The two biggest stories in the last 24 hours of sports broadcasting are the replacement of Phil Simms by the newly retired Tony Romo and the replacement of Sage Steele by Michelle Beadle. While the former’s been talked about to no end and I personally want to congratulate Tony Romo on a hell of a career, it’s the latter I’d like to discuss. Everyone’s making a big deal out of Sage Steele getting the ax but it’s for the wrong reasons. The reason it’s significant is because many of the people happy about her ousting are in the African-American community. Sage herself is biracial but she’s done some controversial things that those in the Black community are upset at.
Steele hasn’t been one of black America’s favorite people since she took African-American men to task for protesting the killings of unarmed African-American men, women and children. And let’s not forget that time people protested the Muslim ban and Steele was annoyed not because the ban was wrong but because she was mad because she was going to miss her flight.
Steele won’t be completely without work, since she will continue to appear on SportsCenter on the Road, and ESPN notes that she will have an “expanded on-site presence at events such as the Masters, World Series, Super Bowl, the College Football Playoff, and College Football National Championship.”
Let’s take a look at some of the reactions on Twitter to Sage being removed from the NBA Playoffs and you’ll get my take below:
So Sage Steele has been buck dancing and cooning for the past 2 years and STILL got replaced by a white woman. pic.twitter.com/Zb4bZeLM9T
— Ultimate Black Man Radio (@ultimateblkman) April 4, 2017
When Sage Steele and Stacey Dash see Tomi Lahren and KellyAnn Conway pic.twitter.com/TZ5aS5m8bb
— Mike C. (@MC_Proper) April 4, 2017
First time ever black ppl are happy that a black person losing their job to a white person. Bye Sage Steele. LOL pic.twitter.com/ofywh9GM0j
— Jay Anderson (@jayserius) April 4, 2017
So let’s talk about Sage Steele’s removal. It’s not because of her stance on African-American issues. It’s because she’s just not that good of an NBA person. Steele lacks solid interviewing skills. Her knowledge of the game is elementary at best and frankly she just doesn’t bring anything to the table. When I see Steele doing any NBA game it’s just open air. I don’t even realize she’s there. THAT’s the reason I hope she got canned from the gig. Beadle’s 100 times smarter about basketball and she knows how to interact with players and coaches. While it’s correct to be “happy” that Steele is being replaced, being happy because of her comments on African Americans and the Muslim Ban are NOT the right reasons to rejoice in her firing. Those are reasons to be annoyed at her as a person, not an NBA “analyst.” Just my two cents.
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