By Geoff Walter / SNY.tv

 

Three little words destroyed a career. For radio shock-jock Don Imus, three little words about the Rutgers women's basketball team were a second thought -- a drop in the bucket over the course of a long, outrageous career. But those three little words were enough to spark outrage across across the country and around the world via the Internet. Those words will not be repeated here, as offensive as they are, and if you haven't already heard them a million times already, you can look them up somewhere with ease. Imus was slapped with a two-week suspension that he would have begun serving today, if not for the fact that he was fired from his show at WFAN Thursday after having his simulcast dropped from MSNBC late last week. Here's your chance to see my take on Imus' firing, and respond with some thoughts of your own.

If CBS and MSNBC will cave in to this only now, after everything else Don Imus has done, what next? The First Amendment grants the freedom to say whatever you want, and while the Internet has granted a limited amount of anonymity to those who wish to express themselves ad nauseam, those in the public view and in the media have no such protection -- we know that we must take ownership and responsibility for everything we say because it's all there in black and white. If radio and TV personalities weren't already constantly looking over their shoulders and second-guessing if anything that comes from their mouths could be wrongly construed in the slightest way, Imus' dismissal will have them doing it even more.

No one asked either Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson to act as a "go-between" or as a moderator. Not Don Imus nor the women of Rutgers. New Jersey Gov. John Corzine was supposed to moderate the meeting between the only two parties that should have been talking: Imus and the Rutgers women's basketball team. Now Corzine is in critical condition and faces a long recovery, WFAN is trying to come up with a replacement for the cash-cow that was the Imus program, and Sharpton is being bombarded with death threats.

Don Imus had a career that spanned 40 years. In that time, the following groups have registered complaints against him: Catholics, Jews, Muslims, homosexuals, women, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and those suffering from cancer. Imus survived countless other attempts at pulling the plug on his career, so the question is why now? Many are still left scratching their heads as to the particular reason why this instance was different than the multitude of other outrages Imus induced. Maybe because he picked on a group of women who weren't always in the public eye like many of the politicos that are so regularly skewered on his program, or an incredibly failed attempt at humor from someone who (hypocritically? paradoxically?) projects and professes legitimacy by inviting authors and said politicos on that same show. Perhaps it was how before meeting with the Rutgers women -- the only ones that mattered in this case -- Imus went about groveling to everyone and anyone asking forgiveness and giving those that were calling for his ousting the opportunity to cut him off at the pass. Maybe all of the above, maybe none, maybe any number of combinations, maybe something else entirely.

You don't spend four decades in any field without developing a following, which is why this isn't Imus' last roundup. The real thing that nobody wants to admit is that we put Imus there. We listened to Imus on WFAN, watched him on MSNBC, patronized advertisers who sponsored his show, and bought his merchandise, books, and other oddities, when we could've just hit the off button and kept our wallets shut. People do have the right to listen to whatever they want, but be warned -- sometimes what you hear, you turn into.

Imus apologized in person to the Rutgers women, a point now potentially muted by his dismissal. Watching the Rutgers press conference as it was broadcast live and much of the ensuing discussion and analysis, one thing stands out: the team never asked for Imus to be fired, only an apology. But what good is Imus' apology now that there is no leverage on him, no chance for him to show how contrite he is or how his behavior has changed on the radio when he no longer has his forum? Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have gotten what they wanted -- Imus' head -- and the Rutgers women got only what they asked for: an apology, accepting it with the grace and dignity they have displayed through the entire ordeal.

We in the sports industry often forget about our different creeds and colors because those things simply don't matter, and they shouldn't. What matters is how you can handle a ball on the field, or how well you can put pen to paper. Inside the stadiums we feel safe and secure in the knowledge that the only thing that matters is performance; everything else gets checked at the turnstiles. Beyond those fences and off the court there is still racism, bigotry, suspicion, and all the ugly flavors of humanity that exist in one form or another. Nobody's perfect, and while one can't argue that what Imus said was right or just, and should be excused, but it also doesn't mean that something good can't come of it.

The most positive thing that could have been done was to leave Imus on the air after he served his suspension and see if his behavior would have changed. That opportunity is gone thanks to CBS Radio and MSNBC firing him. No one can know what goes on inside Imus' head save Imus himself. Instead of bringing people and groups together because of the incident, it has left the groups even more polarized. Instead of letting Imus grow from this experience, learn from it and go back to his job, and be an example of the way people can change, those that called for his dismissal may have solidified their own image and idea of a man, defining his life and career by a single event, and holding him up as a warning to anyone else that this is what can happen to you.

While certain people cry out for positive change when it comes to racial relations and feelings, speech, etc. it appears to be counterintuitive that these same individuals negatively reinforce that if you say something, anything, offensive, you will automatically be in their crosshairs and removed from any position that you once held, stripped of any titles, ranks, etc. and, put on the defensive. That puts fear into people. Fear of losing everything. Fear that controls your every behavior. Fear that if you step out of line, you'll be shot. Fear that you will be shunned, suspended, banned for any remark that anyone at anytime finds the least bit offensive in any way. Does that sound like positive change to you?

Wanna argue with the Ref? Don't like the call? Go ahead and make your own!