In Defense of Matt Vasgersian: That Guy DOES Look Like Donovan McNabb

It's unnecessary to speculate about the various base motives that could be behind the collective finger-wagging that the sports blogosphere bestowed on MLB Network talking head Matt Vasgersian yesterday to understand that Vasgersian was treated unfairly.

In case you missed it: Rockies outfielder Brad Hawpe was hit in the neck by an errant pick-off throw, which caused paramedics, out of an apparent excess of caution, to put a neck brace on him and cart him off the field. When the broadcast cut from the clip of the injury back to the studio, Vasgersian asked the producers to re-run the tape to jokingly point out that one of the EMT's looked like Eagles QB Donovan McNabb. His studio co-hosts, Billy Ripken and Mitch Williams, expressed their disapproval with a round of, "dude . . . dude . . . what's wrong with you?", and his producer reminded him in his earpiece, "[y]ou know we're live, right?"

The reaction of Vasgersian's co-hosts is certainly understandable given that his joke, coming in the wake of what might* have been a rather serious injury, was probably poorly timed. But others have noisily accused Vasgersian of something much worse than bad comic timing.

The guys at KSK sermonize that "the whole 'this black person looks like a well-known black person' is kind of played out – if it was ever funny to begin with," thus, at least implicitly, accusing Vasgersian of racism.

Along the same lines, The Sports Hernia Blog accuses Vasgersian of "clearly being a fan" of "the obvious 'all black guys look the same' theme and makes a reference to the black fraternity, Lamda Lamda Lamda, from Revenge of the Nerds.

Josh Alper of NBC's local LA affiliate gets on the pulpit too, scolding Vasgersian to "leave comedy to the professionals," and advising that "if you do choose the inappropriate moment to make a joke, please try and make it a remotely funny one. 'This black guy looks exactly like this other black guy' isn't ever that joke."

Even Deadspin's Dashiell Bennet hints at racism by noting in parentheses that the EMT "looks nothing like Donovan McNabb" (see the comments re: Vasgersian's racism that the post inspired).

But here's the problem: The guy actually does look at least something like Donovan McNabb. He might even look a lot like Donovan McNabb, depending on who you ask.

Go ahead and fast forward to the 22-second mark in the above video and pause it. Now look here:

We can think of countless black guys that this EMT does not look anything like, and will make a list for you if you want to accuse us of believing that all black guys look alike, but we're pretty sure that this guy bears more than a passing resemblance to McNabb. And it's not just his eyes, nose, and mouth as they're arranged on his head. Vasgersian's joke could have been just as easily prompted by the EMT's black do-rag (a headpiece also often worn by McNabb on gameday), his facial hair (which appears to be cut exactly like McNabb frequently cuts his), and/or his double chin (see, for example, "The Athlete" page here, or see here).

It's one thing to suggest that all blacks look alike. But this isn't that. This is Vasgersian pointing out that a guy who probably does look like Donovan McNabb, looks like Donovan McNabb, maybe even to make fun of McNabb's increasingly portly profile. But NBC's Alper says "this black guy looks exactly like this other black guy," could never be funny at such a moment. KSK goes so far as to question whether such a joke could ever be funny at all. But why the qualifier, guys? What does "black" have to do with it? Because -- and this can't be news to anyone -- a lot of people find lookalikes to be amusing. This is why you can probably find a columnist in every major newspaper who uses them as a regular feature. Shucks, maybe you even find it amusing when two non-celebrities look alike -- like maybe your cousin and your buddy from the track. We sure do. The closer the resemblance, the funnier it is. If they were both wearing the same do-rag and had the same moustache, we might think it was EXTRA-funny.

But the funny police of the sports blogosphere say no go on this one. So please, folks, make sure you keep your rules straight. It's fine, even encouraged, to make all manner of derogatory jokes about homosexuals, but pointing out that two black men look alike is in obvious poor taste, even when they actually do look alike. So it's back to Byzantium for all of us.

These folks owe Vasgersian an apology.

*Also, the injury didn't even look that bad on TV, and it turns out that Hawpe only suffered a bruise (a 'contusion' is the fancy way of saying it, not a 'concussion' as Bennet reported on Deadspin). The ball was thrown (from really far away), not batted or pitched from the mound, and Hawpe was moving in the same direction as the ball when it hit him. Plus he looked like he was moving around just fine after he was hit.

UPDATE: Vasgersian apologizes, but not for racism.

UPDATE: Indisputable photographic evidence here.