This week’s winners and losers

This has been one of those weeks that news editors love. There is not a shortage of hot stories and everything is guaranteed to increase rack sales (a newspaper term for newspaper purchases) and ratings.

You’ve had Don Imus being suspended and fired in a period of a few days following his stupid comments last week. You’ve had the Duke lacrosse case finally being thrown out by North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper. You’ve had Durham DA Mike Nifong apologize for his actions, and the lacrosse players all but saying too little, too late.

You still have the fallout from the Duke lacrosse case coming down tomorrow with Nifong to go before the North Carolina State Bar to seek a dismissal of his case. Don’t forget more fallout from Imus’ firing.

So who are the winners and losers from the week that was. Here are my thoughts:

Winners

David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann - The three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape, sexual assault, and other charges were vindicated this week when Cooper dropped the charges. However, do they really have their life back? That year will never be able to be given back to the three. One thing to keep an eye on is if Duke pays for the players’ legal fees (they should) and if there are any civil suits filed against Nifong.

Alberto Gonzales - With all the talk this week on Imus and the Duke lacrosse case, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gets a free pass from media scrutiny, well somewhat, from the scandal involving the firing of federal prosecutors. This is pretty much halftime in this political hot potato.

Kevin Durant - One year at Texas results in Player of the Year honors. Durant has announced his intent to head to the NBA where he will get paid … big time, both in guarantee contracts as well as in endorsements.

Zach Johnson - The normal guy from Iowa stared down Tiger Woods and won, winning the Masters Sunday for his first major and only his second tournament victory ever. Major props for confessing his love for Christ during the postgame. As I’ve said, you have to love it when someone keeps their focus on Christ and on what matters the most even when winning their profession’s biggest honor.

The losers:

Mike Nifong - The Durham DA will likely be out of a job soon mostly for his actions in the Duke lacrosse case. When the state’s chief prosecutors call you “rogue” it doesn’t bode well for your chances in ethics cases.

Don Imus - First suspended. Then canceled. Then fired. It’s been a long week for Imus. The sad thing is that it came during his annual charity radiothon. Chances are once the controversy dies down if Imus wants to work again in radio he’ll find a job.

LPGA - Word came down today that Anika Sorenstam will be out for at least a month with a ruptured disc. Without Sorenstam in the field, why watch women’s golf?

Cleveland Indians - No one hates snow more than the Indians. Well, maybe the groundcrew that have to work to improve the field in Cleveland.

Was firing Don Imus the right thing to do?

Today, CBS made the announcement that probably many had expected for the past week - it had decided to fire shock jock Don Imus after his out-of-line comments last week regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team. This comes after MSNBC had already opted to no longer simulcast Imus’ radio show and after both had agreed to a two-week suspension.

I have a lot of thoughts on the firing, many dealing with Freedom of Speech, the overreaction of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well as the media. However, I’ll let Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star do my speaking for me. He has written a great article looking at the full spectrum of this controversy that has reached new levels today.

Here is the Kansas City Star article where Whitlock says:

The bigots win again. While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

It’s worth the read as others have suggested throughout the day.