when espn personalities go wrong

there are days that i sit and wish that someone would pay me to blog about sports all day. then there are days i think that and then remember that market is probably already covered. if i were being paid, though, and didn't have to wait until i had a free hour or so to sit down and post, i wouldn't be five days late on all of this hitting the fan. it really is an interesting non-story, so if you haven't been reading a lot of sports blogs this week, i'd recommend you catching yourself up. if this hits the week of the super bowl and not the week before the big game, not only would this have not had "legs", but there's a good chance we never would have heard about it. the short version is that dana jacobson, co-host of espn2's weekday morning show, first take, went and got herself a lot drunk at a roast for espn radio and tv personalities mike and mike. during her sloppy, "funny" rant in the direction of notre dame alum, mike golic, dana vomits out, among other things, "f... notre dame.", "f... touchdown jesus." and, for good measure, "f... jesus." awesome. now, there are all sorts of things to take into account here, mind you. first, it's a roast. these things tend to get nasty on their way to and from being funny. the event wasn't televised, so it's not like the wasted talking head was spewing her anti-everything venom at 8 year-olds hoping to catch some world series of poker. and, of course, she was drunk. not that that excuses anything, but i have never heard a drunk person utter any one original thought. the booze had eliminated all filters and common sense from her rational brain and replaced those things with memories of frat parties fused with some bad andrew "dice" clay routine and out came her weak attempt at "getting the party started".

espn has suspended jacobson for a week, for whatever it is worth. she's come out and said she was stupid. she really doesn't hate notre dame or jesus. well, maybe not jesus. and now, her bosses are putting the story to bed. everyone seems to be getting in super bowl mode, except for one vocal group that has blown up local sports-talk radio shows all week. that group? you guessed it. christians.

oh, how the christians that took the time to call in and bitch about this story were offended. i heard callers talk about how jacobson should be fired. how she is a metaphor for what a persecuted group christians in this country are now becoming. i heard suggestions of a boycott of espn. i heard almost everything except the first phone call offering some grace in the direction of the disgraced anchor. maybe i've just been listening at the wrong time. maybe the morning drive guys were screening out all the reasonable callers to help their ratings and stir their "christian" listeners into a frenzy. maybe. or maybe this is just another example of what makes me sad about my religion in general.

my religion that people are tuning out at a scary rate. my religion that makes me think that i don't blame them. i wondered on several occasions last week if these callers, these christians had taken time, before they called, to think about their worst mistake ever. the kind of mistake that you don't tell people about. the kind of mistake that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. after thinking about their worst mistake, i wondered if they thought about that mistake being broadcast on youtube or the evening news and, all of a sudden, they found themselves branded with a scarlet whatever letter according to their "crime." i thought about that. and then i thought if the world or, hell, my friends knew of my worst mistake that they probably wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. that the world would find it pretty easy to make fun of me.

i thought about my worst mistakes again this morning in sunday school when the latter part of our discussion revolved around how to handle sharing a church with people that screw up or make us uncomfortable.

after leaving sunday school, like i have several times this week, i thought about grace. receiving grace. offering grace. how, in theory, grace is a marvelous thing. in practice, though, we are lacking most of the time. at least, in the offering department we are. we are so brutally quick to judge. to convict. to damage. to throw stones. and people who are on the fence with the whole god and jesus thing must look at us and either laugh or rejoice that they are not part of our club.

i want to be a part of a club that i don't have to make excuses for. a place where, if i fall, someone will be there to pick me up immediately. not wait and pick me up after they've talked about me behind my back and let enough time pass to "forgive" me of my sins.

dana jacobson, drinking too much and then poking fun at people isn't my cup of tea. i actually think it's kind of a waste of time. i don't want to sound like i am defending the actual acts that motivated people to start poking you with a stick. so, you screwed up.

don't we all?