What's Offensive?

Not the Giants hitters, that's for sure.

Well, well, KNBR fired Krueger. Whatever.

What I missed was Alou calling him a "messenger of Satan." Excuse me, but has anyone called Alou on this? If you want to talk about offensive terms, then how do you top this? Maybe calling him a child molester would top it.

My other favorite thing about this incident is that Alou wouldn't accept an apology. Yes, offended mightily by what he perceived as intolerance, Felipe met it with ... intolerance. Sweet.

Back on the field, the Giants could use some form of offense other than Felipe's touchy sensibilities. The game against Clemens was totally understandable. What do you expect from a pitcher who has sold his soul to Larry Krueger?

Tuesday the Giants got enough hits -- eight -- but never really put anything together. The usual. I'd call them all brain-dead, but I'm truly afraid of having to answer a lot of e-mail from pissed-off zombies.

Comments

[Joe]

Oops Marty, I wrote in my email that I was looking forward to hearing your comments on this. Looks like you already picked it up off the wire.

I hope Kreug can find another job... he's a real talent on the radio and a passionate Giants fan. Unfortunately, he'll carry this label with him the rest of his career. The man's got 2 kids, and a 3rd on the way... I wonder if Felipe feels any empathy or guilt. The way I see it, if Felipe didn't react for ESPN, the issue wouldn't have blown up the way it did...

[Jefferson]

In fact, the KNBR morning show yesterday made fun of the "Satan" comment. And KNBR then fired the producer of that show, and Bob Agnew, whose only apparent crime is letting his hosts talk about the Krueger/Alou flap.

KNBR is a joke. The Giants are a joke. But don't you dare joke about The Alou, for he is above reproach.

[Jason]

I'm sure Kreuger will find another job, because sports radio has an insatiable appetite for jackasses.

The joke in this situation isn't that Krueger was fired -- it's that he wasn't fired immediately, but instead was immediately defended ("he won't be fired") by station management.

I used to listen to KNBR all the time. Frank & Mike, Kevin Radich, Gary Radnich's brilliant noon show and his less-brilliang morning show... now? I honestly can't remember, outside of a Giants broadcast, the last time I listened to KNBR. It's gotta be more than a year.

[Daniel]

I used to listen to radio shows because I held the hosts in higher esteem than myself, assuming they were just a bit smarter than I was, therefore worthy to be listened to.

I made a subtle change in that thought pattern a couple of years ago, and now I think most radio show hosts are okay, or idiots, or smart just like the rest of us. It just so happens they have a station with which to broadcast their okay-ness, idiocy, or smart-ness, to make up words.

I counter with my blog, where I can call them okay, idiots, or smart at my whim and leisure.

Seems like an even trade to me.

[Kelly]

With a little context it seems that Alou's reaction, though surprisingly strong, is not so remarkable. His first years in the US were spent in the deep South of the 1960's. His wife of several years is white. I won't presume to tell him when and by how much he should be offended by comments made specific to him and his ethnicity. As for accepting Krueger's apology, the only thing worse than the many offensive things getting said on the air these days are the lame, PR generated apologies that follow.
Which is really where the main issue lies. Comments like Krueger's fall near the ever expanding margins of what is not only acceptable but encouraged within the talk show world. That they fell just outside the line is made apparent by KNBR's initial failure to act. If those charged with covering the station's financial ass can't identity unacceptable behavior with several hours of deliberation to work with, how is a host, dutifully focused on ratings, to do so mid rant?

[Marty]

Alou has every right to be offended, but that doesn't give him a free ticket on his behavior post-slur. Alou has struck me as being quite disingenuous during this -- calling a man a "messenger of Satan" one day then saying "I think it is very unfortunate that a man, or a number of men, had to lose their jobs over a thing like this. It was not my objective" the next, for example. He talks of tolerance, then won't take one step forward in any bridge-building.

Whether he likes it or not, Alou's reaction to this built the issue up and led to the firing of two people not originally involved.

I'm not saying he's not justified, just that he's responsible for his actions, too.

[Bob]

This was Alou's reaction comment to the three firings:

"God does not allow anyone to make fun of His children or laugh at His children. God won't tolerate that. It's ridiculous that all of this was brought about by those guys. I didn't start this. He did. Anybody who wants to repent after making a statement like that has to understand that payback is going to come sooner or later."

I heard it on the KNBR morning show between 6 and 7 a.m. but it's hard as hell to find anywhere now. My guess is that all those reporters in the Bay Area whose story was about about good versus evil are now having second thoughts about Alou's crusade. More at my blog:

http://southofheaven.typepad.com/

[Virginia - Dominican]

Did the two poor soul of Sata lost their jobs?
GOOD!