He Definitely Won't Have To Sit Next To Lou Piniella Anymore

Fox baseball analyst Steve Lyons was fired last night, and with an assist from Richard Sandomir in the New York Times, here's what got him axed:

Piniella said that expecting similar production (from A's shortstop Marco Scutaro, who hit well in the divisional series against Minnesosta) would be "like finding a wallet on a Friday night and looking for one on Sunday and Monday, too."

Four minutes later, they had moved to different subjects and Piniella said something in Spanish. "The bilingual Lou Piniella," Brennaman said.

Lyons said: "Lou's habla'ing some Espa ol there, and I'm still looking for my wallet. I don't understand him and I don't want to sit close to him now." The three laughed and continued calling the game.

After the clever "habla'ing some Espa ol" line, I'm not sure I even understand what Lyons is saying there. He doesn't want to sit next to Lou Piniella because he's speaking Spanish? Lou Piniella steals wallets because of his Hispanic heritage? I don't know what he's saying. I don't get the joke enough to even know how much of it's racist, and how much it's just Steve Lyons being a total doofus. Given his track record, though, I don't blame Fox for pulling the plug.

It was about a month ago that he made fun of a fan with low vision who was using a magnifying device to watch a game, and Lyons also got into some trouble for things he once said about Shawn Green's Jewish heritage. You can find that passage in the Sandomir article, too.

Fox Fires Lyons Over Racial Comments [New York Times]