Pure filth

 

It has not been a good day for play-by-play or journalism.

The play-by-play in question comes from an Oklahoma girls basketball game between Norman and Midwest City.

Doing a live stream broadcast, the two voices in the booth prepared for the national anthem. They thought they had gone to commercial. What was forgotten was someone needed to turn off their microphones.

One announcer clearly disapproved of players from Norman High School kneeling. Instead of shutting up he -- outraged at the kneeling -- launched into a tirade about the act.

That, in and of itself, is remarkably hypocritical, given that one should remain quiet during the anthem.

But we're just warming up.

Mr. Charming didn't just disapprove. Oh, no. He didn't just come right out and say that he hoped Norman lost the game. He didn't just curse, saying, "I hope Norman get their ass kicked. F*** them. I hope they lose."

Now, if he had stopped there, the story wouldn't go to another level. He would have been another dope with an open microphone.

Again, reviewing hypocrisy, I will not play that card here as I have been busted with an open microphone and I live with that.

But...

This is where this story hits a whole new level.

He went full-blown racism. Not garden variety stuff. Nothing vague. Nope.

He said the "N" word. 

This is where journalism comes in. Cameron Jourdan, a reporter for The Oklahoman, stayed on top of the story, including contributing to the story that I first saw, with the offending video embedded via Twitter.

Then speculation started to buzz. Who was the broadcaster? Surely it couldn't be that hard to find out. My name is all over my broadcasts, for instance.

Eventually, word spread that it was a former high school coach named Scott Sapulpa and, well, let's let Jeff Pearlman explain it all.

So, if you're keeping score at home, Jourdan announced that it was the wrong guy in a now-deleted tweet, and the real offender, Matt Rowan, is trying to say that his type 1 diabetes was at least a plausible explanation for using a horrible word and being a straight-up racist.

And the social media world, justifiably, has exploded.

The fallout will (and should) be swift.

Now, Scott Sapulpa, whose name has been cleared, is being called out because he didn't condemn the comments immediately. 

So, at this point, he too is being condemned for not condemning the condemned Mr. Rowan. The usual leap of faith is in play that now Mr. Sapulpa is racist as well. 

I find myself reaching for a line uttered by Henry Jones in Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 thriller, "Vertigo," when speaking about Jimmy Stewart's character, Scottie Ferguson. Scottie, you see, saw Kim Novak jump to her death and didn't stop her.

At least that's sort of the premise, though I'll leave it to you to watch the brilliant film.

At an inquest, Jones's character addresses those attending with his thoughts.

"But we are not here to pass judgment on Mr. Ferguson's lack of initiative," he says. "He did nothing. The law has little to say on the subject of things left undone."

And thus I say the same regarding Mr. Sapulpa, who has since been the target of plenty of harassment, first for supposedly being the racist broadcaster and now for not doing enough (or anything) about the racist broadcaster.

Let us return however to Mr. Rowan, who is most assuredly the true villain here. You correctly stated in your release that there really is no excuse for what you said. Oh, that is for sure.

You are being correctly ostracized and the punishment will likely be profound. NFHS, who you have partnered with as a broadcaster, will most certainly be done with you and I can't even imagine what else you will face in the aftermath of this.

As one friend said to me today, "You don't come back from this."

No. No you do not.

I was on the air for part of the day as the snowball grew. Realizing it was not the forum (though Monday at 4 p.m. certainly seems like a good time) I withheld any thoughts on the topic as my blood boiled.

Mr. Rowan hit us with the usual "I'm a man of Christ" crap. But beyond that, he's a stain on the play-by-play industry; one which frequently has to deal with its fair share of criticism.

I've said many times -- including last night while teaching -- that we're in an era when virtually anyone can get on some kind of "air." 

Every dad who wants to try play-by-play can basically do so and seems to be doing so, especially with the right amount of money.

Every person that wants a forum can try a podcast.

And the stink flows.

Take those words of whatever your good book is and heed them, sir.

Do far better. 

Much much much better.

I'm embarrassed for my industry tonight.