Glen Kuiper Out, Living an Announcer Nightmare

The Big Fear in this "Castellanos Era" for broadcasters

Oakland A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper was fired on Monday after weeks of review, his precipitating offense a May 5th accidental dropping of the n-bomb when sloppily trying to pronounce “Negro Leagues.” It’s been odd to behold his ouster locally. Nobody seems all that mad at him, but everyone is operating off the premise that so many people might be.

In reality, nobody reasonable cares that much, Black, White, or otherwise, but the game theory of these controversies dictates that you must operate as though you’re perhaps not reasonable, lest you seem soft on Bad Thing. The community of sports announcers, including Glen’s more famous brother Duane, Giants play-by-play man and local royalty, are ill-equipped to navigate this modern terrain. They largely think this is bullshit but can’t find the words to express why, at least publicly.