Jalen Rose: ESPN Analyst Was Right on Point About Rob Gronkowski

Jalen Rose landed in hot water for making a racially insensitive comment this morning. Again.

Last year, Rose was scrutinized for accusing Duke University of only recruiting "Uncle Toms" in the ESPN documentary, "The Fab Five." He eventually had to issue an apology to anybody who may have been offended.

On Thursday, Rose went on Mike and Mike in the Morning and got to talking about New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who is in the public spotlight this week for his partying antics after the Patriots lost the Super Bowl.

Per Pro Football Talk, Rose said about Gronk, “Forgive this term because I didn’t make it up: He was having a good time. He was white boy wasted. He was having a good time."

The key phrase, of course, is "white boy wasted," a phrase that doesn't sound good to anybody who is in the dark about what it means.

Somebody must have whispered that in Rose's ear during a commercial break, because he eventually issued this apology:

"

“You guys got me in trouble. Earlier in today’s show we were talking about the Patriots’ post-game party and I made some comments that other people—some people—took as insensitive remarks, so for those that took it that way I definitely apologize. Pretty sure I always say things that upset people, get under people’s skin. I guess today was no different. So I’m sorry for the pushback.”

"

PFT's Michael David Smith notes that both Rose and Mike Golic were laughing while Rose was issuing this apology.

In case you're not familiar with the term, "white boy wasted" is loosely defined to mean "really, really drunk." The video evidence and all the various reports suggest that, yes, Gronk was enhancing his night out with a few adult beverages. He was well south of sober.

Is "white boy wasted" a racially insensitive term? It's close, but my honest opinion is that it's not. There are far, far more insensitive words and expressions than this one.

And let's not kid ourselves. From what we can tell, Gronk was indeed white boy wasted that night. Rose called it like he saw it, and he settled on a phrase that was perfectly appropriate.

If it had been a white man who said it, we're probably not talking about anybody issuing an apology. In fact, we're probably not talking about this at all.

But because Rose is a black man who has a history of making racially insensitive comments, somebody figured that some people out there might be offended.

I'm a white guy, and I wasn't offended. Rose told it like it was, and he had the truth of it.

He shouldn't have to apologize for that.