Thanks, Steve Lyons!

Well, it's pretty easy to bash Steve Lyons in lieu of his dismissal from FOX over the weekend for "inappropriate" comments. I mean, the guy just wasn't that good of a baseball analyst. (And he'll always be the guy who pulled down his pants at first base in Tiger Stadium to me.) Plus, he's not nearly as funny as he thinks he is, which I think is a particularly annoying sin for anyone who works in sports or entertainment.

But I'm feeling pretty indebted to the guy this week. I've been getting a lot of hits from people looking for something on the story - what he said, what he may have said about Lou Pinella, etc. On a whim, I checked my stats, knowing that Sunday's almost always a slow day, and was astounded to see numbers that usually means I was "Deadspun."

And that couldn't have been the case, unless there was a surge of Friday Night Lights watchers or Shaun Bodiford fans flooding Google. And it was only then that I realized what had happened. Type in "Lyons" and "Pinella" on a search and this lil' blog pops up rather prominently. Luck of the Ian.

Sure, I noticed that Lyons wasn't in the booth Saturday evening. But I couldn't be absolutely sure who was or wasn't talking, as I watched 3/4 of the game in a bar. As unusual as replacing a broadcaster during a playoff series would be, I just hoped figured FOX had somehow come to its senses. Or that Lyons had some kind of emergency that took him away from the game.

Like Deadspin and Salon's King Kaufman, however, I'm a bit baffled by this - mostly because I just don't really get what Lyons was trying to say. At the time, I just thought, "What the hell is he talking about?" (Another ill-fated attempt to be funny, I guess.) I suppose I can see - especially with the remarks in print - why someone might get a little skittish about Lyons (who has a history of idiotic comments) inching close to anything racially insensitive. But he was just making a dumb joke about his broadcast partner. It's not like he was Al Campanis on Nightline.

But that's not even worth getting into anymore. The point is Steve Lyons has been unwittingly good to Sweaty Men Endeavors, and I'm grateful. Hello to all of you who have stopped by over the past couple of days. I hope you've found something enjoyable to read.