Well, last night I heard the words I’ve been waiting weeks to hear:

“Sanjaya, you…..are going home.”

After weeks of agonizingly horrible performances (I still have nightmares of his rendition of “Stepping Out With My Baby”), America’s favorite whipping boy, Sanjaya Malakar, was finally voted off of American Idol last night. The AI producers have to be breathing a sigh of relief this morning: the show’s legitimacy as a commercial juggernaut would have been seriously compromised if Malakar had won the show. I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy, but as Simon Cowell reminds us each week, the show is a singing competition. Sorry, Sanjaya, you just ain’t got the pipes.

Seriously, any of Idol’s remaining contestants could win and I’d be happy that we avoided the worst case scenario. I guess votefortheworst.com will have to endorse Chris Richardson now. Enjoy it while it lasts, Nasal Boy.
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Amid all the media coverage marking the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s historic feat of breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, I’m afraid the actions of another great African-American ball player might be overlooked. Larry Doby broke the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians. From Wikipedia:

During the 1997 season, when the long-departed Jackie Robinson’s number 42 was being retired throughout baseball, and the still-living Larry Doby was being virtually ignored by the media, an editorial in Sports Illustrated pointed out that Doby had to suffer the same indignities that Robinson did, and with nowhere near the media attention and implicit support. More pointedly, in The Great American Baseball Card Book, the writers included a picture of Doby’s baseball card and said that being the second black ballplayer was, in the minds of the press, akin to being “the second man to invent the telephone”.

Nevertheless, Doby was a great player in his own regard. Just as importantly, Doby became the 2nd African-American manager in the major leagues in 1978. He was voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Commitee in 1998. As we remember Robinson’s legacy, we would be remiss if we also did not honor Doby’s contributions to the game of baseball and American culture.