There's A Job Opening At ESPN.....

Because somebody just got fired for this (nice sleuthing AA). So apparently ESPN's new college basketball commercial idea is to have fans from different teams calling people to try and convince them to watch more college hoops. Not that outlandish, right? Well take a look at what the casting director wanted for some of these students (full list here):

[ LOUISVILLE ]
MALE. Louisville is very true to place. He's short. He's HISPANIC. And one day he hopes to carry on in proud Louisville tradition and race thoroughbreds.

[ VILLANOVA ]
MALE. Villanova is the poor man's Duke — he's not quite as handsome, he's not quite as rich, he's not quite as dapper. After 2 or 3 beers though, who cares? As he's friendly enough.

[ NOTRE DAME ]
MALE He's an ASIAN kid who is in to all things Notre Dame, ridiculously so. Oh, and he's always fighting. Every time we encounter him he always has some words or another, be it the faint traces of a black eye, or a scab or whatever. He epitomizes the fightin' Irish.

[ MARQUETTE ]
FEMALE. Marquette, on a scale of 1-10, she's a six. A B-, C in every category you can define a person by. Her defining characteristic is you don't really remember her. You're not breaking your arm to get to her, but you're not chewing it off to get away. She does have a winning personality though. Midwest, sweet girl.

[ MEMPHIS ]
MALE. What can we say about Memphis? He's a southern BLACK kid, really culinary and polite. He's artistic, and draws comic books really well.

[ ILLINOIS ]
MALE. African-American. Young Obama. Think Toofer-the straight-laced, Harvard grad write r from 30 Rock (Keith Powell)

I don't like commenting too much on political, social, or racial issues (basically, if it doesn't involve a basketball, consider me completely void of opinion), but the last two I have posted here are, well, ridiculous. Is there a difference between a black kid and an african-american kid? Black kids draw comic books and african-american kids run for president?

I don't know enough about the entertainment industry to know if this is typical or not, but based on the release ESPN had, I don't think it is.

Our marketing department just learned of this casting call today and the campaign is not something we will pursue. The language and approach reflected in that document were not approved by us and in no way represent ESPN or the respect we have for the college community.

It seems like there was some miscommunication here and something got lost in the shuffle. Or at least I hope there was.