ESPN still unable to craft non-raycess headlines about Asian American athletes

Douglas Lee Mar 1, 2012 1:47 PM

ESPN’s Hines Ward "Happy Endings" Headline Is A Rorschach Test For Racists, Perverts Everywhere
deadspin.com

Did you read ESPN.com’s story about Hines Ward being cut by the Steelers, the only team he’s known for 14 seasons? Did you see that their headline was “No Happy Endings,” because Ward loves Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh loves Ward and it’s sad that it had to end this way?

Sigh. There's a whole lot that can be written about Hines Ward and his achievements as a football player before getting into his ethnicity. Unfortunately, the Worldwide Leader does not seem to think so.

Matt Yoder and Christmas Ape offer their takes.

Doug is IAOFM’s resident newsman and spelling czar. Follow him on Twitter @IAOFM

IAOFM has never set out to be all things PC. The Lin and Ward cases just strike a certain chord with me, for obvious reasons.

As for Hillis, we all heard/read for quite some time that the guy was so hard working and such a good guy, traits he likely never would have been proclaimed to have possessed were he a black man. Ours is a commentary on that unfounded praise, not on him actually being white.

Posted by Douglas Lee on 2012-03-02 06:15:00

That's the point, BRASO - the TV show has nothing to do with Asians. The defense of "Chink in the armor" was exactly the same, and held just as little water.

There are countless headlines ESPN could have chosen for Hines Ward that don't even come close to pointing to his race.

As Stu points out...
http://www.urbandictionary.com...

Posted by Douglas Lee on 2012-03-02 06:10:42

The difference here is that ESPN hasn't been spamming nothing but Ward puns at us for his entire career

Posted by Eric Bockoven on 2012-03-01 19:48:47

Definitely a reach here on if the writer intentionally or even negligently made a racially inflammatory headline. Furthermore, if IAOFM is going to be all things-PC, it should apologize for all of the mockery of Peyton Hillis for being a white running back.

Posted by RSH, Esq. on 2012-03-01 18:06:14

i'm still lost... have no idea how that is racial

Posted by J on 2012-03-01 17:52:12

tunesmith While this headline is not the kind of clear example of racial insensitivity that the "Chink in the Armor" headline was, please don't conflate inferring dubious intent with practicing actual racism. They're two very different things.

Posted by Claudezilla on 2012-03-01 17:43:32

I agree - this strikes me as one of those examples as where the act of interpreting it that way displays more racism than the headline itself does.

Posted by tunesmith on 2012-03-01 17:20:10

Check out the three entries for Happy Ending on Urban Dictionary. Yep...all three in some way mention asians. It's not that other places *couldn't* provide a happy ending, just that the stereotype is most closely associated with asians. THAT is why the headline was taken down.

Hugely offensive? Probably not. Stupid as hell (especially after the "Chink in the Armor" headline)? Um, yes.

Posted by Stu Kilzer on 2012-03-01 17:01:23

I think people are being hyper sensitive to the subject matter. There is also TV show called Happy Endings, that has nothing to do with "happy endings" or Asians.

And I had no clue "happy endings" were only for Asian massage parlors, I think you can get a "happy ending" at Russian, Latin, and American massage parlors also. I really think people just look for excuses nowadays to whine and cry foul.

Posted by BRASO on 2012-03-01 16:26:19

Ridiculous...we live in an overtly sensitive society. I am no fan of ESPN but come on...if you try really hard you can make anything a racial thing. Everybody needs to loosen up.

Posted by HavanaBronco on 2012-03-01 16:18:11

Because Whitlock works for Fox, who treats this kind of stuff lightly.

Posted by Claudezilla on 2012-03-01 15:22:54

This isn't the worst thing I've heard...but yeah, after the whole "Chink in the Armor" thing, this is something that should have been caught. I doubt either writer was openly hostile, but you HAVE to catch stuff like this.

As for why it's a racial issue: when you hear "Happy Ending" in the context of a massage, the person you think of as performing said ending is (almost certainly) asian. That is the stereotype. If you didn't think the masseuse was asian...then actually, kudos for avoiding sources that would implant that stereotype!

Posted by Stu Kilzer on 2012-03-01 15:17:02

Happy Endings is an Asian thing? What?

I guess I could see it as being a massage therapist thing, but what's the link? Is he wanting a second career as a massage therapist or something? And it's not like most massage therapists are Asian or anything...

Posted by tunesmith on 2012-03-01 14:47:56

Maybe the writer is as ignorant as I am. What does Happy Endings have to do with Asians?

Posted by sleepyteak on 2012-03-01 14:40:57

So will this headline writer apologize and then get fired, just as was the case with the one who wrote the headline regarding Jeremy Lin?

And not that I'm excusing either headline writer, but... why is it ESPN headlines writers lose their jobs over a situation in which they simply say "I wasn't thinking when I wrote it" when Jason Whitlock, who absolutely knew what he was doing with his Jeremy Lin tweet, still keeps his job?

Posted by Bob on 2012-03-01 14:24:30

ESPN should proofread better, but perhaps we as readers are reading too much into what probably was an innocent enough headline to begin with. It was a mistake, but I guess I choose to believe the best in people that it was an ignorant mistake and not an intentional one.

Posted by RockyMtnThunder on 2012-03-01 14:01:27

ESPN still unable to craft non-raycess headlines about Asian American athletes

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ESPN still unable to craft non-raycess headlines about Asian American athletes

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