Seriously? “Chink the armor” is now unacceptable because it upsets oversensitive racial vigilantes? Ugh. Makes me want to start a grassroots group of literate Asian armorers calling ourselves Chinks Who Actually Think. (Bonus points if we spawn a Chicks for Chinks fan club)
In this context, where it was chosen because Lin is Asian? Yes.
At one time the Guardian used to routinely headline any article about China as “Chinks In The Bamboo Curtain” until one author complained that his very serious article was being debased with this sort of trivialisation.
Is that an unfounded accusation or did the author admit to intentionally doing that?
I’ve not heard of an admission that it was intentional, but I don’t believe for a moment that it wasn’t.
I don’t think it matters. Someone who writes “chink in the armor” as a headline about an Asian athlete, then tries to profess all wide-eyed innocence that “I didn’t mean anything by it!” when confronted with charges of racism is being deliberately obtuse, I think. Any reasonable person would see how that could easily be offensive to others even when it’s not offending anyone in the office.
It’s weird that this got by so many people, even for a business that likes its sayings and catch-phrases as much as ESPN.
Perhaps it’s better to say “in spite of a business that likes its sayings”. Unless ESPN had previously used “Chink in the Armor” as an innocuous phrase before, the fact that they like wordplay and catch-phrases makes it more likely that someone would catch this, not less.
A clear example of yellow journalism.
I believe an ESPN anchor was suspended for 30 for use of the phrase. He apparently could point to the fact that he’d used the phrase innocuously in the past so he was only suspended, not fired as the headline writer was.
I don’t think it was poor reporting as much as it was that the paper didn’t want to repeat the phrase.
That’s a pretty stupid thing to do, however.
“Something happened, today, but we’re not saying what, because we’re afraid people will accuse us of condoning it. Just take our word for it that it"s newsworthy. No, trust us. It is. The people we’re reporting on were bad and deserve your scorn. We just won’t tell you why, so you won’t feel the same about us.”
I disagree; IMO the phrase “chink in the armor” is a perfectly valid, common phrase and this whole thing is blown out of proportion.
Heck, I’m Asian myself and as much as I abhor genuine racism, this seems more like an exploited opportunity for other news organizations to lambast one of their own for the sake of sensationalism.
I saw what you did there 
The fired editor was interviewed today:
You know what’s really racist? Forcing somebody to lose their job for using a innocuous part of the English language, thereby ensuring that there’s now a class of otherwise-useful phrases that can no longer be used with certain racial groups in popular media, further segregating a language that’s supposed to shared by all. Time to invent drab new idioms :rolleyes:
Agreed. I can’t wait for someone to protest Prestige Brands’ ‘Spic and Span’ cleaning products because they really should call it ‘Hispanic and Span’ 
Stupid is a good reason to fire someone. If you’re too stupid to do your job, you get canned
I think this is more a case of his bosses caving to the stupid and sacrificing him for PR. “Oh no, dear readers, we’ve offended your delicate sensibilities! Allow us to appease you with an equally thoughtless, hasty firing.” A chink in the armor is a hole in one’s defenses, not a put-down for people of Asian heritage. Idling on stupidity likes this takes time and media coverage away from real racial issues.
Who you callin’ a Span? You racist!
Nah… the race card players know which battles to fight. They’ll save their cards for when playing them will be most effective.