Bob Oschack is apparently a comic, of sorts, and until very recently worked for a Fox Sports online video series called "The College Experiment," billed as a "comedy-driven, weekly cocktail of hot co-eds, non-stop partying, sophomoric humor, and a dash of college sports."

You know how this turns out, right?

Apparently Oschack and the College Experience team thought it would be hilarious to do a piece with the premise "lame Asians at USC have funny accents and don't know anything about college football, hyuck hyuck!" You might find it funny — if you are twelve, or have a very low threshold for amusement, or think that Mickey Rooney was hilarious in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Pretty much everybody else thought it was douchey, unfunny, and really kind of insipidly racist. I share that view, even though as a matter of principle I strongly support ridiculing USC students at every opportunity.

As a result, Fox Sports apologized and cancelled the show.

All of that — asshole acts like asshole, gets treated like asshole — is banal. The backlash, as usual, will be more interesting. Let's anticipate some arguments:

1. "OMG what about Bob Oschack's free speech rights?" What about them? How are they relevant? Bob Oschack isn't being prosecuted or sued. His free speech rights aren't at issue. Rather, his private employer decided that (a) it would be bad business to be associated with his douchiness and/or (b) it was distasteful, as a matter of branding, to be associated with his douchiness, and canned him. That's Fox's right, as a matter of its own free speech and economic freedom. Just as it's not necessary to genuflect towards "my God that person is an asshole" when we defend someone from official censorship, it's not necessary to genuflect towards "naturally he can't be prosecuted for this" when we call someone out as an unfunny choad.

2. "OMG political correctness is run amok!" Oh, whatever. The sort of political correctness I care about is the kind backed by official action — like the sort of stuff FIRE documents. I really can't bring myself to care about "political correctness" in its modern, moral-weakling, watered-down sense, which seems to be "boo hoo, I can't act like a dick without people treating me like a dick." Speech is not tyranny, and only weenies think it is.

3. "OMG people don't have a sense of humor!" Meh. There's a great part in one of P.J. O'Rourke's books where he covers a dispute at a college newspaper over whether to run an advertisement by a Holocaust denier. One side argues that freedom requires it, the other argues that it's offensive. "Nobody considered whether it should be rejected because it was a piece of shit," P.J. observes. I think that "edgy" humor gets what I will, in politically-incorrect fashion, call affirmative action treatment: people get caught up in whether it's offensive or not, and what that means, without considering if it's a piece of shit whether it's offensive or not. This explains the greater part of Bill Maher's career. Here? Belabored, smirking, badly paced, badly shot. Piece of shit — even before we get to whether it's obnoxious. Which it is. Sorry, Bob.

NEWS FROM 150 YEARS AGO: "Yankees are in desperate need of leadership."

YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE to make a first impression: Sixth ranked high school shooting guard prospect turns down Duke University because "every time they sent me a letter, they wouldn’t spell my name right.”

Yesterday, Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio posted an expose on Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez's rape consensual sex with an underage a 17 year old.

So the story here is … an NFL quarterback had consensual sex? A woman had sex with an NFL quarterback? And this story is worth publishing because … the young woman very briefly thought it was a good idea to brag about it? Deadspin doesn't name the woman but they include all but her name. The NY Post steps in to connect the dots laid out so cheekily by Deadspin (her initials, hometown and a facebook screencap). Of course.

Deadspin is a site about sports but this story isn't within their jurisdiction. It isn't a story about Mark Sanchez. It isn't a story about the Jets. It is a story about how teenagers make decisions that they regret and about adults who take advantage of them.

The noteworthy adult in this story isn't Mark Sanchez; it is A.J. Daulerio.

What this is about more than anything else, it is that if you are a woman and willingly have sex, there is an asshole out there who will try to make you feel like shit about it.

You could say that E.K. asked for it when she dressed provocatively threatened to sue Deadspin to stop publication but that is just blaming the victim. Daulerio had already told her what he was going to do. And he told a 17 year old that she had to shut up and take it.

OK, they refer to him as World Free, but still. Hoopism has these very cool word clouds for each of the NBA teams featuring every player ever ranked by minutes played. It's certainly the largest font Jon Koncak's name has ever been put in.

I really enjoyed sliding through the various teams seeing strange little surprises (I had forgotten Hakeem's brief dalliance with Toronto) and people who show up prominently on several teams (Shaq in particular.) But perhaps my favorite part was going through the two teams I love (the Warriors and Celtics) and finding great little memories like any of the Warriors awful late 80s big men – Victor Alexander? Jim Petersen? The immortal Uwe Blab?

This was a lot of fun for me. Hope you enjoy it as well. And yes, I have BGGcon wrap ups coming early next week. The short answer is it was better than last year, even if most of the hot new games were not available for purchase this year.

Derek Jeter won a Gold Glove award. At shortstop. Arrrrggggh!

Derek Jeter is not even the best shortstop on his own team, much less in the AL. His range is nothing, and he actually demonstrably costs his team runs defensively.

Now, I know that Gold Gloves have as much to do with offensive stats as they do defensive ones (especially since defense is one area where advanced metrics have lagged a little) but even taking into account his offense, Jeter should not be in the top 5.

We all know that Jeter won this award (for the 5th time!) because he plays for the most famous team. But (as Bill James has pointed out) it's entirely possible that he is "the least effective defensive player at any position." His choice as the best fielding shortstop in the AL is a joke. He does not deserve it.

I love basketball. Most of all, I love good smart team basketball. It's why I loved the 80s Celtics (and grudgingly the 80s Lakers), the recent Suns teams, and many others. Basketball is a sport that has been destroyed by a superstar mentality, where one person is greater than the team. It's the reason I will never like Michael Jordan (although I certainly acknowledge his dominance). The new idea of basketball is perhaps typified by this quote from Orlando Magic Center Dwight Howard:

“They told me to grab them, but sometimes blocking a shot and sending it out of bounds shows a team it’s not going to be easy to come in the paint,” Howard said. “Grabbing it, that’s like being a showoff or something like that, even though it is kind of cool.”

What? He likes giving the other team possession? Sheesh. Has he never talked to Bill Russell. Blocking the ball out of bounds is a silly and wasteful move that doesn't really help your team that much. It's also selfish.

On a side note, the Orlando press have a really silly habit of being way too easy on Howard. The fawning is annoying. This is a bad incidence, but not nearly as bad as the ridiculous MVP votes they give him. Until Howard gets a legitimate post move, he will never be the player he should be. And the above quote shows that his attitude is following his game. Too bad really.

I work 3 blocks away from Market Street, the route of the Giants World Series Victory Parade. I have been a Giants fan since I was aware of baseball. I am thrilled that my team won it all, and excited that they have a great young nucleus. I am not excited by the idea of standing in a massive crowd (they are suggesting more than 100,000 people might line Market today) with no chance of seeing the team. I think that means I suck. At least it sort of feels that way.

So, Giants, please do not take my non-attendance at today's parade as a dip in our relationship. My love is as strong now as it was when I was watching Johnnie LeMaster butcher the shortstop position. I just don't need to stand in a crowd of 100,000 to show it.

The Giants won game 1 of the World Series last night. It's a thrill to see how excited this city is. There is Giants gear everywhere, and a buzz throughout the town. I so want my team that I have loved almost all my life to win the World Series. But, history gives me pause. Now, before I start with my sad memories, this is not some insipid Dan Shaunessy "Curse of the Bambino" Red Sox thing. I will not die sad if the Giants never win, and my love of the team does not define me. That being said…

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Jack Tatum, the best tackler in NFL history, better than Dick Butkus, better than Lawrence Taylor, has died.

Tatum will always be remembered for a freak accident, an otherwise great tackle that paralyzed New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley in a 1978 exhibition game.  I watched it as it was broadcast, and was sickened.

I appreciate football for what it is, but my enjoyment was permanently lessened after watching the Stingley tackle at the age of 10.  It made me a basketball fan for life.

I have not been interested in the LeBronapalooza this Summer. It was clear he was ditching Cleveland, the only question was how crassly he would do so (answer: almost unbelievably.) What I did find telling was Michael Jordan's comment yesterday about the whole circus: "There's no way, with hindsight, I would've ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, 'Hey, look, let's get together and play on one team…' "

Sure, things were different in the 90s, and Jordan is almost pathologically competitive, but it also showed something about LeBron's personality. Jordan, Magic, Bird didn't want to create a super team, they wanted to beat the other guy. The win was measured by who you played against. LeBron is clearly not wired that way. He wants to go play with his friends. Sort of if you can't beat them, join them sort of thing.

I partly blame the new world of hoops. All the players know each other and most have played together since they were 12 on club and shoe company teams and camps. There is no longer the sense of identity with your team, and the sense of any other team as the enemy.

I guess I would have rather seen the most superlative basketball talent playing today have the drive to dominate, instead of taking the path of least resistance. LeBron has Batman skill with a Robin mentality.

What a momentous week in sports, and I don't mean the world cup.

What I mean is that henceforth the Big Ten will have 12 teams, and the Big Twelve will have 10 teams.

I'm confusticated.

Sonofabitch!

Update: w00t!!!

Halftime: tie.  Have you seen the trailer for the new Mortal Kombat movie?  BITCHIN! I'm serious.  Lots of people make Mortal Kombat movies, and they all suck.  This one is different.  It rules.  Someone's been watching Ridley Scott.

End game:  I sort of missed it.  I had to mop the kitchen floor and clean the cat litter box.  Sure seems emotional from the footage though, especially for a tie.  American media tell me that this is the most exciting game in the world.  Why won't American sports fans agree?

I am not a big Twitter guy. It seems like an unholy magnification of the narcissism of the Facebook status. Still, every once in awhile something comes along that shows me the good that Twitter might do. But, nothing prepared me for this: SI Sports Vault.

This Twitter is the people at SI tossing up random photos from their immense archives each day. It's even better than their website, because the poster has a nice sense of photos that are topical, but still very obscure. Current favorites include this astounding shot of Manute Bol swimming and this shot of Larry Legend with his game face on.

If you are a Twitter person, this is definitely one to follow.

I wrote a while ago about Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell entering the last phase of his life. Sadly, Ernie died yesterday. I loved his voice and how he called games, in real life and in APBA Broadcast Blast. To celebrate his life, and his love of baseball I can't think of a better tribute than Harwell's Hall of Fame induction speech.

Goodbye Ernie. I'll miss you. Time to play some APBA tonight.