ESPN editor fired for writing offensive Jeremy Lin headline says ‘I’m so sorry if I offended Jeremy. This was an honest mistake’

Let the record show that the first real casualty of Linsanity was Anthony Federico, editor for ESPN.com, who was fired on Sunday for a very unfortunate headline choice: “Chink in the armor.” Federico said today that the headline about Knicks guard Jeremy Lin was not meant to be a racial slur; and in fact that meaning never crossed his mind.

“This had nothing to do with me being cute or punny,” Anthony Federico told the New York Daily News. “I’m so sorry that I offended people. I’m so sorry if I offended Jeremy.”

The headline — “Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin’s 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streak-stopping Loss to Hornets” — appeared on ESPN’s mobile website at 2:30 a.m. on Saturday and was removed by 3:05 a.m.

Battling to contain a furor, the sports network fired Federico and suspended anchor Max Bretos for 30 days because it turned out he had used the same expression on the air last week. ESPN offered profuse mea culpas and promised to be “better in the future.”

Federico called Lin one of his heroes – not just because he’s a big Knicks fan, but because he feels a kinship with a fellow “outspoken Christian.”

“My faith is my life,” he said. “I’d love to tell Jeremy what happened and explain that this was an honest mistake.”

For his part, Lin said he has forgiven the two.

“They’ve apologized, and so from my end, I don’t care anymore,” Lin said on Sunday. “You have to learn to forgive, and I don’t even think that was intentional.”

Bretos, too, said he didn’t think of the slur Wednesday when he asked Knicks legend Walt (Clyde) Frazier about Lin on the air.

“If there is a chink in the armor, where can he improve his game?” Bretos asked.

Both of these cases involved “unforced errors,” to put it in basketball lingo. Both were unfortunate mistakes, IMHO: with no malicious intent. But as to whether ESPN should have fired the two? That’s above my pay grade. What I will say is that having been someone who’s worked the late-night online sports desk, I know that you don’t have the advantage of a lot of other eyes double checking your work at that hour. When you’re writing headlines and editing copy at 2:30 a.m., you’re kind of on an island, and if you make a mistake you won’t get rescued for hours. All the more reason to be careful, I guess.

Meanwhile, Rex Chapman has a little different approach to the general reaction to his recent tweet about Lin. Chapman, the former University of Kentucky guard who played 12 seasons in the NBA, tweeted this on Sunday:

@rexchapman
I say JR is such a great pick-up 4 the #Lins only because he’s been playing the past 6-mo’s in China. So easy now 4 him to recognize his PG.

J.R. Smith, who played in China during the NBA lockout, made his debut for the Knicks on Sunday.

User @Mars_Pow tweeted to Chapman, whose official account is @rexchapman, ‘c’mon Rex, you know you are going to upset some people with that tweet.’

Chapman shrugged it off.

He replied: ‘I’ll let u know when I begin 2 give a s**t.’

Until 2010, Chapman was VP of player personnel for the Denver Nuggets. He no longer works in the NBA, and now runs Rex Chapman Basketball Camps.