Sports Radio Host Fired For Disgusting Comments On The WNBA (AUDIO)

(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Mark Lye won’t be making terrible comments on women’s sports anytime soon after it caused him to lose his job.

The former PGA Tour Pro appeared on SiriusXM’s “The Scorecard,” where he started talking about how the LPGA is better than it was 10 years ago, but made a terrible choice when he compared it to the WNBA by saying watching women’s basketball made him want to shoot himself.

“You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago,” Lye said. “You couldn’t pay me to watch, you really couldn’t. Because I just, I couldn’t relate at all.”

“It’s kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player — and I’m not trashing anybody — please, don’t take it the wrong way — but I saw some highlights of ladies basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I’ll shoot myself than watch that.”

“You know, I love watching the men’s basketball. I love watching the men’s golf. I never used to like watching ladies’ golf. But I will tell you this. I’ve been up close watching these ladies play because I used to have a big function every year called the Lucas Cup and I’d have LPGA players and PGA Tour players.”

His co-host interjected: “Good luck getting some WNBA stars to come play for you.”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Lye said. “I’m off their list. I’m sorry about that.”

Mark Lye apologized on Twitter, but ultimately defended his message by stating his comments did not make him sexist.

“The fact that I can’t relate to WNBA does not make me sexist in any way,” he wrote. “All you haters should listen to the whole segment, where I completely glorified womens golf, which I love to cover. Thanks for listening.”

Calling people ‘haters’ after what he said is a wild response and shows that he learned absolutely nothing from what he said and why it was a problem.

Ex-PGA Tour golfer Mark Lye fired by SiriusXM after sexist comments about WNBA

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Former PGA Tour golfer Mark Lye was fired by SiriusXM Radio after he made sexist comments about the WNBA and women’s basketball during a show on PGA Tour Radio on Saturday.

Lye, who was hosting “The Scorecard” on SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Radio on Saturday, started slamming women’s basketball while talking about the LPGA. Watching women’s basketball, he said, would make him want to shoot himself.

 

“You know the LPGA Tour, to me, is a completely different Tour than it was 10 years ago,” Lye said on the show, via Golf.com. “You couldn’t pay me to watch. You really couldn’t. Because I couldn’t relate at all. It’s kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player — and I’m not trashing anybody, please don’t take it the wrong way — but I saw some highlights of ladies’ basketball.

“Man, is there a gun in the house? I’ll shoot myself [before] I watch that.”

Lye then tried to defend himself on Twitter, and somehow claimed that his comments didn’t “make me a sexist in any way.”

The 69-year-old has replied to several people on Twitter on Tuesday, too, continuing to try to defend himself.

Lye confirmed to Golf.com on Sunday that he was fired almost instantly.

“I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA, which I apologized for starting the next segment,” he said.

Lye made over 500 starts in his Tour career from 1977-95, and claimed his only win at the Bank of Boston Classic in 1983. He had 41 top-10 finishes in his career, and later played on the PGA Tour Champions from 2003-08. Lye spent nearly two decades working as an analyst for the Golf Channel after his playing career, too.

Mark Lye speaks on SiriusXM PGA Tour radio

Mark Lye was fired by SiriusXM’s PGA Tour radio on Saturday after his comments about the WNBA. (Gerardo Mora/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Analysis: Why the Florida Panthers will win the Stanley Cup Final

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Panthers are in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time. The first two, well, didn’t go as planned.

Swept by Colorado in 1996. Beaten in five games by Vegas last year.

This trip feels different. The Panthers are a different team than they were a year ago; certainly healthier, certainly better for the experience of getting to the final and falling short. They have had to beat three extremely good teams to get here — a state rival in Tampa Bay, a real contender in Boston, a Presidents’ Trophy winner in the New York Rangers.

Here’s why the Panthers will beat the Edmonton Oilers and win the Stanley Cup:

Forwards

The Oilers are loaded up front. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have combined to win four of the last seven MVP awards (three by McDavid), and those two players have more points than any other player since McDavid entered the league.

But the edge Florida has here is depth. There are 14 forwards in this Cup final with more than 45 points this season, including playoffs. The Panthers have eight of them. The Oilers lost 24 of the 35 games this season when neither McDavid nor Draisaitl has scored a goal. Florida seems to have more balance, meaning it’s not all on Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov or Sam Reinhart to carry the load.

And the Panthers would argue this with anyone: Barkov has been the best two-way player in these playoffs.

Defense

Gustav Forsling got an eight-year, $46 million extension this season. It looks like an absolute steal. The Panthers believe he’s the best defenseman in the league in a corps that already had Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, plus added depth in Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Dmitry Kulikov.

Florida might be thought of as a high-octane team. But the reality is, the Panthers have given up a league-low 2.39 goals per game this season. Plus, the Panthers know how to slam the door: They’re an NHL-best 42-0-3 when leading after two periods this season, including playoffs.

Goaltending

There may not be a more beloved active athlete in South Florida at this very moment than Sergei Bobrovsky, who has outdueled three incredible goalies to get back to the Cup final.

Bob — he’s just Bob at this time of year — led Florida past Andrei Vasilevskiy and Tampa Bay in Round 1, Jeremy Swayman and Boston in Round 2, and Igor Shesterkin and the New York Rangers in Round 3.

Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner has been great, for certain. But Bob has been a wall, with no signs of slowing down.

Coaching

Let’s put Paul Maurice’s work in his two Florida seasons into perspective. He has won 25 playoff games with the Panthers. That matches the total of all other Panthers coaches in the first 28 seasons of franchise history — combined.

Maurice has waited forever for his first Cup. The Panthers weren’t healthy enough by the final round to give him a real shot last year. This team is determined to get his name etched on the greatest chalice in sports.

Intangibles

Playoff games, by nature, are close contests. The attention to detail is off the charts, the buy-in for the tough moments — blocking shots, digging pucks out of corners, delivering the right hit at the right time — is ramped up well beyond regular-season levels.

Florida is 17-5 in one-goal games the last two postseasons, the best winning percentage in the NHL in that span. There will be uncomfortable moments in this series, but the Panthers seem very comfortable when games are super tight.

The Pick

The Panthers are slight favorites, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, and why not? South Florida has seen the Marlins win it all twice, the Dolphins win it all twice and the Heat win it all three times. Welcome to the party, Stanley. Panthers in 7.