Sports and Politics overlap

Do any of you watch the Golf Channel? How many of you even knew that there was such a thing as the Golf Channel? I know that my cable system offers it, but unless I want to start wistfully at palm trees, I really don't pay much attention to it. Apparently, a host on the network, in discussing the dominance of Tiger Woods, made an ill-advised comment that the rest of the golfers on the PGA tour should "lynch" him if they want t0 win: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080117_Sharptons_swing_at_golf_host.html.

There is no question but that the comment was stupid. The host has apologized, and Woods himself has said that he wasn't offended by the comment and holds no ill will towards the host who made it. You would think that it would end there, but........................enter the Reverend Al Sharpton. Sharpton has never met a molehill he didn't want to turn into a mountain, and he is now demanding that the host be fired, apology be damned.

I've said it before about Al Sharpton, but it bears repeating. How and when did he become the arbiter of good taste and racial sensitivity in the United States? I'm still waiting for him to apologize for the Tawana Brawley hoax and Crown Heights. The man is a race-baiting hypocrite, and every time he opens his mouth to whine and complain, he does a disservice to the legitimate civil rights issues that unfortunately still do exist. That he receives so much attention is an absolute disgrace..................

UPDATE (12:43 p.m., 1/18/08): The fallout from this tempest in a teapot continues. Golfweek Magazine did a story on Kelly Tilghman, the commentator who made the "lynching" comment, and the cover of the magazine featured a noose on it. THAT editor has now been "removed" from his duties: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080118/ap_on_sp_go_ne/glf_golfweek_editor_out.