American Notes RACE

CBS Sports Commentator and Oddsmaker Jimmy ("the Greek") Snyder, 70, who makes his living in front of television cameras, likes to talk. Last week he should have refrained. In a Washington restaurant, when a television interviewer asked for a Martin Luther King holiday report on black progress, the gravel-voiced Snyder gushed, "The black ((athletic)) talent is beautiful." Then he elaborated: "The black is a better athlete to begin with because he's been bred to be that way . . . because of his high thighs and big thighs that goes up into his back." He went on: "This goes back all the way to the Civil War, when . . . the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid." In sports, the Greek declared, "there isn't much left for the white guys anymore."

After local viewers telephoned their anger, Snyder offered "full, heartfelt apologies." CBS first condemned his remarks as "reprehensible" and then, on Saturday, announced it was ending its twelve-year relationship with the Greek.