In the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Beleaguered [baseball] talk-show host Larry Krueger has lost his job at KNBR -- and two other station employees also were fired late Tuesday night.

Longtime program director Bob Agnew and Tony Rhein, the producer of KNBR's morning show, were let go by the station...

On "Sportsphone 680" last Wednesday night, Krueger made reference to the [San Francisco] Giants' "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly." That led to Krueger getting a suspension that was due to end this Monday.

Giants manager Felipe Alou refused to accept an apology from Krueger. Alou appeared on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" program Monday night and called Krueger "this messenger of Satan, as I call this guy now. ... And I believe there is no forgiveness for Satan."

On Tuesday morning, KNBR aired Alou's sound bite from "Outside the Lines" and then parodied it with Satan references from the Comedy Central show "South Park."

That apparently was the impetus for Rhein's dismissal -- and might have had something to do with the termination of Agnew, who had been with KNBR since 1989.

"The segment, featuring inappropriate comedy sound bites," [KNBR executive] Salvadore wrote in the statement, "demonstrated an utter lack of regard for the sensitivity of the issues involved and a premeditated intent to ridicule Felipe Alou's commentary."

So, the next time somebody calls you a "messenger of Satan," don't laugh. Be sensitive ... Be very sensitive.

This is all a by-product of the Barry Bonds steroid scandal. The Giants are imploding this season because Bonds, who four years ago, in his late thirties, suddenly became the most awesome hitter in the history of baseball, has been claiming to be injured all year to avoid winding up busted like steroid-cheat Rafael Palmeiro.

But don't feel sorry for St. Felipe. Alou took the Giants' managerial job in 2003 knowing perfectly well that Bonds was juiced to the max. With Bonds posting absurd statistics, Alou looked like a managerial genius, winning 100 games in 2003 and 91 in 2004. But this year, with no Bonds, they are on track to win only 69, and Alou has to resort to playing the race card, literally demonizing his media critics, and having them fired.

Alou may well have known that his meal ticket was a racist creep as well. Retired slugger Rick Kittle asked Bonds to sign some jerseys for a charity event. According to Kittle, Bonds replied, "I don't sign for white people."

Bonds denounced Kittle's story, saying, "I was married to a woman who was white, so let's get real." I believe that was his Swedish ex-wife. He tried to have his child support payments to her reduced during the 1994 baseball strike, even though he'd made $4.5 million the previous season.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer