ESPN's removal of Robert Lee from the Virginia-William & Mary football telecast next month, which led to a barrage of negative coverage, was done to avoid negative media coverage.
Prior to Tuesday, Robert Lee was best known as the radio and TV play-by-play voice of the Siena College (Loudonville, N.Y.) men's basketball program. Now he finds himself at the center of a major sports controversy after he was removed from broadcasting a football game in Charlottesville, Va., because of the similarity of his name to Confederate Civil War general Robert E. Lee.
Callum Borchers, a columnist with The Washington Post, contends that if Robert Lee would have been allowed to remain as the broadcaster of the Virginia-William & Mary game, there would have been no controversy.
"The level of interest in University of Virginia football is, to put it gently, pretty low," Borchers wrote. "The Cavaliers posted a 2-10 record last season and are projected to finish last in their division this fall.
"On a typical game day in Charlottesville, there are more than 20,000 empty seats at Scott Stadium.
"These are probably some of the reasons that Virginia's home opener Sept. 2 isn't even televised but rather is relegated to an online channel called ACC Network Extra, which viewers can access on the ESPN app.
"Here's where I'm going: Hardly anyone would have noticed or cared if the play-by-play announcer for Virginia vs. William & Mary was a guy who happens to be named Robert Lee. ... Yet ESPN felt compelled to reassign Lee, to avoid a controversy that almost certainly would not have materialized."
Lee has been reassigned to call Youngstown State at Pittsburgh on ESPN3 on the same day.
"No biggie until someone leaked it to embarrass us," an ESPN public relations spokesman said. "They got their way. That's what happened. No politically correct efforts. No race issues. Just trying to be supportive of a young guy who felt it best to avoid the potential zoo."
"Even if you believe ESPN on face here about protecting a broadcaster, it's still a self-inflicted wound and a decision made out of fear of negative press," wrote Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated. "The company would have been far better served with Lee doing the game and dealing with the one-day fallout of jokes and snickers."
More ESPN
ESPN's Brian Windhorst is relentless when it comes to covering the Cleveland Cavaliers, but even he has his limits when he's on vacation.
Tuesday night as the Cavs and Boston Celtics were close to making a blockbuster deal, Windhorst sent out two tweets.
The first: "Cavs and Celtics on verge of a deal: Kyrie Irving for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and 2018 Nets pick unprotected, sources say"
The second: "I'm in Rome, it's 1:30 a.m. and my wife may be considering divorce. I leave analysis of Cavs-Celtics trade to my able colleagues. Good night"
Sports quiz
What is Siena College's nickname and mascot?
Sports answer
The nickname is Saints; the mascot is a Saint Bernard named "Bernie."
Sports on 08/24/2017