Announcer Calls Black UNI Player "Best Athlete ... Flashiest Player"
Northern Iowa is playing Wyoming right now in the NCAA Tournament, and as you would guess, there are a whole lot of smart, gritty gym rats on the court. Two and a half minutes into the game, though, Northern Iowa subbed in Wes Washpun, a black player. Spero Dedes, calling the game alongside Mike Gminski, introduced the country to Washburn like this:
"It's Wes Washpun who came in and was tripped to the floor. Washpun, the Sixth Man of the Year in the Missouri Valley Conference. He's their best athlete, and certainly their flashiest player, and he's expected to play heavy minutes in this one today."
Dedes has done this kind of thing before; a few years ago when he worked for MSG, he caught some heat for using the phrase "chink in the armor" when speaking about Jeremy Lin. At Deadspin, we often rail against this casual, lazy way of dividing black players from white ones that's been baked into how we talk about and what we expect from athletes across nearly every sport. But, even I gotta admit: Washpun's pretty quick! And he's kinda flashy!
But seriously, no one talk like this. If you talk like this, don't talk like this.
[TBS]
h/t @TBumblefut
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