ON TARGET

 8/27/17   By Dave Gunn

Lee vs. Lee

       Sometimes liberalism makes people do strange things.  The cable sports network,     ESPN, has lost audience these last few years due to its liberal slant.  Apparently incapable of learning anything, he sports network continues its leftward journey into irrelevance.

      Over and over, ESPN has irritated its audience by leftist political commentary and corporate decisions having little if anything to do with sports. However, ESPN has really gone over the edge with a recent decision concerning one of its sportscasters, whom they moved from covering one game to another.  That they did so is not much of a story.  It is the reason they did it that exposes ESPN for the loony left operation it is.

      The game is question is the season opener in Charlottesville, Virginia, between the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary – not exactly a marquee game, but telecast by ESPN on an online channel.  The riot in Charlottesville over the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is still fresh in memory.  Therefore, the sports network thought it best to not allow sportscaster Robert Lee to call the game.  After all, fans might, in their minds, make an association between the sportscaster and the Confederate General.  Therefore Robert Lee was reassigned to call a game in Youngstown, Ohio, where I guess no one has heard of General Robert E. Lee.

      The funny thing about all this is that sportscaster Robert Lee is not related to General Robert E. Lee, nor is he even a white man.  He is an American of Asian descent.  So who would possibly associate him with a Confederate General?

      In an attempt to make their position appear the slightest bit reasonable, ESPN spokesman Derek Volner released the following statement: “We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games.”  By saying the decision was made collectively, ESPN hopes that people will see it as a well-thought out, reasonable decision.  Actually, what it means is that collectively, the leadership of ESPN is a bunch of numbskulls.

      It gets better.  Volner went on to say, “It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.”

      Mister Volner, it is you and the collective Bozos at ESPN who made this an issue.  If you had not reassigned Asian descendent sportscaster Robert Lee for racial reasons most people, including yours truly, would never have even heard about the game or who was calling it.  And the ones who did hear about it would not have made any connection between Asian-descendent Lee and Confederate Lee.  After all, Lee is a common Asian name.

      In an ill-conceived effort to avoid offending a few snowflakes, ESPN exposed itself to national ridicule, and rightly so.  Perhaps someday Robert Lee will get a job with a sports network that sees him for his ability, and not as a racial pawn.

[Dave Gunn is the nom de plume of Dr. David E. Gonnella, Pastor of the Magnolia Springs Baptist Church in Theodore, Alabama.  The opinions expressed are his own, and no not necessarily reflect those of the church or its membership.]