During Saturday's Kansas State-Florida college basketball matchup, Wildcats guard Angel Rodriguez picked up a foul that ESPN analyst Fran Franchilla thought wasn't a great call. After discussion of the play, play by play man Mitch Holthus made a reference to Rodriguez's "Puerto Rican temper" in relation to his play on the court. It just so happens that Rodriguez is the player who was the target of "where's your green card?" chants from members of the Southern Miss band this past March.

It's misguided to blame Rodriguez's temper on his nationality as opposed to anything else in his life. "Latin fire" is one of those consistent stereotypes that tends to show up in all sports. If Rodriguez's name was something like Frank Smith, I'm sure there would have been no mention of his temper in relation to his nationality. To his credit, Holthus backpedaled after the game on Twitter.

But given as much negative press as ESPN has got in the last week due to these kinds of stereotypes, you'd think everyone in sports would be a bit more careful.

[H/T Deadspin]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.

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