Tag Archive for: Dan LeBatard

Paul Finebaum calls UM a “third world program”

Paul Finebaum opened the floor again.

Um, ESPN, about that no politics thing?

You remember how Dan LeBatard (our Dan LeBatard, of course) got heat internally for calling out the president’s racially-charged rallies?

Well, here’s the flip side of that.

Here is Paul Finebaum, known SEC shill and transparent provocateur, making a racially-loaded comment about the University of Miami, on ESPN’s airwaves:

What exactly do you mean there, Paul?

What would make us third world down here?

Our transportation system sucks. The Miami airport too. And yeah, there’s corruption.

But anyone who is associated with this area knows that “third world” isn’t referencing any of that. It’s referencing the populace…. much of which is brown or black.

That’s not a overly sensitive stretch. Just ask around.

This is a characterization that was all too common during the Heat’s Big 3 years. The national media constantly suggested that Miami didn’t “deserve” that team. Why? Well, sometimes they said it was because we weren’t passionate enough fans, too transient, all out on our boats. (You heard that a lot when national media members were cheering LeBron going back to “working class” Cleveland, i.e. more white).

But the other part of it was that we don’t look like other sports fans around the country, those pure fans from say, Boston.

“It’s a third world program if you ask me.”

Just say what you mean, Paul.

The caller did: “Well, at least no one was shot, I guess?”

Ha ha. That’s hysterical. No one shot. By Miami fans.

You forgot the word “thug.” Do better next time.

So Paul, nothing surprises us from you anymore.

Oh, and I’ve been to some of those SEC towns you love, where the Waffle House is deemed the equivalent of Ruth’s Chris — they both have butter! — and the unpaved roads to nowhere are lined with troopers waiting to pick up anyone who doesn’t answer to Bubba and have “Don’t Tread On Me” on his pickup’s bumper.

That world seems a lot more third than this.