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Football With a Dash of Jewish Stereotyping

N.F.L commentator makes ‘Jews are cheap’ joke during preseason game

by
Stephanie Butnick
August 26, 2014
Vance McDonald of the San Francisco 49ers scores a touchdown against the San Diego Chargers during a preseason game on August 24, 2014 in Santa Clara, California. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Vance McDonald of the San Francisco 49ers scores a touchdown against the San Diego Chargers during a preseason game on August 24, 2014 in Santa Clara, California. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Football fans listening to a radio broadcast of Sunday’s preseason game between the San Diego Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers got more than the usual color commentary in the final minutes of the game. Deadspin reports that when Chargers play-by-play announcer Josh Lewin commented on how many attendees had left San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium before the game was over, noting the expensive preseason ticket prices, longtime San Diego Chargers radio analyst Hank Bauer responded, naturally, with a Jewish joke.

Here’s how it went.

Lewin: There’s a personal seat license you gotta pay for, and I’d sit in it for a long time. A lot of these fans used that seat for about an hour today.

Bauer: But then again, you know how copper wire was invented. Someone dropped a penny between Josh and his family member.

Lewin: Okay, alright. We’ve got, let’s see, 30 seconds, mercifully, remaining in this game.

Bauer: I say that respectfully and endearingly, my partner.

Lewin: Love you too, buddy.

Classy stuff, Bauer. You can listen to the audio here.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.