The Debriefing: Lynchings Aren't Really a Great Source of Comedy

The Debriefing is a column that runs every weekday at 9:00 a.m. here on FanHouse. It goes deep into one issue and then bounces around to a plethora of smaller ones ... and does it all in a way that will make you feel like the prettiest girl at the cotillion. Bookmark this page, and visit daily.

Racial Insensitivity? In Golf? Nah...

At some point over the next few days, someone might ask me what the Jaguars have to do to beat the Patriots on Saturday night. And my response might be that they should kidnap Tom Brady, chain him to a pipe in a dark crawlspace somewhere, and have Tony Boselli beat him with a bag of Canadian quarters until the game is over.

Now, I don't really want that to happen to Tom Brady (at the very least, the quarters are unnecessary). You know that. People joke like this ... they suggest that the best or only way to overcome a superior talent is if that superior talent is unable to actually compete, and they often suggest an odd or humorous way for that talent to become incapacitated.

I joke like this. Friends of mine joke like this. You might joke like this. And The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman tried to joke like this ... but she unfortunately missed the all-important comedy lesson that lynching black people isn't something people have a sense of humor about.

(Also on Today's List: Joe Gibbs was not going to get a better opportunity to leave with his legacy intact ... The guy who voted Brett Favre for MVP explains himself, but he shouldn't have to ... West Virginians might want to tone back the death threats, just a little bit ... and someone likes Norv Turner...)

Merriam-Webster defines "lynching" as "putting to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal sanction." That's simple and concise enough, but maybe a better understanding can be gained through pictures (graphic, difficult-to-look-at pictures). There's a long history in America of black people (and others) being lynched ... and most of that history is pretty old, but James Byrd and Michael Donald might tell you, if they could, that it's not that old.

If you followed any of those links, chances are, you're not getting a "Ha! Ha!" kind of vibe right now. And I'm sure that Kelly Tilghman wouldn't get that kind of vibe, either. I'd hope, though, that those links would at least provide enough of a base of information to understand why lynching a black man isn't something you joke about.

I don't know the woman, but I'm assuming she's not an overtly-racist, hateful person. What she did was try to make a joke about how young golfers have almost no chance in competing against Tiger Woods. Her intention was to pay a compliment to Woods, and to highlight how difficult a challenge the rest of the world's golfers are facing.

Here's what she needs to remember, though. Joking about an athlete needing to be hurt or kidnapped in order for another athlete to succeed ... fine. Joking about a black man being lynched, for any reason ... not fine.

As for any potential punishment, backlash, or firing she might be subject to ... that's not for me to say. I can only tell you that if she were to express a knowledge of why she was wrong, and why you can't joke about those things, and make it clear that she didn't have bad intentions, just a terrible and insensitive choice of words, then I'd be satisfied. (Update: It seems Tiger is already satisfied.)

Oh, and if you're wondering why this is different from the Don Imus situation, here's why: Imus saw a group of young women who had skin that was too dark, hair that wasn't straight enough, and too many tattoos for his liking ... and called them "nappy-headed," and classified them as "hos." He saw a group of people with physical traits different than his own, and due only to those traits, insulted them and put them in a box. That's pretty much the definition of "racist."

Tilghman, on the other hand, didn't do anything like that. What she tried to express is that Tiger Woods is a nearly unbeatable golfer, and to make that point, showed a gross insensitivity to some of the things that black people have gone through in America. You can call that "racist," too, but on a completely different level.

The Joe Gibbs Comeback Wasn't Going to End Any Better Than That

I'm so glad that Joe Gibbs led the Redskins to four straight victories and a spot in the playoffs. Otherwise, I'd be sitting here today, wishing the best for a man who's retiring to be with a family that needs him and had just been through something unprecedented with Sean Taylor's death ... while, at the same time, I'd have to stifle a desire to mock a futile comeback attempt.

Because of that improbable four-game winning streak, Gibbs, in his four-year comeback, made the playoffs twice ... by no means is a 50% playoff rate mockable. He was also the guy to not only keep the Redskins from falling apart, but to have them thriving in the wake of an incredible tragedy. That only adds to his legacy.

Had the Redskins not rallied like that, the Gibbs comeback would be remembered a lot like the Michael Jordan Wizards comeback: sad, unflattering, and something we wish we could expunge from the record books.

Without this year's late rally, Gibbs would have made the playoffs once in four years, with an extremely high-priced roster every year ... the most memorable moment of his comeback might have been the consecutive timeout fiasco against Buffalo ... and the overriding consensus of Gibbs would've been that the game had passed the senile old man by while he was busy studying the subtle and magnificent art of the left turn.

So yeah ... I'm thrilled that it happened, and this is the perfect time for Gibbs to get out. He's got more important things to do with his time, and if he walks away now, we can all keep a higher opinion of him, and his legacy remains intact.

No Explanation is Required for a Brett Favre MVP Vote

Tom Brady received 49 out of 50 first-place votes for the NFL's league MVP, and the one guy who didn't vote for Big Tom explained himself yesterday. I wish he wouldn't have.

He simply doesn't owe anyone an explanation. MVP votes are not Tom Brady's birthright ... it's not like the guy is arguing something ridiculous. Voting Brett Favre as the league's MVP is perfectly plausible.

Now, if Frank Cooney had voted for Kellen Clemens or B.J. Askew for the league MVP, then yes, I'd like an explanation. This isn't quite the same, though ... it's not like Cooney was campaigning for Brady to be left off the Pro Bowl team in favor of Brodie Croyle.

A vote for Favre? Cooney owes no explanation to anyone. If he was taking any grief for a Favre vote, he should've found a camera, looked into it and said, "Yeah, I voted for Brett Favre ... you know why? Because I thought he was the best choice. And if any of you don't like that, you can go french kiss your mothers."

For the record, though, here's what he said:

"First, let's be clear that this award is a distinctly individual honor in the ultimate team sport, which makes it extremely difficult to sort out in the first place... As such, it cannot be based on statistics, which reap their own rewards. The term we are addressing here is Most Valuable Player, which I take to mean most valuable to one's team..."

Exactly. Tom Brady had an amazing season, and if I had an MVP vote, I'd have probably given it to Long Tom ... but there are no strict criteria for MVP voting. It's pretty much open to the interpretation of the individual voter, and if that voter feels that Favre's effort was more valuable on a team that wasn't as dominant as the Patriots ... what's wrong with that?

Favre wouldn't have been a ridiculous vote ... Randy Moss wouldn't have been a ridiculous vote... there might even be a small handful of other guys. I guess the explanation is nice, but I'd rather Cooney would've just mooned anyone who questioned him.

For the Scrapbook ...

Dick Bavetta, you crazy son of a bitch, you.

The Consequences of Losing to Pitt Are Harsher Than You Might Have Guessed

Once upon a time, the official slogan of West Virginia University was, "Where greatness is learned." Unofficially, that eventually morphed into, "Where greatness is learned, and couches are burned."

Then, the slogan became, "Success. Expect it." And now, it looks like it's time for it to morph once again ... this time, to "Success. Or we will f---ing kill you."

Rich Rodriguez's mother says that her family's been the victim of death threats, on top of vandalism and various other insults. This comes on the heels of WVU kicker Pat McAfee receiving death threats after missing two field goal attempts in the regular season-ending WVU vs. Pitt abortion game.

From the Detroit Free-Press:

Mountaineer fans furious over Rodriguez's Dec. 16 decision to accept the head coaching job at Michigan have vandalized his home near Morgantown, hanging signs on a fence and tossing a mailbox in the yard.

Arleen Rodriguez says her teenage grandson received a death threat and found other harassing notes taped to his locker at East Fairmont (Va.) High School, while her 12-year-old granddaughter had to be escorted to classes.

The backlash has been even more venomous on the Facebook social networking site, where dozens of groups with profanity-laced names have formed, devoted to wishing ill for Rodriguez and his family.

It's sick to threaten a college student's life because he missed a couple of field goals (that had absolutely nothing to do with the loss, anyway). It's beyond sick to threaten children because their father decided he didn't want to coach your favorite team anymore.

I know you're upset, people of West Virginia, and I know that maybe Rodriguez chose to be a bit of a douche in the way he left the program ... but, if I could be so bold to suggest it, murdering his family might be a bit of an overreaction. If you're one of the people engaging in this behavior, please seek help.

Future Suitors for Hu Ziwei Might Want to Exercise Caution

This is slightly old, but I somehow missed it. At a press conference for the upcoming Olympics in Beijing, the wife of a famous Chinese sportscaster rushed the stage, took over the podium, and told the world he was cheating a cheating bastard. I say that guy got exactly what he deserved, and I applaud the woman's metaphorical pair.



This makes me really want that to happen to Al Michaels.

Yesterday's MVP

Norv Turner. It took 18 weeks into his tenure as Chargers head coach, but finally, someone is acknowledging the possibility that Norv Turner might be a pretty good coach.

That alone is a win for Norv ... there are certain NFL people that have always supported him, but as far as the media goes, I can't recall anyone ever expressing any faith in Norv's ability to be a head coach. If even one person is praising him, that's a huge step for Norv.

Myself, I don't know if I'm willing to go that far yet ... we'll see how things go next year (assuming, that is, that the Chargers don't go any farther in this year's playoffs). And even saying "next year," is a bit of an upset, really ... for a long time, it didn't look like Norv would be seeing another year as Chargers head coach.

As a Chargers fan, I remain terribly concerned about the regression of Philip Rivers under Norv's watch ... it's the single biggest thing holding the Chargers back, and it wasn't an issue under Marty Schottenheimer.

I will say this for Norv, though ... the Chargers beat the Titans in the playoffs almost exactly as they beat them in the regular season, and while that might not sound like much ... if the Chargers were able to play as well in the postseason as they did in the regular season last year, they would have gone deep, deep, deep into the playoffs. So that's good.

Congratulations, Norv, on the fact that someone out there finally likes you.

Yesterday's Sad Sack

Savannah State. Final score: Kansas State 85, Savannah State 25.

Various other stats of note:

Michael Beasley, in 25 minutes, scored as many points as the entire Savannah State roster.
In the second half, Savannah State shot 4.3%.
In the second half, Savannah State was outscored 48-4.
Savannah State did not score a field goal in the first 7 minutes of the game.

For Those Who Admire the Female Form ...

The Evening's Agenda

Deserving Of Your Full Attention ...

9:00, ESPN. NBA. Pistons @ Mavericks. High-quality teams that seem somehow overlooked this season.

Other Stuff ...

7:00, ESPN. College Basketball. Duke @ Temple.
7:00, ESPNU. College Basketball. UNC-Asheville @ UNC.
7:30, ESPN2. College Basketball. Pitt @ South Florida.
8:00, TNT. Movie. The Replacements.
8:00, NFL Network. NFL Replay.
9:00, ESPN Classic. Who's Number 1? Best Technological Innovations in Sports.
10:30, NFL Network. NFL Replay.