Should the Clippers have suspended their announcers for this?

[Roy Hobbs]

Apparently, the Clippers suspended their television announcers for the following exchange:

The transcript of the conversation between Lawler and Smith, which occurred late in the game, was printed on the Los Angeles Times' Web site:

Smith: "Look who's in."

Lawler: "Hamed Haddadi. Where's he from?"

Smith: "He's the first Iranian to play in the NBA." (Smith pronounced Iranian as "Eye-ranian," a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)

Lawler: "There aren't any Iranian players in the NBA," repeating Smith's mispronunciation.

Smith: "He's the only one."

Lawler: "He's from Iran?"

Smith: "I guess so."

Lawler: "That Iran?"

Smith: "Yes."

Lawler: "The real Iran?"

Smith: "Yes."

Lawler: "Wow. Haddadi that's H-A-D-D-A-D-I."

Smith: "You're sure it's not Borat's older brother?"

Smith: "If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I'm going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part."

Lawler: "Here's Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball."

Smith: "Especially the post players.

Lawler: "I don't know about their guards."

Link.

Really?  It's considered that offensive to pronounce Iranian as "Eye-ranian"?  The first pronunciation for the word on dictionary.com is "i-rey-nee-uhn". 

I guess the Borat joke could be seen as politically incorrect, but in my view, this is another example of the world becoming maybe a little too politically correct.  It's not as bad as when Lou Pinella was unjustly fired, but it's still stupid.

[bdm860]

Apparently, the Clippers suspended their television announcers for the following exchange:

The transcript of the conversation between Lawler and Smith, which occurred late in the game, was printed on the Los Angeles Times' Web site:

Smith: "Look who's in."

Lawler: "Hamed Haddadi. Where's he from?"

Smith: "He's the first Iranian to play in the NBA." (Smith pronounced Iranian as "Eye-ranian," a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)

Lawler: "There aren't any Iranian players in the NBA," repeating Smith's mispronunciation.

Smith: "He's the only one."

Lawler: "He's from Iran?"

Smith: "I guess so."

Lawler: "That Iran?"

Smith: "Yes."

Lawler: "The real Iran?"

Smith: "Yes."

Lawler: "Wow. Haddadi that's H-A-D-D-A-D-I."

Smith: "You're sure it's not Borat's older brother?"

Smith: "If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I'm going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part."

Lawler: "Here's Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball."

Smith: "Especially the post players.

Lawler: "I don't know about their guards."

Link.

Really?  It's considered that offensive to pronounce Iranian as "Eye-ranian"?  The first pronunciation for the word on dictionary.com is "i-rey-nee-uhn". 

I guess the Borat joke could be seen as politically correct, but in my view, this is another example of the world becoming maybe a little too politically correct.  It's not as bad as when Lou Pinella was unjustly fired, but it's still stupid.

Eye-ranian and i-rey-nee-uhn sound the same to me, and also the way I would pronounc it.  What's the un-offending way to pronounce it?

[Fan from VT]

Apparently, the Clippers suspended their television announcers for the following exchange:

The transcript of the conversation between Lawler and Smith, which occurred late in the game, was printed on the Los Angeles Times' Web site:

Smith: "Look who's in."

Lawler: "Hamed Haddadi. Where's he from?"

Smith: "He's the first Iranian to play in the NBA." (Smith pronounced Iranian as "Eye-ranian," a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)

Lawler: "There aren't any Iranian players in the NBA," repeating Smith's mispronunciation.

Smith: "He's the only one."

Lawler: "He's from Iran?"

Smith: "I guess so."

Lawler: "That Iran?"

Smith: "Yes."

Lawler: "The real Iran?"

Smith: "Yes."

Lawler: "Wow. Haddadi that's H-A-D-D-A-D-I."

Smith: "You're sure it's not Borat's older brother?"

Smith: "If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I'm going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part."

Lawler: "Here's Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball."

Smith: "Especially the post players.

Lawler: "I don't know about their guards."

Link.

Really?  It's considered that offensive to pronounce Iranian as "Eye-ranian"?  The first pronunciation for the word on dictionary.com is "i-rey-nee-uhn". 

I guess the Borat joke could be seen as politically correct, but in my view, this is another example of the world becoming maybe a little too politically correct.  It's not as bad as when Lou Pinella was unjustly fired, but it's still stupid.

If only for being too stupid to know better, yes.

It should read in the boxscore

LAC-Announcer-DNP-Suspension-Stupidity

[Roy Hobbs]

Eye-ranian and i-rey-nee-uhn sound the same to me, and also the way I would pronounc it.  What's the un-offending way to pronounce it?

Yeah, same here.  I don't get it.

[nickagneta]

Geesh. I wonder how many times Tommy Heinsohn should have been suspended over the years for mispronunciation? Really? Suspension for mispronunciation of a person's nationality? Ridiculous!!

The Borat comments....borderline bad taste and maybe insulting. But the mispronunciation is ridiculous.


Eye-rain-ee-an

Ih-rahn-ee-an

What's the difference.

Eye-tal-ee-an

ih-tal-ee-an



My guess here is someone of Italian-American dissent isn't calling up the television network complaining of insulting one of the most historically important heritages in the history of the world. I know I wouldn't and I'm Italian-American. So what. Some yahoo doesn't know how to pronounce Italian. Who cares?

[Who]

Excellent announcers ... it seems ridiculous that they were suspended.

[scoop]

Yeah, they're my favourite announcers in LP. I thought Eye-ranian was the proper pronunciation. Reads like an Onion piece.

[bdm860]

Geesh. I wonder how many times Tommy Heinsohn should have been suspended over the years for mispronunciation?

Don't worry, we don't play Memphis till 12/14 and it's an away game so Tommy probably won't announce it, so we're good till 3/10 when the Grizz come to town. but Haddadi has already racked up like 6 DNP-CD's in 12 games so I like Tommy's odds 

I think the most mind boggling part of all this is that somebody was actually at home watching the Clippers/Griz game, and on top of that was actually paying enough attention to actually catch that statement.  I mean look at how many people are actually in the stands at the game.  This blows my mind right there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdlqAp36N3U

[nickagneta]

I wonder if the Clippers fan that called in was Bill Simmons?

[Amonkey]

I thought the last part could've been more insulting then anything.  The part about Iranians being able to pass.  But seriously, that is pretty ridiculous.  Somebody has asked me if Brazilians speaks Spanish or Brazilian.  That is not a cause for me to be offended but more sorry that the person doesn't know enough about the world to know that we speak Portuguese.

[nickagneta]

I thought the last part could've been more insulting then anything.  The part about Iranians being able to pass.  But seriously, that is pretty ridiculous.  Somebody has asked me if Brazilians speaks Spanish or Brazilian.  That is not a cause for me to be offended but more sorry that the person doesn't know enough about the world to know that we speak Portuguese.

Yeah stuff like that bugs me too and I feel the same way...sorry for them.

Can't tell you how many times I have been in a store and heard some people speaking Spanish and hear another person say "I wish they would speak English and not Puertorican."

Umm, they are speaking Spanish and my kids are half puertorican but of course they don't know that.

Still, how can a company suspend announcers because they mispronounced the word Iranian. If they suspended them for the bad Borat joke and other less than flattering things they said, fine. I can almost see the justification, though I don't. But still, they are there to entertain as much as call a game and nothing they said was tremendously insulting.

[moiso]

Eye think eye always pronounce the word like the announcers said it.  That's ridiculous.  And I don't think the Borat thing was all that offensive, either.  I can recall Tommy saying much more offensive things about Yao and Zaza.

[Schupac]

I can see it being offensive.  Not the pronunciation, that's just a mistake.  It is supposed to be pronounced like "E-Rahn-ian" not "Eye-Rayn-ian".  But that is semantics.  Again, wrong but an honest mistake.

Stuff about "that Iran" and "the real Iran" like they are aliens is a little offensive.  I know an Iranian man back home and went to school with a few, very nice people.  Not freaks from another planet.

And stuff about Borat?  His persona is from Kazakhstan.  That's the same thing as Iran?  I'd be annoyed if I was Iranian.  As a white guy, I just think it is ignorant, and for someone whose job is to speak publicly to a mass of people, unacceptable.

Tommy also says some stuff which is stupid and ignorant.  I'm not giving him a free pass.  My guess is these announcers aren't Tommy's age though.  That does play a factor.

[FallGuy]

I can see it being offensive.  Not the pronunciation, that's just a mistake.  It is supposed to be pronounced like "E-Rahn-ian" not "Eye-Rayn-ian".  But that is semantics.  Again, wrong but an honest mistake.

Stuff about "that Iran" and "the real Iran" like they are aliens is a little offensive.  I know an Iranian man back home and went to school with a few, very nice people.  Not freaks from another planet.

And stuff about Borat?  His persona is from Kazakhstan.  That's the same thing as Iran?  I'd be annoyed if I was Iranian.  As a white guy, I just think it is ignorant, and for someone whose job is to speak publicly to a mass of people, unacceptable.

Tommy also says some stuff which is stupid and ignorant.  I'm not giving him a free pass.  My guess is these announcers aren't Tommy's age though.  That does play a factor.

I basically agree with you. People getting upset over the pronunciation thing is silly but the comment about Borat is ignorant and stupid and "the real Iran" exchange makes me think that these are two guys who've never been outside their own country. Welcome to the 21st century - the world is bigger than you.

Side note: these two are some of my least fave announcers in the league. Although I may still just be bitter at Smith for his failures as a basketball player :+)

[Redz]

Geesh. I wonder how many times Tommy Heinsohn should have been suspended over the years for mispronunciation?

Don't worry, we don't play Memphis till 12/14 and it's an away game so Tommy probably won't announce it, so we're good till 3/10 when the Grizz come to town. but Haddadi has already racked up like 6 DNP-CD's in 12 games so I like Tommy's odds 

I think the most mind boggling part of all this is that somebody was actually at home watching the Clippers/Griz game, and on top of that was actually paying enough attention to actually catch that statement.  I mean look at how many people are actually in the stands at the game.  This blows my mind right there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdlqAp36N3U

Those guys should get suspended for offering zero insight to 2 and a half minutes of highlights.