Am I the only one who finds it ironic that on the same day that Jim Rome returned to ESPN, that the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan got himself in hot water for engaging in the same sort of "smack" that Rome's been practicing for years when he said Joumana Kidd ought to be "smacked" for her on camera behavior?
I don't know what neighborhood everyone else grew up in, but my Brooklyn-born mother has a way with, shall we say, colorful language. And on not too many occasions early in life, my mother would respond to particularly idiotic actions on my part with the appellation: "you could use a good smack in the head," or alternately, "you deserve a shot in the head."
Now, did this mean my mother was insensitive to the issue of child abuse, or suggesting that someone in my family do me in "gangsta style"?
Clearly not. And thank you Mom, for putting up with my silly antics.
Later, in a junior high school English class, I learned there was actually a word for such expressions: it's called hyperbole. Sometimes, hyperbole can even be used in a sentence in such a way that it can convey sarcasm as well. Imagine that. Amazing thing the English language.
Not long ago in the real world, adults recognized hyperbole for what it was, and moved on. But today, in our hyper-politically correct world, it pays to be offended. Because you see, there's power in victimization, even at the price of infantilizing the victim and millions of her cohorts everywhere.
And it also distracts us from the substance of Ryan's argument: that in her pursuit of a career in television, Mrs. Kidd might just be exploiting her young son in a way that's unseemly.
For those of you who believe Ryan's comments betrayed an insensitivity to the issue of domestic violence, you'd be better off bothering Jason Kidd about it. After all, he was the one who smacked her around in the first place.
UPDATE: Jason at Stick and Move is pointing to a whole spectrum of opinion on this one.
Alan Sepinwall at the Newark Star-Ledger has other ideas:
This obnoxious sports talk radio mentality has been infiltrating television for years, but ESPN has cornered the market on it, with "Around the Horn," "Pardon the Interruption," two different versions of "The Sports Reporters" and the recent return of Jim Rome, whose first stint in the ESPN family ended shortly after he baited quarterback Jim Everett into taking an on-air swing at him.With this many televised outlets for sports ranting and raving, it was only a matter of time before Ryan or Lupica or Mariotti or Tony Kornheiser tripped over their own tongues and said something colossally offensive like, "I'd like to smack her (Kidd)."
