It should have been much ado about nothing, but we don’t live in that kind of society. CBS basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb said something on a NCAA-tournament pre-game (Miami-Marquette) show last week that blew up in racial controversy. As the only white person on a five-member panel, he deadpanned: “I don’t know why you guys ask me, I’m just here to bring diversity to this set, give kind of the white man’s perspective.” Only instead of a boys-will-be-boys, bada-bing response, his flawed effort at self-deprecating humor resulted in awkward dead air and a lame transition that turned into instant internet infamy and racial backlash. Gottlieb then acknowledged that it “was not a smart thing to say” and apologized.
What Gottlieb, who is still doing tournament analysis for CBS, violated was the unspoken rule of race. In basketball, do not say anything about “blackness”–including that which is humorous or ironic. This is, mind you, in the context of a sport where most of the players are black although most of the cheerleaders, fans and ad buyers are white. Hockey it’s not. Just don’t acknowledge it.