Sports Redux: The Cornbread Has Cooled

Cedric "Cornbread" Maxwell, Celtics basketball announcer and breakfast-lover, apologized publicly last night for saying female NBA referee Violet Palmer needed to "go back to the kitchen."

Maxwell stepped up and said he was sorry. He didn't get all whiny about it. However, Maxwell's defenders seem to be the whiny ones.

WBZ' Chuck McKenney felt the need to do the whining for Maxwell. He heard the tape, and he wrote, "The comment was nothing like it was portrayed in [the Herald and at Universal Hub]." He follows up with, "This is just further proof you can't joke about anything anymore without possibly offending someone." (imagine violins in the background - wah, wah, wah)

If Maxwell said it as a joke, fine and dandy. No one ever said he should be fired. Universal Hub never said he should be fired. But apparently neither Maxwell nor his partner Grande provided enough context, which is why the joke was misconstrued. Context is key in comedy, right? Maxwell's doing the right thing by apologizing and forgetting about it.

Maxwell's overzealous defenders need to forget about it, and we will, too. Let's clear the cornbread off the plate, shall we, and move on to the subjects that we put on the back burner. The Bruins got in a trade before the deadline and sent Brad Boyes and Paul Mara out in exchange for New York Ranger Aaron Ward and St. Louis Blue Dennis Wideman. The moves are designed to beef up the Bruins defense, and Ward might be a good-luck charm since he won the Stanley Cup.

In the spring training season opener in Fort Myers, the Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins with Curt Schilling pitching. Even if he's on the heavy side, "all belly and backside" as the Herald's Steve Buckley put it (is it really that bad?), he was fine. The Red Sox tied the Twins 4-4 in the first game, so the Mayor's Cup could belong to either team.

And, what do you know? The Celtics won another game, defeating the New York Knicks 102 to 94! Paul Pierce, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson enjoyed big points, and Knick Stephon Marbury looked awfully crabby after the game. And Wally Szczerbiak is out for good for the season because he's having ankle surgery. Hardly a surprise. It could be a good thing or a bad thing. At least now Doc Rivers doesn't have to worry about playing Szczerbiak to justify the money Szczerbiak is making, so the news might be liberating.

Image of cornbread from Flickr user plasticrevolver.