'Terrorist' gaffe merely the latest foot-in-mouth commentary slip

Is Dean Jones' "terrorist" gaffe the worst ever by a sports commentator?

There have been plenty of other ugly, irresponsible lines uttered by the men and women with the microphones - but, given the current global climate, Jones' insensitive reference to bearded South African batsman Hashim Amla must come close to taking the biscuit.

"The terrorist has got another wicket," is the line which will forever haunt the brash Victorian.

He made the comment after Amla, a devout Muslim, had taken a catch during Sri Lanka's second innings chase for victory over the South Africans in Colombo this week.

Jones made his remark when he thought viewers were watching advertisements, which means he broke the golden rule of the commentary box: assume nothing.

Certainly Sri Lankan viewers were watching ads, but not back in South Africa, where the comment was heard live, loud and clear.

It's cost Jones his US$2000-a-day ($3235) job with Dubai-based television company Ten Sports and made his chances of getting another gig behind the mike remote.

The most recent example of ugly foot-in-mouth came from former Manchester United manager Ron Atkinson.

Watching replayed highlights after Chelsea had lost 3-1 to Monaco in a Champions League semifinal in April 2004, Big Ron, seeing Chelsea's black French defender Marcel Desailly on screen, uttered his career-ending observation that "he [Desailly] is what is known in some schools as a ******* lazy thick nigger".

Next day, Atkinson, having been summarily red-carded by ITV, described it as "a moment of stupidity".

Jones' mea culpa was remarkably similar: "It was a stupid, ridiculous, off-the-wall comment that unfortunately was picked up in the background."

Which begs the question: was the unfortunate part that he made the comment or that it was "picked up"?

Some other ignominious blunders which make you wonder: "He/she said what???" include:

* Marge Schott, eccentric owner of the Cincinnati Reds baseball franchise, described two of her players in 1996 as "my million-dollar niggers"; and had this view of Adolf Hitler: "Everybody knows he was good at the beginning but just went too far."

* American golfer Fuzzy Zoeller to a CNN reporter after Tiger Woods had won the 1997 Masters, referring to the ritual of a winner choosing the menu for the following year's Augusta champions dinner: "You pat him on the back and say congratulations and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year, or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve."

* Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder, an American football analyst best known for his gambling: "During the slave period, the slave owner would breed his big black with his big woman so that he would have a big black kid. That's where it all started." It happened to be Martin Luther King's birthday. Snyder got the boot and his media career came to an abrupt halt.

* Baseball's most infamous gaffe came from Al Campanis, a longtime LA Dodgers official. No black baseballer had become a general manager or senior executive when Campanis said in 1987: "[Blacks] may not have some of the necessities to be, let's say, a field manager, or perhaps a general manager." He was fired two days later. It was 40 years to the day that Jackie Robinson had become the first black Major League player.

* Not forgetting bombastic Tony Greig's crass remark as the camera drifted across to the cathedral over the road from Adelaide Oval and a wedding involving an Asian woman and Caucasian man: "Do you think she's been flown in?"

Top Doh! moments

Sometimes, commentators' bloopers raise a chuckle ...

* Ron Atkinson, right, during his managerial days, was asked to comment on a referee who'd had a poor game. "I never comment on referees and I'm not going to break the habit of a lifetime for that prat."

* David Coleman, one of the British commentary legends, who breathlessly called Briton David Hemery's 400m hurdles gold medal run at the Mexico Olympics in 1968. Coleman said he only noticed who crossed first and second. "Who cares who came third?" he roared. Third was another Brit, John Sherwood.

* Former Yankee baseballer-turned commentator Phil 'Scooter' Rizzuto was in the box at Yankee Stadium when news came through that Pope Paul VI had just died. "Well," said Scooter, "that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankee win".

* And finally, because it's too good to leave out, Washington Redskins Superbowl-winning quarterback Joe Theisman headed for the commentary booth after his career ended. His most famous boo-boo? "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."