Comedian Dave Chappelle jokes that fellow comedian Wayne Brady makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X. In other words, Gumbel’s on-screen act is closer to white bread than it is wheat.
In fact, Gumbel has been saddled as “Triple A” amongst many a black sports media member – “Aloof, arrogant, a**hole.”
So, when the sometimey brother that is Gumbel insulted Gene Upshaw, National Football League Players Association president in a most undignified way, he went too far.
Gumbel said that retiring NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue should show his successor “where he keeps Gene Upshaw’s leash. By making the docile head of the players union his personal pet, (Tagliabue) has kept the peace without giving players the kind of guarantees other pros take for granted. Try to make sure no one competent ever replaces Upshaw on your watch.”
This is the same Gumbel who said last February, “so try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.”
He made both comments on his HBO show. NBC, which televised the Olympics, said nothing.
But this sudden surge of blackness could cost Gumbel his job as play-by-play announcer for four late-season games on the NFL Network.
“I think things that Bryant Gumbel said about Gene Upshaw and the owners are about as uninformed as anything I’ve read or heard in a long, long time, and quite inexcusable because they are subjects about which you can and should be better informed,” Tagliabue said.
He added “(Gumbel’s comments) call into question his desire to do the job and to do it in a way that we in the NFL would expect it to be done.”
When the NFL gives Gumbel the boot, watch for cries of racism to come from his mouth. And then listen for silence from black athletes and media members who have often questioned Gumbel’s commitment to black America.
The Associated Press tried to contact Upshaw for a comment but reported he “did not immediately return a call.”
The SportsEye must wonder if he had to contact Tagliabue first to go over his talking points.
Finished line
The careers of sprinters Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin have reached the finish line. It’s over for this alleged drug-doing duo.
On Tuesday, Gatlin agreed to an eight-year ban from track and field Tuesday, avoiding a lifetime penalty in exchange for his cooperation with doping authorities and because his first positive drug test was deemed “an honest mistake.” Maybe he thought since a mistake was made, he wouldn’t be tested again. Oops. He tied the 100 meters world record in May, when he ran 9.77 seconds. He forfeits that title and as far was the history books are concerned the event never happened.
At 24, the ban puts Gatlin out of competition for the rest of his life except for senior track events.
Gatlin tested positive in April for testosterone or other steroids, five years after his first positive test, which was for medicine to control attention-deficit disorder. Under the World Anti-Doping Agency code, a second doping offense calls for a lifetime ban.
Jones’ positive test for the banned endurance enhancer EPO came June 23 at the U.S. Track & Field Championships in Indianapolis, where she won the 100 meters, her 14th national title but first since 2002. She wants a quick examination of her backup “B” sample. If positive, the 30-year-old sprinter faces a minimum two-year ban from the sport and that likely means retirement for her as well.
While the national media has centered on daily attacks on Barry Bonds, scores of other American athletes have obviously gone merrily about their way with use of steroids, human growth hormone and God knows what else. Like cyclist Floyd Landis, the glory of a big win does not erase the disgrace that quickly followed for Gatlin and Jones.