540MINUTES

By Richard Sandomir

Tony Kornheiser angered some fans on “Monday Night Football” when he made light of a Spanish-language broadcaster’s call during the Cowboys-Eagles game.

ESPN was celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, and Kornheiser, Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski were listening to a replay of the ESPN Deportes announcer Alvaro Martin’s description of Felix Jones’s 98-yard kickoff return that put the Cowboys ahead, 13-6.

“I took high school Spanish,” Kornheiser said, “and that either means ‘nobody is going to touch him’ or ‘could you pick up my dry cleaning in the morning?’ ”

The words did not target a particular person or an egregious stereotype (don’t we ask our spouses to pick up the dry cleaning?), which separated it from much-worse comments by other sportscasters. It was, however, a silly aside that was ill-chosen and provided firm evidence of Kornheiser’s hazy recall of his Spanish lessons.

The Story Behind Kornheiser’s Apology....