This should definitely help the prices of Michael Irvin jerseys:


Irvin latest analyst to enter hot water
Posted 11/26/2006 11:04 PM



ESPN football analyst Michael Irvin says he's sorry for his comments on Dan Patrick's national radio show a week ago that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo's athletic ability must be due to African-American heritage.

"It's clear I was joking around. But I understand my comments were inappropriate. I apologize for those comments," Irvin said in a phone interview Sunday, after appearing on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown.
ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said Irvin will appear on The Dan Patrick Show on Monday, while continuing his TV gigs.

"Generalizations about heritage are inappropriate even in jest, and what Michael said was wrong. We have spoken to Michael about it," Soltys said.
Irvin's comments mark the latest talent flare-up. This year ESPN fired columnist Jason Whitlock for trashing colleagues Mike Lupica and Scoop Jackson in an interview. The network also fired baseball analyst Harold Reynolds. Fox Sports booted baseball analyst Steve Lyons for on-air comments about Lou Piniella's Hispanic background.

Irvin said he tries to bring fans inside the world of the locker room. But he admitted he "crossed the line" when he joked some slave "brother" must have had relations with one of Romo's maternal ancestors. "Certainly, in this case I crossed the line," he said. "I need to learn how to better draw the line between bringing people into the locker room and the boundaries I should not go past as a broadcaster."

David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel pointed to a possible double-standard in his column. White sportscaster Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was canned by CBS in 1988 for making similar comments.
But the stylized, Kabuki-style reaction to these media-driven controversies suggests there's hypocrisy to go around. Some critics screaming for Irvin's head are driven more by jealousy or animosity for a TV personality they don't like. It's also frighteningly easy to screw up on live TV/radio.

What Irvin needed was for an ESPN colleague such as Tom Jackson— who was not on The Dan Patrick Show with Irvin — to stop him from firmly planting his foot in his mouth.

Of course, when Jackson asked Irvin, "Are you retarded?" as he did on-air this year, he was criticized.