Video: Penguins Announcer Stan Savran Makes Ignorant “I Can’t Breathe” Joke

Dec 13, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Nick Foligno (71) controls the puck as Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi (4) trails the play during the second period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

Penguins’ TV analyst Stan Savran made a very ill advised attempt at at an “I can’t breath joke” during intermission of the Pens-Blue Jackets game and later apologized on Twitter

Being a hockey analyst on TV cannot be an easy job. An analyst must be very knowledgeable about the game, be able to think quickly, and be interesting. Boring analysts and TV personalities don’t tend to last long. Jokes can spice up a broadcast and make it interesting. However, death isn’t funny. Stan Savran is a seasoned vet and should have known better.

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Stan Savran, a Penguins TV analyst for ROOT, was discussing how the Penguins were being suffocated by the by the Columbus Blue Jackets and said that the Penguins need to wear “those I can’t breath t-shirts.”

The “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts are about the death of Eric Garner in July where he told the officer that had him in a choke-hold, “I can’t breathe.” This is an unfortunate and tragic death, no doubt. My thoughts go out to Garner and his family.

Stan Savran made a mistake. It was ignorant, stupid, thoughtless, ill-advised, and a bad idea, but it was a mistake. He absolutely should NOT have used such a tragic event to make a joke about a hockey game. He was immediately remorseful about it and went to twitter to own up to and apologize for his mistake:

I don’t believe that the was trying to instigate, belittle the situation, or even make lite of Eric Garner’s death. What I think Stan Savran was doing was trying to point out how well the Blue Jackets defense was playing and used a current topic inappropriately in trying to illustrate his point.

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I think everyone, at some point or another, has made in ignorant statement but the difference between us and Stan Savran is that Stan Savran’s comments can be heard and seen by millions of people. Ours usually don’t.

In my eyes, Stan Savran made a very insensitive mistake, one that will likely cost him a suspension. He did an extremely poor job of trying to inject humor into the broadcast, but admitted to the mistake, apologized, expressed remorse, and asked for forgiveness. Let’s accept his apology and move on.