Normally, once Duke and my local teams are out of the running, I stop talking about college bball. But, based on the dozens of letters that I received (mostly from Dale Thomas), I have to shout out Florida for beating up on UCLA and winning the men’s national championship.

Also, allow me to make my early pick for next year’s national champ: DUKE!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m going to pick Duke every year. If I had to pick someone else, I’d say North Carolina is going to be a powerhouse next year.

Lastly, since they’ve thoroughly punished UConn, expect Duke women to win the national championship tonight and restore some honor to the bball program.

(Notice how I shouted out Florida but spent my time talking about Duke?)

On Wednesday, March 22, Dave Lenihan, a St. Louis radio host was fired for calling Condoleeza Rice a “big coon.” In the middle of praising Rice and supporting her candidacy for commisioner of the NFL (a position that Rice has publicly rejected), he inadvertantly leaked the racial epithet:

“She’s been chancellor of Stanford. She’s got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that. I didn’t mean that. It was just a slip of the tongue. She’s definitely got all the attributes to be commissioner. I’m really sorry about that.”

Within twenty minutes (damn!), the station’s president and general manager apologized on air for the incident and fired Lenihan on the spot.

While I’m happy with the ultimate resolution to the situation, I still find the response problematic. After all, Lenihan was in the process of praising Rice when he accidently said “coon” instead of “coup.” Is he not entitled to a slip, even a Freudian one, of the tongue? (I’ll resist the urge to play pop-psychologist and excavate the racial demons that may reside in the minds of Lenihan and other conservatives who adopt a pet negro in full public view.)

Also, twenty minutes seems TOO quick a response and feels more reactionary than thoughtful. This suggests that the radio station was acting out of fear rather than principle. Worse, these types of responses tend to shut down, rather than provoke, productive conversations about race. Clearly, he intended to inflict no harm on Rice or Blacks anywhere with his commentary. Should that not have bought him another shot? Even if he did have bad intentions, is he any worse than Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh?