For the love of God, conservatives complain all the time that big corporation sports, ESPN, the NCAA, many conference commissioners, and on and on, are “too liberal” in their commentary and “not suspended.” The conservative complaint often centers around noting the importance of Title IX (Women’s sports) or a new program to protect LGBTQ athletes (the NFL went out of its way to “congratulate” the first player who came out as gay amidst his career, Carl Nassib, for his courage and he was warmly received by the NFL, teammates and the NFL’s top players operating almost like “spokespersons” for the rest of the players. Conservatives claim that this type of coverage is “liberal.”

Now a football announcer, Carl Hahn, “the voice of North Carolina State football” (radio) has been indefinitely suspended for an outrageously hateful comment, one that isn’t even necessarily conservative, just ugly: “To the Sun Bowl, and amongst all the illegal aliens down in El Paso, it’s UCLA 14 and Pittsburgh 6. That’s with 11:15 to go in the second quarter.”

He wasn’t even covering the game in El Paso! Just updating the scores!

First and most obviously, the situation with migrants in El Paso has absolutely nothing to do with the score or where the game was played. He just wanted to say “El Paso” and “Illegal immigrants.”

Second, and more insidiously, El Paso is full of migrants that are there legally applying for asylum, which is 100% different than someone who crosses illegally in secret, looking for work. Given that I’ve written this 1,000 times just to go over it very quickly: There are two groups coming across the border, one group sneaks across generally looking for work, it is illegal, and it happens all along the border, not just El Paso. The other group is asylum seekers who cross the bridge and present themselves to customs and immigration officials, seeking asylum from persecution in their country (Venezuela, Honduras, etc). The situation in El Paso consists primarily of the second group because El Paso is one of the biggest crossings and has programs (that are overrun) for asylum seekers that are in the country legally.

It should never have been mentioned at all because it’s a flashpoint politically as a real issue, as opposed to a player simply coming out as gay and being well-received in the sport and on networks.

Should he lose the rest of his career over it? Good people can agree or disagree. A suspension is obviously warranted, but it will also require a look at his past and how he reacts.

****
[email protected], @JasonMiciak, SUBSTACK: Democrats can win majorities for two decades by handling 2023 correctly. 

 

Help keep the site running, consider supporting.

4 COMMENTS

  1. Hey I’m a Carolina grad so state fans will disregard my comment either way, but WHAT THE FUCK? It would make more sense if he was a fresh grad trying to impress the racists in the backwoods of NC. But this man had been broadcasting since 1991. He can’t say he didnt know the goddamn rules. He’s obviously a trump devotee, enabled to show his racist ass to the world because he’s just following his leader. He should be banned for good. Now prepare yourself for the Wolfpack howls. By the way the university hasn’t said a word. Figures. If woody Durham had done something like this, you’d hear the howling in Alaska.

    14
  2. To me, it sounds like certain people think they can tell someone’s immigration status just by looking at them. I agree, it’s just horribly racist.

    16

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

The maximum upload file size: 128 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here