I love Mike and don't care about his race/ethnicity but it is interesting...

(07-18-2017 02:46 PM)memphistiger89 Wrote:  

From the neck up, that looks like a bird of prey!!!!

so no one wants to address that these are comments from 1991 that he has long since recanted on?

y'all leave him alone....he's a golf announcer now.....

it doesn't come any whiter than that.....

I still don't have a clue why he's in the booth (nor does anyone else), but yeah, we really do....

it makes him white daMmit.....stop messin' with the tom-toms....

(07-18-2017 06:31 PM)Crebman Wrote:  

(07-18-2017 02:46 PM)memphistiger89 Wrote:  

From the neck up, that looks like a bird of prey!!!!

A gene splicing experiment gone wrong.

(07-18-2017 05:55 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  It's possible, especially if he's from southern Italy or Sicily where there's been a strong Moorish/North African presence since the 11th century. While my grandfather was a blond hair-blue eyed Sicilian , which is not uncommon, me and 2 of my brothers all have typical Mediterranean appearances - olive skin, dark hair and dark eyes but another brother is also blond hair-blue eyed. Anyway, Tirico could have a recessive gene lurking around in his family wood pile that gives him an African look while not being strictly African.

Anyone else remember this Classic scene from True Romance

[video=youtube]http://https://youtu.be/S3yon2GyoiM[/video]

Who cares? He seems to be a fine man who excels at his job.

(07-18-2017 07:38 PM)usmbacker Wrote:  Who cares? He seems to be a fine man who excels at his job.

agree (I'll throw up later). I think he's the best in the business right now.

(07-18-2017 04:16 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  Next you'll be telling me that Al Michaels doesn't wear a hairpiece.

No. Neither does our president.

(07-18-2017 07:33 PM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(07-18-2017 05:55 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  It's possible, especially if he's from southern Italy or Sicily where there's been a strong Moorish/North African presence since the 11th century. While my grandfather was a blond hair-blue eyed Sicilian , which is not uncommon, me and 2 of my brothers all have typical Mediterranean appearances - olive skin, dark hair and dark eyes but another brother is also blond hair-blue eyed. Anyway, Tirico could have a recessive gene lurking around in his family wood pile that gives him an African look while not being strictly African.

Anyone else remember this Classic scene from True Romance

[video=youtube]http://https://youtu.be/S3yon2GyoiM[/video]

Its true that Sicilians tend to be less Italian than pan-mediteranean. However, the whole black African thing has been a misnomer since they started emigrating to the US in the 1880's.

As far as Sicilians go, from the DNA breakdown it is mostly greek and Phoenician (originally from Lebanon). The Phoenician DNA was based out of Carthage in North Africa. Berber as well (the Arab not the carpet). Sicily still has very strong ties to the Arabs in its culture since it was an Arab territory for 200 years until the Vikings/Normans came along and added their own spice to the stew (which is where the blond hair and blue eyes kicking around in the gene pool largely come from - Viking/Norse based out of Norman France). The Normans let the Arabs stay after the 10 year conquest because they were much of the skilled labor on the island. There is a very small smattering of black African in the DNA like there is in most every heterogenous population, but DNA studies are pretty clear...the scene in True Romance is hogwash. Its mostly based in anti-Italian bigotry perpetrated by the Irish and Germans who were a wave of immigrants in New York earlier than the Italians.

The Moops!!

(07-18-2017 09:29 PM)South Carolina Duke Wrote:  The Moops!!

It had to be at least a decade ago when Tirico, during a football broadcast, made some very negative remarks about Rush Limbaugh. My personal feelings for Limbaugh aside (not a fan), it bothers me to no end to hear someone paid to discuss sports that chooses to dive into partisan politics. He lost my attention forever that evening, I see no happy marriage between those that announce sporting events and those that discuss politics. Just do your damned job and shut up on topics for which you are not paid.

(07-18-2017 09:59 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote:  It had to be at least a decade ago when Tirico, during a football broadcast, made some very negative remarks about Rush Limbaugh. My personal feelings for Limbaugh aside (not a fan), it bothers me to no end to hear someone paid to discuss sports that chooses to dive into partisan politics. He lost my attention forever that evening, I see no happy marriage between those that announce sporting events and those that discuss politics. Just do your damned job and shut up on topics for which you are not paid.

Wasn't Rush also with ESPN at the time?

I forget, and recall wondering why his comments were not scrutinized more greatly when they were uttered. There was some controversy from Rush, and Tirico made the comment about "why would anyone listen to what that guy says?" Not sure of the employment status of either, but it was an immediate disqualifier to me. Lord knows, had enough of Olbermann at that point.

(07-18-2017 11:07 PM)ODUsmitty Wrote:  I forget, and recall wondering why his comments were not scrutinized more greatly when they were uttered. There was some controversy from Rush, and Tirico made the comment about "why would anyone listen to what that guy says?" Not sure of the employment status of either, but it was an immediate disqualifier to me. Lord knows, had enough of Olbermann at that point.

Looking back at it, it was during an Eagles game in 06 or 07. The statement was about things that were said about the Eagles and Donovan McNabb. Freddie Mitchell said that McNabb was more of a friend to the front office than the locker room. Then he mentioned that time when Limbaugh was on ESPN and said that McNabb was never as good as advertised and was only still playing regularly because he was a black QB.

So Tirico was mentioning things really relevant to the Eagles, including the Limbaugh statement.

Nomad,

I understand that now. Thank you for forcing me to search the event, as I did not fully understand the context of why Tirico made those comments, only that those comments seemed at the time to be way out of the scope of a football game.

(07-18-2017 05:55 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  It's possible, especially if he's from southern Italy or Sicily where there's been a strong Moorish/North African presence since the 11th century. While my grandfather was a blond hair-blue eyed Sicilian , which is not uncommon, me and 2 of my brothers all have typical Mediterranean appearances - olive skin, dark hair and dark eyes but another brother is also blond hair-blue eyed. Anyway, Tirico could have a recessive gene lurking around in his family wood pile that gives him an African look while not being strictly African.

This is the correct answer, all joking aside.