Many things in life come and go. Some things you miss for a little while, some you have a hard time letting go of, and the others, well you are glad they are gone. Don Imus being fired this month is something I and thousands of others never saw coming, and it is a void that will not soon be filled on the air airwaves. On Wednesday April 5th Don Imus reacted to producer Bernard Maguirk’s statement about the Rutgers Woman’s basketball players being tough hoes by saying “Those are some nappy headed hoes.” It was an off the cuff comment that was meant to get some chuckles and be forgotten, after all that is what Imus’ program has been successfully doing for years when it is not interviewing, debating or analyzing the days political, world and national news. It was definitely a poor choice of words unfortunately directed at a hard working group of female student athletes. Was Imus wrong? Definitely. Was this some pre-meditated racist rant that he came to work with that morning? No way. For all the good Don Imus has been doing for the last two decades he should have received better treatment than this. But when the bottom line is at stake the treatment of people, loyalty and appreciation seem to be forgotten about. Is Don Imus a controversial figure? Of course. That is why his show has worked for 30 years. However, when sponsors begin to get pressured by the likes of Al Sharpton, an influential leader in the African American community that their products and services will be essentially boycotted, well then you could see the writing on the wall.

Within 48 hours of the comments made by Imus it was a national news story that was receiving way too much coverage for all of the wrong reasons. Imus, to his credit took the heat right on the chin and even appeared to appear on Sharpton’s radio program. Sharpton declined to appear on Imus’ show however. What really gets me and many others here I am sure is this; unless you are very tight with Don Imus who cares what he says about you? Does it really matter? At the same time these college student athletes he insulted had no idea who he was. They were doing bigger things, like competing for a national championship. Yes, even though none of them listen to his show they were going to find out about it, but the way it was blown out of proportion and put all over every news telecast, morning show, sports network and all over the network was ridiculous.

Imus was immediately suspended for two weeks. I wonder what that conversation was like. “Don, listen, we have done some thinking and we feel the best thing to do is for you to be gone for a couple of weeks while this blows over.” I disagreed from the beginning. Both NBC and CBS knew there’d be consequences especially from sponsors; they should have had a better plan. Don Imus following the completion of his radiothon which ended up raising over a million dollars should have been put on indefinite leave of absence. During this time the networks, sponsors and communities could have gotten together and figured out a way to turn this into a positive by using Imus’ influence and ability to reach millions to assist in the way we view race and racism in this country. Not only could Imus meet with the Rutgers players and coaches which he did, he could have visited some African American communities in need and used his fund raising talents to assist them, just like he has done with other organizations like his ranch, SIDS and Fallen Heroes’. Instead of taking some heat and devising a plan that could help so many in the not so distant future NBC and CBS took the easy way out and fired Don Imus.

As much as I will miss the jokes, satire and humor of the show I have been waking up with since I was 8 years old it is the information, opinions and views in the world of politics that will prove to be what is really missing from my days.
I can honestly say I learned a lot and was able to stay in the loop in terms of what was going on in country and overseas weekly because of Imus and who he had on his show.

After Imus went off they had to plug the hole with someone immediately who could keep the listeners interested, who better then Mike and the Mad Dog. But in the morning I am generally delirious waking up for work so when you start hearing Chris Russo talking about racial issues in our country, analyzing the tragic events at Virginia Tech or talking about the NBA playoffs like he has a clue about basketball all first thing in the morning you are bound to be real confused, well at least I was. As I have been in and out of town lately the I did not realize that WFAN was going to be trying to fill the time slot with somebody else…I learned that the hard way this morning as Boomer Esiason and Chris Collingsworth were in my grill when I woke up after 7 hours of weed and Tylenol induced sleep as I am still mangled from my Vegas experience. Are you fucking kidding me?!?! Boomer and Collingsworth? Come on!!! What do people see/hear in Boomer’s media game? He knows his football no doubt, but for him to be the host during morning drive on WFAN in New York? No gonna do it. I will give Boomer props as he is a solid guest to give insight or be made fun of as well as a color commentator in the booth for an NFL game but not this, please no, not this. I am not even going to start on Collingsworth, but it is a bit odd that they are on the radio together being former teammates with the Bungles and all. Maybe I can do a pod cast with my bad ass QB one day, that’s if he and my boys don’t sell me down the river for Suzy Kolber’s Blog (which is real good by the way) I end this post with one question, what type of program and host should WFAN plug into the morning opening?