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Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:42 am EDT

Suspension Watch: ESPN puts Griese on ice for 'taco' remark

By Matt Hinton

In case you missed it (which would require a Herculean effort for sports fans on the Web over the last three days), here's Hall of Fame quarterback and ESPN color man Bob Griese during last Saturday's Ohio State-Minnesota game, gracing the broadcast team's weekly NASCAR promo with some ill-considered banter regarding Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya and "a taco":

An Hispanic driver's name is tossed into a conversation among football announcers for no good reason; one of the announcers reacts by bringing up tacos for no good reason. Inappropriate? In 2009, definitely. Enough to dwell on with scrutiny and retribution for days afterwards? Watching the game, I didn't think so. And I doubt Griese or his booth mates thought so, either -- until the Montoya/taco comment instantly spread around Twitter, hit the blogs and forced a producer to call up with word for Griese to issue the mea culpa at the end of the game.

That might have been the end of it; after the fact, Montoya said he didn't care. But surfers still cared enough to make it the second-most popular story on USA Today's Web site on Sunday. And ESPN, always quick on the draw when it comes to on-air politics and subsequent criticism, most definitely still cared, enough to issue a one-game suspension against Griese Monday night:

ESPN broadcaster Bob Griese has been suspended one week for a remark he made about NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya.

ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz says Griese will not be working a game this week. Krulewitz says ESPN has spoken to Griese and "he understands the comment was inappropriate."

Griese will be back with partners Chris Spielman and Dave Plasch in a freezing Big Ten press box on Nov. 7. In the meantime, take some solace, Bob, in the fact that you're not alone: Between the Big Ten, Pac-10 amd SEC, everyone in college football seems to have caught the suspendin' bug this season.

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26 Comments

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  1. MichaelM
    1. Posted by MichaelM Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:01 am EDT

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    I watch a show on PBS called "Mexico One Plate at a Time" where this guy Rick Bayless talks non-stop about latin peoples eating tacos. When is that guy going to get called out for the racist he is!
    Seriously, can anyone explain how this is racist? I could agree if Griese got suspended for making a lame joke; but please, we need to lighten up a big...
  2. Tim
    2. Posted by Tim Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:08 am EDT

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    Montoya is only big because the media want a taco-eating NASCAR driver to succeed.
  3. G.O.A.T.
    3. Posted by G.O.A.T. Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:22 am EDT

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    So if a white guy calls a Hispanic a Taco then the world goes into a chaotic spin and will never recover. Yet Chris Rock can run around calling white people Cracker and it's comedy? I'm sick of the double standard. Post # 2 is right, It would be most excellent for NASCAR amongst the Hispanic community if a Hispanic won the cup. You gotta love Propoganda....
  4. Nick O
    4. Posted by Nick O Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:22 am EDT

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    " Montoya is only big because the media want a taco-eating NASCAR driver to succeed. " HILARIOUS.
  5. Mitt Romney
    5. Posted by Mitt Romney Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:36 am EDT

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    Exactly who was outraged by this? The phantom voices in ESPN's head?
  6. Brandon
    6. Posted by Brandon Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:53 am EDT

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    I think we all can agree that the guy truly is a taco.
  7. Sean M
    7. Posted by Sean M Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:55 am EDT

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    Montoya ought to be kissing Griese's butt. Right after he get's the taco out of his mouth.
  8. Robert C
    8. Posted by Robert C Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:59 am EDT

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    Racism will never die as long as people get offended by stupid crap like this. How in the hell is a taco racist?
    Everyone eats tacos. So just saying a guy is eating a taco, does not mean it is a racist remark. What if he was out eating a taco?
    We must learn to not always jump to the racism conclusion. Sometimes a taco is just a taco.
  9. ess-eee-seee
    9. Posted by ess-eee-seee Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:02 pm EDT

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    He should have said something smooth like, "Juan Pablo Montoya is out enjoying a meal which celebrates his proud Colombian homeland while honoring the many cultures of his mestizo ancestors." It just rolls off the tongue.
  10. dorfineer
    10. Posted by dorfineer Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:14 pm EDT

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    Kind of brings to light that there's too much "color commentary" going on with the announcer's during sporting events anymore, and not enough actually calling the setups, plays, and action of the game. Hell, you don't even get to see the whole play usually because they're too busy with close ups of all the goons on the field. By the time the pan back to the play it's usually half over...nevermind the fact that the announcers don't even call the formations or call the action as it happens.
    All you get anymore is idiots like Jaws and Brent Musberger tonguing the balls of whichever player the like the most at the point or trying to make themselves sound knowledgeable about what's going on, even though they are mostly wrong.
    Sorry for the rant, but if it wasn't for the fact that TV never syncs with the radio anymore I would be listening to the play by play from the radio instead of those a$$ clowns on TV...
  11. ..
    11. Posted by .. Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:16 pm EDT

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    seriously???? what a major over reaction - what if he said "wheres Dale Jr must be out getting a hamburger???" this is stupid -
    would be classic if Montoya says that he was in fact having tacos for dinner -
    looks like the only way for griese to correct this is to hire a mariachi band and do public service commercials with a chihuahua letting everyone know that it is not cool to say that colombians eat tacos -
  12. ..
    12. Posted by .. Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:20 pm EDT

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    he should have said "poor montoya had to give half of his car to his communist leader and with only 2 wheels left he is no longer in the sprint"
  13. JosephineTX
    13. Posted by JosephineTX Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:20 pm EDT

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    Have to agree with Robert C. that sometimes a taco is just a taco. Maybe it was an ill-advised comment, but I think it's obvious that no harm was meant. He immediately apologized, he was embarrassed, it was a minor offense, let's move on. A suspension here seems pretty stupid to me.
    On the other hand, if Griese had actually called Montoya a taco, which is what G.O.A.T. seems to think did happen (it didn't), that really would have been offensive. By the way, Chris Rock is a comedian. Comedians push the boundaries to get a rise out of people. Bob Griese is an ESPN announcer. It's not the same thing.
    Finally, I have to point out that they don't generally eat tacos in Colombia. The food is very different there than in Mexico. (Making Griese's faux pas just a little bit sillier than it already was.)
  14. ..
    14. Posted by .. Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:23 pm EDT

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    is griese a pervert? because depending on who was listening they could have thought he was being a feminist and talking about montoyas girlfriend......
  15. JosephineTX
    15. Posted by JosephineTX Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:24 pm EDT

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    Uh....they also don't have mariachi bands in Colombia, and the government there is not remotely Communist. Perhaps you're confusing it with its neighbor to the east, Venezuela.
  16. h. biily in nc
    16. Posted by h. biily in nc Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:49 pm EDT

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    ESPN SUCKS...most beaners can't afford a tv unless they steal it so who are you trying to appeal to with this [profane]e....
  17. ..
    17. Posted by .. Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:49 pm EDT

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    # 15 you almost got it - griese was talking about a colombian eating tacos which is not a colombian dish - he could have said montoya was out eating ajiaco or fritanga which are colombian - so basically griese sounded stupid not for being a racist but for being ignorant about not knowing where montoya was from or for not knowing where tacos are from - talking crap about things he knows nothing about
    so i went over the top of his ignorance with much more ignorace - which is what you picked up on - but you are almost correct in your statements i was not confused it was on purpose
  18. Reepicheep
    18. Posted by Reepicheep Tue Oct 27, 2009 12:57 pm EDT

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    I must not have received the latest copy of the PC Handbook, I wasn't aware that the consumption of tacos was considered an offensive racial stereotype.
  19. zscihal
    19. Posted by zscihal Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:30 pm EDT

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    What is this PC world coming to? If you're offended by a comment like that, then your future is pretty bleak. You will probably be offended by comments not directed at you made by people that don't know you for the rest of your life.
    As an alternative, try having a thick skin. Control what you can control (yourself), instead of worrying about what you can't control (other people). If your sense of self-worth is affected by what a stranger on tv said, maybe you're misidentifying the source of the problem.
    I'm from Texas. I eat tacos all the time, because they taste good.
  20. just4funsies
    20. Posted by just4funsies Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:45 pm EDT

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    It was a piece of ill-advised and insensitive verbal diarrhea... Griese went out of his way to say something "cute" and couldn't even get the racial stereotype right. Just a dumb jock talking. Of course, everybody knows that dumb jocks are all that ESPN can get to do the games, so maybe they should suspend THEMSELVES for a week.
  21. GameDay
    21. Posted by GameDay Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:51 pm EDT

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    More importantly, people are mistaking who's the most upset by all this.
    #1 and #3 - the people you refer to are entertainers. They sell a product. If people don't like what Chris Rock says, they can walk out or simply not buy a ticket to his show.
    Bob Griese is also free to say what he wants - but if he offends people, they won't watch ESPN. As ESPN is a commercial enterpise whose bottom line heavily depends on getting people to watch them, on becoming popular as a mass media outlet, and most critically, being perceived as an accepting and culturally-sensitive organization appealing to a very disparate audience and having on-air talent win over consumer eyeballs as opposed to repel them, it's a matter of concern to ESPN.
    Ignorance is not a good thing. A man who was thrown out of a Washington Huskies football game for rowdy behavior beat up a Sikh cab driver and called him an Iraqi terrorist. I don't expect that guy to know the difference between India and Iraq, Sikhism and Islam, or a potato from a donut, for that matter. But I'd like influential public commentators whom millions of people listen to get a little bit of a clue, and hold them to a higher standard.
    Griese doesn't really have a malicious bone in his body - he just sounds like an ignoramus when he's talking about anything pertaining to other cultures. And if he's covering racing, he ought to know where the heck key sports figures come from. As a fan, I don't need or expect ESPN to suspend him - it serves no purpose from my viewpoint. On the other hand, enough bumbling dufosity and I'll just change the channel...not something I suspect ESPN wants to hear viewers saying...
  22. PhilipH
    22. Posted by PhilipH Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:16 am EDT

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    #9 - yes, because racist stereotypes *DO* roll off the tongue, when we don't check ourselves.
    #1 - Montoya is not from Mexico...oh forget it, do you really think...oh guess not.
    #19 - you're from Texas. Enough said. And yes, control what you say, please.
    Most of you are hopeless. You don't ask a rapist if it was rape or not. The judge of whether these comments are racial stereotypes, are the subjects of the stereotypes themselves. Not the white people telling the "jokes."
  23. Scott
    23. Posted by Scott Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:23 am EDT

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    Where is Al Sharpton on this? Oh that's right...Montoya isn't black--so he doesn't care. HOW FORTUNATE!
  24. GP
    24. Posted by GP Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:45 am EDT

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    Don't feel bad Greise, EVERYTHING in 2009 is inappropriate. EVERYTHING is racist, EVERYTHING is hate oriented. So, you're in good company.

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