If you don’t live in the state of Indiana or follow the National Football League closely, you’re missing quite a show right now.   The last few seasons have been anything but noteworthy for the hometown Indianapolis Colts, which means the storylines have been lacking for the cadre of sports writers in Indy.  And even though the return of star quarterback Andrew Luck has generated some buzz, local sports media recently got their hands on a story that they can really sink their teeth into.  After all, it gives them the opportunity to wax self-righteous about their first passion: progressive politics.

What happened?  Legendary Colts play-by-play announcer Bob Lamey was anticipating the start of his 32^nd season.  Then last Tuesday, it all blew up.  After an interview at Colts camp last week, Lamey was talking privately to a radio employee, recounting a story from earlier in his career.  In the course of the story, Lamey quoted a man who had used the “N-word.”  The radio employee described what happened next:

He was like, 'Oh I'm so so sorry. I'm so sorry if you're offended by this. I didn't mean to offend anyone' and I was like 'I'm black and I wouldn't ever say that word' and sort of just told him how it hurt me and how I don't think he should say it ever, even if he's telling a story," the radio employee said. "Then once he saw my face and realized he had messed up he had started really like profusely apologizing saying 'Please don't tell anybody.' When I left he said it again, 'Please don't tell anybody. Don't mention this to anyone'. I think he was apologizing so much because he knows it's wrong and he knows that people lose their jobs for that."

And of course that’s what the radio employee ensured would happen.  She filed a complaint with her human resources department, who then contacted the Colts organization to take action.  Shortly thereafter, Lamey abruptly retired.  But that wasn’t enough for the hurt radio employee.  Once she saw that the Colts honored and thanked Lamey publicly for his years of service, she decided everyone needed to know how awful of a person he is.

Enter the social justice warriors of the Indy Sports Media brigade.  And they didn’t disappoint.  Leading the charge, per usual, was IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel.  Doing his best Keith Olbermann, Doyel managed to not just trample self-righteously on Lamey’s grave, but indict the entire Indianapolis Colts franchise for being racists.  You think I’m joking:

The Colts tried to celebrate Bob Lamey. They announced his “retirement” not his dismissal, and they did it in glowing language for a man who is gone after using gutter language.  “Bob Lamey is a legend and icon,” Colts owner Jim Irsay said in the team’s release honoring Lamey’s departure. “(His) name is synonymous with Indianapolis Colts football.”  Yeah, Jim, maybe it is…

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Makes me wonder, and I’ve always wondered, about a relatively small story from 2016. Remember when the Colts played the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Oct. 2? Remember that day, when a Colts defensive back knelt for the second week, this time on national television, the franchise’s first player to join the growing list of NFL players kneeling for the anthem?  Remember his name? Antonio Cromartie.  He was released Oct. 4.  Two days later.

Granted, Cromartie was a bad football player who had a bad game in London. But he’d been bad for weeks, been bad since he arrived as a free agent, and he hadn’t merely stayed on roster but played as a starter. Kneeling for the anthem, as players have been doing since 2016 for the sole purpose of protesting racial inequality? No more starting for you, Cromartie. Oh, the bench is too good for you as well.  Now you’re gone.

Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Until this very day, this very story – this Bob Lamey nonsense – I was willing to chalk up Cromartie’s dismissal to coincidence. Now, you don’t know. Now, like Cromartie's wife back in 2016, you have to wonder.

Yes, you’re reading that right.  A long-time Colts legend quotes a bad word privately, the incident becomes public, and the Colts quickly move to cut ties while thanking him for his years of service.  From that, Doyel concludes and shamelessly implies that the team’s ownership hates black people. 

For those not privileged enough to read his regular offerings, make no mistake, Doyel will be able to squeeze another 5 or 6 columns out of this story.  It’s what social justice warriors do – they find someone to destroy and trash them relentlessly.  No mercy.  No forgiveness.  No understanding.  They aren’t content with someone losing their job and their reputation.  They will make a mockery of them, squeeze every last bit of dignity and respect the person once had from them, and feel self-righteous in the process. 

What Bob Lamey said was obviously, objectively wrong, regardless of whether he was quoting someone or not.  It’s an offensive word that has no place in dignified conversation, and his mistake has cost him dearly.

Doyel and company’s cheap-shot journalism is also obviously, objectively wrong.  Reporting is one thing, dragging a disgraced man through the mud and using his professional carcass to hurl conspiracy theories of institutional racism at an entire organization because it gets you clicks is quite another.

Bob Lamey has apologized profusely for his sins.  Don’t expect Gregg to do the same for his.