We get exactly what we ask for in local sports talk radio.

Josh Innes is an idiot in an industry almost entirely staffed by idiots.

Because of this, and because he bosses pay and encourage him to be even more idiotic, I'm not really sure why people are up in arms regarding his "racial slur"?

For the three years that Innes plied his trade in Houston, I listened to his show a handful of times. As I've stated many times before "Bro" radio does not interest me.  But I would listen in after a big sports news story to see what people had to say.

First, Innes knows next to nothing about sports.  And I don't mean that in a disparaging manner it's just true.  Innes is the drunk frat kid standing around griping that the team "should throw the ball more".  His shtick in Houston was limited to making disparaging comments about the University of Houston and then acting surprised when the alumni called in and were angry.

Josh Innes is the inevitable result of dumbing down your product.  He also draws huge listener numbers because, on a whole, the entirety of the sports talk market is pretty dumb.

We are, talking about "fans" here, and "fan" is short for "fanatic".  If you consider yourself a fan of any team then you have a problem.  It's OK to root for teams, to pull for teams, to want them to win. But as a self-described fan of a team you are admitting that you throw logic to the wind and cheer for them unquestioningly.  Fans are why Bob McNair has been allowed to run the Texans as a profit center rather than a championship contender. It's why players are given a pass for criminal activity and why Greg Hardy is currently playing for the Dallas Cowboys.  Fans exist only to defend the indefensible and provide sports franchises with a steady diet of money.

And it's the fan that Innes was talking to when he called Travis Kelce a "house slave". It was the fan base that he guessed, correctly in most cases I'm sure, was angry at the Eagles for basically firing Andy Reid, and then hiring his protégé 3 years later in what is the ultimate of "Ooops" moves by a team.

To his credit, Innes knew this, and he did exactly what he was paid to do. He said something that has brought his radio show Nationwide attention.  Even his non-apology "apology" is designed to have the ultimate effect:

"I'm the dumbest human being on the planet," Innes said. "I apologize for that, I truly do. I'm an idiot ... I see people are making fun of me across the country, and you should be, because I'm stupid."

Here's the rub:  Innes really doesn't think he's stupid. He knows that what he said was controversial and that it will generate outrage. He also knows that, by writing an apology that basically apologizes for being stupid (and not for making the racist comment FWIW) he can turn the news story away from his racist ramblings, on directly onto himself. In fact, he's becoming the news here.

That's better publicity for Innes than any news scoop or interview could ever become.

Innes isn't sorry that he said those things, nor does he have any remorse for them. In fact, he's probably going to be laughing about it all the way to the bank.  The ONLY way he could face any consequences is if the sponsors of his show get cold feet and start pulling out.  Absent that, he's doing and acting exactly how his bosses expect him to.


And the fans are all buying right into it.