…there is no such thing as locker-room talk.

One of the sports teams I follow is the Detroit Tigers. While they haven’t done much on the field recently to make me proud, they did something off the field that did. They fired their pitching coach for making an insensitive remark to a team employee. The Tigers have a “zero tolerance” policy for such behavior. Furthermore, everyone associated with the team received sensitivity training during Spring Training and it’s written in everyone’s contract, so everyone knew the rules. When the incident was reported to the team’s general manager, he had the team’s assistant general manager and general council investigate the matter. Next, they talked to the parties involved and then acted quickly based on the information they had gathered. As Jeff Seidel, who reported on the situation in the Detroit Free Press put it, “In this day and age, there is no such thing as locker-room talk. There is no acceptable time or place to make racist remarks. It is never acceptable to make sexually suggestive remarks. It is never right to say: ‘Boys will be boys.’ And you can’t hide behind: ‘I was just joking.’ How you talk is an indication of who you are. And in making such a bold move, the Tigers are saying who they are.” The Tigers did the right thing and by doing so, “They sent a strong message and set a clear example that goes far beyond baseball.” Good for them!