This Sporting Life: Asterisky Business (Hawaii Football Coach suspended for gay slur)

[varun]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=macgregor/090803&sportCat=ncf


..Start from the premise that I feel bad for Greg McMackin. Mr. McMackin, 64, is the head football coach at the University of Hawaii. Late last week, at a preseason news conference in Salt Lake City, Mr. McMackin used the word "f*****."


Aloha.


He used the word several times, in fact. First as a modifier to describe a pregame musical-comedy routine done a year ago by the Notre Dame team, as in that "little f***** dance"; and then several more times in a ham-handed effort to get a roomful of sports reporters to retract or ignore his original use of the word.



Greg McMackin pledged to return seven percent of his salary prior to uttering gay slurs at WAC media day. How is the giveback penance?So, backpedaling like a Cirque du Soleil unicyclist, having already used the slur, he then continued to use the slur while asking it be forgiven and forgotten that he's still using the slur. A perfect black comedy routine, in other words, a double-helix of futility, Ralph Kramden in Hell. Hammana-hammana-hammana...

[tomreedtoon]

1. How is he different from any other sports coach?

They always epitomize macho. They always make disparaging gay references. They're all jerks. Is this particular coach any more jerky than any other? I think not.