Radio hosts fired after mocking former player with ALS

Former New Orleans Saints defensive back Steve Gleason has Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. He is putting up a courageous fight while working with his Team Gleason Foundation on a cure and helping those who live with ALS.

Gleason was a guest columnist this week for Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback. He discussed his personal battle with ALS and how his family and others are supporting him. Gleason also wrote about his foundation's work and his refusal to allow ALS to defeat him.

There was nothing controversial about Gleason or his column. The controversy began when Atlanta-based sports talk radio hosts Steve "Steak" Shapiro, Nick Cellini and Chris Dimino decided to make fun of Gleason and his condition during their "Mayhem in the A.M." morning show on 790 The Zone.

Here is the full audio of the segment mocking Gleason (email subscribers click here):



Shapiro, Cellini and Dimino have all been fired by 790 The Zone and the station issued an apology addressing the behavior of its former employees and showed a good deal of humility and regret toward Steve Gleason and his family.

Case closed, right? Relative to this particular situation, the answer is yes. When speaking about the culture in sports which allows us to say and do anything we want to a rival, the issue is far from solved.

790 The Zone is the flagship station of the Atlanta Falcons. Now, the Falcons had nothing to do with this radio stunt and have come out publicly denouncing the behavior of Shapiro, Cellini and Dimino. Nonetheless, the rivalry between the Falcons and Saints is well-documented and some people take rivalries too far.

Done right, rivalries are part of what makes sports fun. Some of the best games are rivalry games. The Chicago Cubs almost always give my Cardinals a good game no matter what the records are. Chicago fans come in droves to St. Louis and vice versa. Restaurants, hotels and local attractions all benefit.

Poking fun at your rival is even OK as long as it's team-oriented, light-hearted and not personal. Mocking Steve Gleason is very personal, has nothing to do with the Saints team and ALS is terminal. So, there's nothing light-hearted about this attack.

You can't just say or do whatever you want to a rival because they wear or cheer for the other uniform. I know what some of you are thinking. What about freedom of speech? What about it? Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech. Translation: Atlanta P.D. can't arrest the hosts for what they said, but they can certainly be fired.

Moreover, the damage to their reputations may be irreparable. Rivals and enemies are not the same. Your enemy wants to get rid of you. Your rival simply wants to defeat you so the two of you can play again. Know the difference.