Winston Groom, author of the novel ‘Forrest Gump’,
introduced us all to the line of “Stupid Is as Stupid Does”. This line may mean
different things to different people, but it clearly speaks to the identification of stupid actions. This is not to say that someone who performs a stupid act is therefore a stupid person. Brilliant people make mistakes, stupid mistakes, all the time, and our only hope is that individuals will
learn from that particular event and not repeat the stupidity in the future.
The story of Forrest Gump also allowed us to take
a look at racism and the historical impact it had on our American culture. The
character created by Winston Groom was immersed in real racial events, from school segregation to the KKK to the Black Panthers,
and it was those events from the sixties and seventies that help mold the era of political correctness in which we live today.
Bob Griese was recently suspended by ESPN for one
game for comments he made in the telecast of the Minnesota-Ohio State game. ESPN
was promoting ABC’s coverage (both networks are owned by Disney and often times cross-promote each other’s programming) of
the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Martinsville. A graphic was shown listing
the top five racers of this year’s Sprint Cup chase. Fellow analyst Chris
Spielman inquired as to the why NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya was not listed, to which Griese quipped, “he’s out having
a taco.”
Griese apologized for the comment following the
game and then again during ESPN’s College Gameday Scoreboard show later that evening. Various
media outlets, mostly blog sites, have ruled Griese’s comments as racist. ESPN’s
decision to suspend Griese for a game can be considered as a necessity so as to show proper disciplinary
action towards Griese and avoid any potential racial fallout as a result.
I agree with ESPN’s decision to suspend Griese. Not because his comments were racist – they weren’t and they were clearly meant
in jest – but because they were stupid. When you’re an on-air personality and
you don’t have the presence of mind to refrain from a comment involving race, you deserve to be suspended.
Griese
is a Hall of Fame quarterback and is viewed in the context of NFL history as one of the smartest players to play that position. He’s the “Thinking Man’s” quarterback, and when you think about all-time, smartest
QB’s to have played in the NFL, his name is definitely in the conversation. That’s
what makes Griese’s comments during the broadcast so incredulous. He knows better.
Forget the comical error whereby Montaya is Colombian and not Mexican as the
‘taco’ comment would imply. That’s Bob Griese having a blonde moment. The real stupidity lies in Griese thinking it’s okay to joke about anything racial on national television.
We live in an age where political correctness rules
all. The only way you’re allowed to joke about race is if you’re making fun of
the minority group to which you belong. I am Hispanic of Mexican and Cuban descent,
and I can joke all I want about stealing the rims off your car or being proficient at building makeshift rafts. However, I won’t dare joke in public about African-Americans, Asians or any other minority groups; and
I’m not even a public figure.
Griese and all sports broadcasters who are hired
to do a job of providing analysis and insight to a game or particular matchup need to steer clear of any and all racial pitfalls.
Regardless of how funny they think a comment may be, there will always be some watchdog group ready to pounce and make a mountain
out of a mole hill comment. Griese’s gaffe was not racially insensitive. Rather, it was simply stupid. Forrest
Gump was on to something. Let’s hope Griese remembers that going forward.
Read Dan LeBatard's column on the same topic.
“No hay mal que por bien no venga.” That’s one of my mom’s favorite
phrases. Translated, it means: There is no bad from which good does not come. Now, regardless of how much it sounds like a Yoda quote, I feel it does hold true. The phrase we most commonly use is “Everything happens for a reason”. It’s a phrase that makes us feel better about a bad situation and has us seeking the proverbial silver
lining in the cloud. I believe in it whole-heartedly, but I do feel it’s often
overused. Today, I’ve been over-using that phrase in my heads for hours.
Lee and I have been trying to buy a house, quite
literally, all year. Our process began back in January when we decided to take
a stab on a house that is exactly six doors down from the home we’re currently renting.
It’s a gorgeous house with a three-car garage, open foyer area, wall-to-wall tile in the first floor, and a pool with
a hot tub. It’s almost too perfect. The
house was available as a short sale and we knew the process could be time consuming.
The principle lien holder accepted our offer and I thought we were all set. Then
the secondary lien holder wanted an adjustment to their payout amount. The first
lien holder agreed to the adjustment, the paperwork went back to be redone, and then the whole thing just died on the vine. After six weeks of ‘WTF?’ waiting, Lee
and I decided to walk and look at buying a house the old-fashioned way. What
makes it more frustrating is that lien holder one and lien holder two have since merged and are now the same bank. Thank you for that, WaMu and Chase!
We asked our Realtor to pull some listings and found
two great houses we loved. The first one got an A+ ranking. The second house received an A++. We weren’t even done seeing
the second home when we turned to our Realtor and said, “This is the house. Let’s
do it. This is the house we want.” We
were giddy like kids on Christmas Eve. The excitement was palpable and we were
already envisioning filling our home with friends and family for parties, get-togethers and cookouts. Thirty minutes later our Realtor called. Turns out the listing
agent for the A++ house is also the owner and he’d just bought the house and was trying to flip it. Well, that’s fine and dandy, except for the fact we were approved for an FHA loan and you can’t use an
FHA loan to buy a house that was purchased by someone else in the previous ninety days.
Thanks for that, non-full-disclosure listing agent and government regulations!
We took in a deep breath and exhaled.
The good news was we still had the A+ house available,
and we decided to make an offer on that one. A good friend of mine who is a home
builder came out and did the inspection and said the house was basically flawless. We
had our bank work up a new Good Faith Estimate for the property, and the sellers both accepted our offer and agreed to contribute
money towards closing costs. The home appraisal came back slightly above the
selling price, the bank underwriter formally approved our mortgage, and we were all set. Excellent!
Then came word our lender decided to run a corollary
review of the houses in the same neighborhood and some houses sold for far less than the asking price of the house we were
purchasing. Our lender decided to have a second appraisal performed and that
one came in at $15k less than the first. The inability for both us and the sellers
to make up this gap, not to mention mutual level of frustration directed at our lender, killed the deal. I can go on for pages on how I feel about the tactic employed by my lender, but I will spare you the rant. All I will say is; Thank you for that, SunTrust!
So here we are, back at square one, with no new
home and our same month-to-month lease. Lee and I have decided to take a breather
from the whole house purchase thing, regroup, and give it a go again early next year.
I am, however, surprisingly not as upset or disappointed as I thought I would be.
Yes, I was livid at first and I know I definitely burned bridges with the mortgage agent at SunTrust who was helping
us (I basically killed the messenger, but I did so in a classically and poetically written flaming email, so I don’t feel
too bad about it). Still, I know there are worse things in life, and fretting
over a house – or should I say houses – that never was is not tops on my priority list.
I know I will chalk this up as a learning experience,
and I will be more confident as a consumer when we try this again next year. I
look at the ups and downs of this roller coaster ride and I smile because I think about the many friends who lent an ear or
gave their advice and guidance through the process. I am once again reminded
of my beautiful circle for family and friends, and what a blessing it is to have them.
I remind myself to put this all into perspective. There are thousands
of individuals who will go to bed tonight on the streets because they have no home, rented, owned or otherwise. My children have a roof over their heads, my wife and I have a roof over our heads, and we’re very comfortable
– and blessed – with all we have.
To be upset about our house deal falling through
today would be silly. After all, everything happens for a reason.
