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During his playing days as a utility man, Steve Lyons was nicknamed "Psycho." He was a comedian who once pulled down his pants on the infield during a game to shake out the dirt. Lyons was a popular teammate in Boston, Chicago (White Sox), Atlanta and Montreal and a well thought of broadcaster with Fox and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Not a bad life for a kid from the Pacific Northwest. Until he opened his big mouth once too often and screwed it all up. The Steve Lyons story isn't really about political correctness, racism or anti-Semitism. It's simply about a guy who has no governor on his supposed sense of humor. Lyons never figured out that he's not a baseball player anymore. That the comments you make and get away with in a clubhouse aren't acceptable and certainly aren't overlooked when making them to the general public or on the public airwaves. Especially when you keep making stupid, insensitive comments again and again.  Lyons Forgot that he is no longer a player...now he's no longer a member of the FOX broadcast team. When Lyons made the stereotypical statement about Lou Piniella, a Latino, stealing his wallet and not wanting to sit next to Piniella anymore, it elicited laughter from Piniella himself. After all, it was the new Chicago Cubs manager who had started the wallet-talk while referring to A's shortstop Marco Scutaro and his luck during the playoffs. But while Lyons was, in all likelihood, not malicious in his words, why did he decide to make fun of Piniella's use of the Spanish language while describing Scutaro's situation? And take it a step further with his Piniella-wallet comments? Why? Because he hasn't grown away from the surrealistic world that takes place behind the door of a baseball clubhouse. Having spent much of my adult life in baseball clubhouses, it's a place where anything goes. Jokes about your looks, wife, girlfriend, mother, sister, whatever, are all acceptable. And even encouraged. It's a place where grown men get to be kids on an ongoing basis. I can't put into print many of the barbs that have been directed to me by various major leaguers, nor my responses to them. But it was all in fun, and it was done in a situation where it was actually the norm. And it was – and still is – a lot of fun to get ragged on in a clubhouse, and feel free to toss a funny, lewd comment right back. It's a world not many are allowed into, and I'm very lucky that I've had the type of relationship with many teams which allowed me into that inner sanctum. However, one of the rules of membership in that exclusive club is that what's said stays inside those walls. Even Lyons would tell you that. Which is why it's even more baffling to think that Lyons keeps trying to bring clubhouse humor to the airwaves. No, it's not the first time he's stuck his cleat in his mouth. The first time occurred in 2004, when then-Dodger Shawn Green, was debating his playing status on Yom Kippur, the high holiday of the Jewish faith. The Dodgers were in the heat of a pennant race and Green, a sensitive sort, was deciding whether he should play in the game that day. He didn't want to let down his team, but he also wanted to show respect for his religion. He ultimately decided not to play, and Lyons decided he needed to chastise Green. He went on the air and basically claimed that Green wasn't "really" a Jew, he didn't marry a Jewish woman, and that he didn't practice the religion, so what was the big deal? Lyons intimated that he should have played. Well, as you might expect, there was a major uproar, and Fox ended up suspending Lyons for the statements. Now, had Lyons made those comments in the clubhouse, to Green, it probably would have drawn a chuckle from Green and others, and that would have been that. No offense taken. But Lyons, for some reason, wasn't capable of checking himself before wrecking himself, realizing what is cool in a clubhouse isn't necessarily cool in the eyes and ears of the public. So, he paid the price and you would have thought learned a valuable lesson. But as we've seen, logic has no place in Steve Lyons' broadcasting life. Isn't it logical to think that after the Green fiasco, Lyons would stay away from any questionable religious or racial comments while on the air? Apparently not, because his Piniella "hablaing Espanol" and wallet-stealing remarks offended many and cost him his $350,000 a year job with Fox. His other employer, the Dodgers, have kept him on, providing he attends a diversity training course, which he says he'll happily do. Again, I'm not saying Lyons is a racist or an anti-Semite. I don't know him well enough to make that determination. But what I will say is that he's not a clear thinker. He needs to realize the broadcast booth is not the clubhouse, where anything goes. Joe McDonnell is an award-winning radio talk show host and investigative reporter. You can reach him at
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