Thom Brennaman

[tmwiese55]

Yea I'd agree with that on some low level guy, but the producer is right there in the booth with him (well before this year). The other announcer, and then people above them. Obviously we're taking a lot from one sound clip, but it sure seemed that's just the way he is.

 

Of course there also might be some level of due to his dad there's nothing anyone can do about it even if they didn't like this aspect of him. Buuuut, that's kinda the whole point of these types of movements in society.

[adambr2]

Should be noted that a few Reds players went to Twitter after the game to offer support to the LGBTQ community.

 

This alone would never have happened 15, maybe 10 years ago. Within my conscious lifetime, we've had Jeremy Shockey say he wouldn't "stand for" a gay player in his locker room, to very little blow black, and Ken Griffey Jr. make headlines by saying a gay teammate wouldn't bother him.

 

I distinctly remember a game from around...2008 I think. It could have been 2007 but I think '08. Early on in BAs career. The camera panned to a lesbian couple, one of which got excited about something in the game and reacted to it and BA mistakenly said, "That young man is locked IN." There was an awkward pause and Bill said, "I don't think that's a young MAN." Another awkward pause before BA finished with "Yikes..."

 

Anyway, I don't know why this conversation made me think of this (and I'm not saying BA had any ill intent), but it certainly shows the difference between now and just back 10-12 years ago.

 

A conversation like that would be much more noticed now.

[JimH5]

Fox Sports has pulled Brennaman off of their NFL broadcasts.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Fox Sports has pulled Brennaman off of their NFL broadcasts.

 

Not surprised. I actually liked him purely as an announcer. Apparently most people didn't. I must have missed something, cus people seem to feel very strongly about the guy. I just thought he had a good voice for it.

[dlk9s]

lol Aubrey Huff is supporting Brennaman now. As if Thom's last 24 hours weren't bad enough.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

We just need John Rocker to come out and call it an overreaction now.

[bigredrobbo]

Pete Rose - "I bet you Thom gets his job back"

[djoctagone]

He has a chance to recover from this because the sports world isn’t exactly a place the LGBTQ community flocks to.

is there a study that you can cite that attests to this?

[JimH5]

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2020/08/20/thom-brennaman-what-said-wrong/3401957001/

 

Lots of groveling. He's asking for forgiveness, and I think this is way too soon for that.

[tmwiese55]

Well written and all. But cmon, he didn't know that was a bad word? If a clip of him saying this in say 1997 came out I'd be ok with that type of reasoning and probably overall with him taking it on the chin for a few days and moving on, assuming he really isn't a bigot. But it's 2020, everyone knows this now. And for a guy in his spot, with the diversity he's around on a daily basis he definitely knows all this. He just got caught.

[brewmann04]

I have not seen or heard what he said is their a site of his words?

[DuWayne Steurer]

I mean, that was an (actual) well written apology and he sounded super contrite, but the part where he loses me is where he says "I didn't know that word was so rooted in hate".

 

Really dude? Really? I remember running around on the playground in elementary school and calling someone that when I was like 6, in like 1981 or something, and a teacher having a discussion with me about what we do (and don't do) and learning a lesson. I think for someone in their 50's to claim ignorance takes the rest of that long, rambling statement where he says "man I'm a piece of crap that has a lot of work to do" and makes it ring pretty hollow.

[JimH5]

Well written and all. But cmon, he didn't know that was a bad word? If a clip of him saying this in say 1997 came out I'd be ok with that type of reasoning and probably overall with him taking it on the chin for a few days and moving on, assuming he really isn't a bigot. But it's 2020, everyone knows this now. And for a guy in his spot, with the diversity he's around on a daily basis he definitely knows all this. He just got caught.

 

I agree. His claim that he didn't know the word was rooted in hate seems not credible. It was a common insult in 1970s Junior High School. He had to have know about it then...or in the 45 YEARS since.

 

And him pointing out that he spoke with 2 gay men about this incident seems like he wants us to know that he's really, really, REALLY sorry, and can he please keep his job.

 

I'm probably a jerk for being so gleeful about his downfall. But we all find things that entertain us.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I find it more believable that he didn't know the real power the word than I would if it were someone my age. That word was still used all the time when I was in high school 15 years ago. It was said basically every play in high school football. But my generation is also the one that really started to reject it in any form and now I don't really know anyone that uses it that I hang out with.

 

It's plausible to me on some level that a much older guy who's not active on social media wouldn't really have a good handle on it.

 

The word was used in the 1970s, sure, but it was not in the same no-go territory that it is now. That happened pretty recently. I don't think is a career ender in 1998.

 

But it seems more likely he or someone close to him counselled him on this being the only feasible way he gets back in a booth again. I can't think of another path there.

[owbc]

These things tend to sort themselves out...if it really was an isolated, innocent mistake, I'm sure any day now we'll see his coworkers at Fox rise to his defense. Or other well-respected voices who know Thom well. I'll be waiting...

[SomewhereInTime]

I feel for his poor coworkers who likely have to deal with a homophobe on a daily basis.

 

Even if the mic wasn’t hot he should have been fired for saying that while on the job.

 

Give me a break.

[owbc]

I feel for his poor coworkers who likely have to deal with a homophobe on a daily basis.

 

Even if the mic wasn’t hot he should have been fired for saying that while on the job.

 

Give me a break.

 

Ok. Lets hear your justification for why homophobic comments in the workplace are not a fireable offense.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Anyone using that phrase at my job would likely get sent home and then forced into sensitivity training. They'd go on probation and be canned the second time.

 

Obviously the "talent" in jobs like this has a ton more wiggle room, but that's a whole other problem. Nobody should feel safe talking like that at work. He clearly had zero fear saying that to anyone within earshot as long as he wasn't on air.

[TigerUppercut]

I feel for his poor coworkers who likely have to deal with a homophobe on a daily basis.

 

Even if the mic wasn’t hot he should have been fired for saying that while on the job.

 

Give me a break.

 

Ok. Lets hear your justification for why homophobic comments in the workplace are not a fireable offense.

 

Because Anti-Semetic comments are apparently not a problem in the NFL? See DeSean Jackson.

 

I'm not defending what TB did and personally think it's despicable, just answering your question. There's a precedent that has been set in that league for these type of things although I guess it could be argued that TB works for the network.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

There's so much more gray area and room for interpretation with what DeSean Jackson did. It's drenched in context. It was bad, and I'm not a fan of his at all, but there are a bunch of different arguments as to his point and that was in the middle of an ongoing discussion re: black rights. He also clearly didn't research what he posted at all.

 

There's no context in which you can explain what Brenneman said. The two things just aren't the same.

[AdvantageSchneider]

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/big-league-stew/yunel-escobar-apologizes-gay-slur-eye-black-says-203605396--mlb.html

 

Escobar got 3 games for having a gay slur in his eye black. He's protected by the union so there is a limit to how hard the league could come down on him. With the NFL canning him I think it would look really bad if Cincy brings him back.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Escobar thing was 8 years ago too. Same sex marriage was still banned in WI in 2012. Not equating that with this kind of behavior, but the needle has moved remarkably fast on this stuff. We are much closer to zero tolerance than we were in 2012.

[Jimbo]

I feel for his poor coworkers who likely have to deal with a homophobe on a daily basis.

 

Even if the mic wasn’t hot he should have been fired for saying that while on the job.

 

This! Back in the day I worked on the south side of Milwaukee for several years and words like this flowed freely. Today's "cancel culture" can make me cringe at times, but cases similar to this I'm glad people are starting to be held accountable.

[HiAndTight]

I guess the issue I have is with the ‘I apologize to anyone I may have offended’ apologizing. Just say you apologize for saying something bigoted and wrong, don’t qualify it with ‘if I may have offended you....’

 

 

Why does it matter? Whatever he says is obviously nothing more than attempted damage control at that point.

 

An apology is fine when you have a slip of the tongue on the air or make a joke that you later realize is in bad taste, both of which happen. This is nothing like that, what was said was fully intended and he obviously believes it so I don't really know what the point of any apology is as it is meaningless.

 

Fair point. I think my thought is that you should at least make the apology sound sincere rather than a carefully worded spin attempt.

 

 

I looked at it as just the opposite. He was likely told that he was being taken off the air, the tone was as important to me and it felt the opposite of a carefully worded spin. It sounded like a man who was genuinely sorry. Sorry he'd been caught or sorry he'd said something hurtful, I don't know, but it sounded better than one of those press releases that have no personality to them at all.

[HiAndTight]

If anyone is still on the fence about whether or not what Brennaman said was bad, note that Curt Schilling has come out in support of him.

 

 

I was never on the fence. I was a BIT on the fence if he should ever be allowed to call games again or what the punishment should be.

I do think there needs to be SOME room for people to improve themselves and try to be redeemed and given a 2nd chance.

 

 

Good strong chance though that anyone who's still on the fence about whether or not what he said was wrong...they already like Schilling and that's not gonna push them off of it!