So where does everyone stand on the Cubs' Mark Grace dilemma?
Or were you unaware the Cubs had a Mark Grace dilemma in the first place?
With things changing by the hour during baseball's pandemic season, it's easy to overlook some of the off-the-field developments unrelated to the COVID-19 crisis, like an announcer calling his ex-wife a "dingbat" during a broadcast as Grace did during Saturday's Cubs-Brewers telecast on Marquee Sports Network.
"My ex-wife, I'm going to go Archie Bunker a little bit _ I called her the dingbat," Grace said during a conversation with announcers Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies before repeating the nickname a couple more times in case no one heard him.
Grace apologized in a statement after some initial social media outrage, and a source said the network told him he would be "off" for his next five scheduled appearances but not fired.
A Marquee spokesman Monday declined comment on Grace, instead just re-sending Grace's apology.
Marquee Sports Network is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and the Cubs, so Grace's future really is Chairman Tom Ricketts' decision _ not the network's alone.
For years, Grace was in Cubbie exile after a rancorous exit as a player. But that feud mostly was due to his verbal battles with Tribune Co. ownership and former executive Andy MacPhail. It was a stormy era.
That relationship thawed over the years, MacPhail is long gone and Ricketts approved Grace's hiring by the network, opening up a new chapter in the ex-Cub's broadcast career.
I'm not sure five games would serve as a fair disciplinary measure, or merely act as a slap on the wrist until this all blows over. Your view may depend on your opinion of the word "dingbat," which honestly I hadn't heard since the 70's which also was the last time I heard anyone say "Sock it to me" or "Dy-no-mite."
Suffice it to say, this is not a good time for the Cubs to have to deal with a Mark Grace dilemma.
There's a lot going on in the world and Cubs players are COVID-19 free and off to a good start (well, until the "dingbat" comment). Grace's status as a 1990s-era fan favorite surely would factor in on the forgiveness-o-meter, right?
It wouldn't be out of the question to believe Grace's apology _ in which he called the remarks "offensive and inappropriate" _ along with a brief ban from Cubs broadcasts could be considered appropriate punishment.
Or maybe not.
The #MeToo movement has been going on long enough for Grace to know what is and is not appropriate to say on the air, even if it's still swirling around in his head. Some humor that may have worked during his former life as an Arizona Diamondbacks TV analyst no longer is acceptable. But he apparently couldn't contain himself in an effort to provide a "funny" anecdote about his ex-wife parking in Commissioner Bud Selig's spot.
Perhaps Grace was lulled into a false sense of security by watching NBA analyst Doris Burke diss her ex-husband during an early game in the bubble. But Burke made herself part of the joke, saying: "I do like being right. Ask my ex-husband." It was the laugh out loud moment we all needed.
Grace's shot at his ex landed with a thud, and now the Cubs' new TV venture is in the spotlight. In his defense, he was hired as one of the 500 or so third wheels in the TV booth with one mission statement _ Grace was told to be Grace.
And Grace was being Grace, until he messed up.
To believe Marquee expected anything else is ludicrous, much like when NBC hired outspoken former Blackhawks star Jeremy Roenick as a hockey commentator. NBC was forced to get rid of Roenick last year for inappropriate comments he made on a podcast while trying to be funny.
Like NBC, the Cubs and Marquee are in a delicate spot. What do they do now?
Should they simply cut the cord and go back to the original "Len and JD Show"?
Make Grace serve his penance this week and ask him to tone it down when he comes back?
Wait to see how Cubs fans react when he does return, and then act accordingly?
Double down and bring Grace in for every game?
So many options, and such a short season.
I attempted to get Kasper's views on the subject, but the network declined to approve my interview request. Normally I would barge into the TV booth, take out my tape recorder and start asking him questions, but this is a new era and a sign on the booth says to stay out.
When told to stay out, I generally stay out, though admittedly I have barged in on Pat Hughes and Ron Coomer this year while wearing a mask and socially distancing.
Old habits die hard.
For what it's worth, the reaction on Twitter has been heavily in favor of ditching Grace _ and the three-man concept _ and just sticking with Kasper and Deshaies on the broadcast like the pre-pandemic days.
That's probably not fair to Ryan Dempster, who didn't do anything to deserve losing his job as part-time third wheel. Dempster would survive, of course. He already has his own talk show on Marquee and other jobs with MLB Network and the Cubs as Theo Epstein's special assistant. Last weekend he was seen moonlighting as a Wrigley Field ballhawk, where he caught a ball while on his bike on the corner of Kenmore and Waveland Avenues. He'll get by if the Cubs go back to a two-man booth.
Maybe a "back to the future" plan is what Ricketts _ and Marquee _ need to do.
People are looking for normalcy during these abnormal times, and a Cubs game with just Len and JD sounds about as normal as it gets.
