directed more at the hip-hop artists who distribute this kind of language daily?

With that said, firing Imus was a complete overreaction. "Nappy-headed hos" is not a phrase associated with only African-Americans. Imus was fired because of the uproar people like Al Sharpeton and Jesse Jackson caused. Imus did a terrible wrong, but really, really do you honestly think he should be fired, lose his job, his financial security for saying "nappy-headed hos"? For crying out loud, the Rutgers team forgave him. Should we not all just move on? Fat chance on that ever happening.

If there is one thing I have learned form this incident it's when race gets involved in certain matters, what needs to be said always seems to get buried out of fear. That simply needs to stop. It was a racist comment Imus made, but not to the extreme he should be fired.


So the verdict came out and Pacman Jones will be suspended for the 2007 season. For those of you not informed on the whole situation this is what took place in Las Vegas early this year. Pacman was at a strip club where he entered with a giant bag of $81,000 in cash. Well those "high-profile" strippers were dancing and Pacman was throwing money at them. Apparently this money being thrown was all for show. The strippers got mad, one thing lead to another. A worker for the club grabbed some of the money. One thing lead to another. Shots were fired, man was hit, another man was hit and later paralyzed. Prior to this incident Pacman was getting involved with the law as often Daryl Strawberry enters rehab. (That's a lot.)

When I first heard the verdict I thought it was too harsh. Yet I can't but think "too harsh" is very necessary in this situation. Commissioner Roger Goodell needs to send a message to troublemakers in the NFL. The League wants to get it across every player that as an NFL player you have the responsibility to act in certain ways or there will be consequences. The sad thing is Pacman Jones will be involved with law enforcement in the future.

Look at airhead Ron Artest. Did he learn his lesson after the Detroit Massacre? Nope.