XPost: rec.sport.football.college, alt.politics.democrats, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: terry.mcauliffe.the.lying.coward@vademocrats.org   
      
   An announcer by any other name would announce just as sweet.   
      
   In what is sure to be a controversial decision, ESPN has decided   
   to pull college football announcer Robert Lee from covering a   
   Virginia football game this season due to the simple fact his   
   name is Robert Lee, the network announced on Tuesday. Outkick   
   the Coverage's Clay Travis was the first to report the   
   questionable decision.   
      
   Lee, of course, shares the same name as former Confederate   
   general Robert E. Lee. Despite this Lee, who is Asian-American,   
   sharing no heritage to the former military leader of the   
   Confederacy, ESPN reportedly believes the fact they share the   
   same name is grounds enough to remove him from covering the   
   Virginia-William & Mary football game this season.   
      
   ESPN announced in a statement they came to an agreement with Lee   
   to make the switch in the wake of the events in Charlottesville,   
   where a white nationalist plowed his car into a crowd of people,   
   killing one and injuring 19 others.   
      
   "We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games   
   as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply   
   because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt   
   right to all parties. It's a shame that this is even a topic of   
   conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a   
   football game has become an issue."   
      
   Lee is now assigned to work Youngstown State at Pittsburgh on   
   Sept. 2, airing on ACC Network, according to Sports Illustrated.   
      
   An ESPN executive reportedly later explained the decision   
   stemmed from the network wanting to avoid Leee being "subjected   
   to memes and jokes."   
      
   White nationalists originally gathered in Charlottesville on   
   Aug. 12. to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee.   
   The large group of white nationalists marched with torches and   
   chanted racial and anti-Semitic slurs before being confronted by   
   a group of counter-protesters. James Alex Fields Jr., who was   
   photographed marching with a group of white nationalists, then   
   allegedly drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters,   
   killing Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal.   
      
   While Lee has refrained from commenting on the issue on Twitter,   
   longtime ESPN sports anchor Bob Ley jokingly questoined if he   
   too should be worried. Ley's first name is, of course, short for   
   Robert.   
      
   http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/espn-pulls-announcer-   
   robert-lee-covering-virginia-football-article-1.3434079   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)