March 6, 2010 – First there was Sean Salisbury, then Harold Reynolds, next Steve Phillips and now the freakiest of them all…Tony Kornheiser. TK gets two weeks for calling out Hannah Storm’s gaudy outfit. And it was gaudy. Oh, oh, better watch out for hubby Dan Hicks punching someone in the nose.

So what was the hubbub about? Was it ESPN backlash for treating women so poorly for so long? So now you can’t even call out a 49 year old woman for dressing like a catholic clown school girl? Look out Craig Sager. Was it punishment for criticizing its own? Was it the accumulation of his creepy and lurid talk-in transitions that include suggestive dialog about Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and any other aged babe he can think of? Or is it the “caught on camera” returns from commercial where he reveals fictional embarrassing “insights” about whoever meets his daily whim? Or his lecherous running commentary on every female from Giselle to Sarah Michelle Gellar who pops up on their rundown list? Or maybe its just trying to put an end to this collective perceived rep as a letch.

ESPN has enough to defend without overreacting to this. They have Stewart Scott talking hip-hop and squinting at us with that queer eye, they employed mumbling Emmitt Smith and Felonius Mike Irving, they had guys peeing out of club windows in Cleveland, and of course, the infamous threesome listed in the first sentence above. So the girls on “The View” can act like construction workers on a Manhattan job site when some beefcake is mentioned, and Oprah can fawn when a handsome guy visits, but ESPN can’t have Tony Kornheiser playing fashion critic.

If I were Tony, I would quit on principle. Too bad it exposes that he doesn’t have any. He needs the gig. He took a buyout from The Washington Post last year. He was bumped from the Monday Night Football booth and who can forget that Jason Alexander sitcom? He still has a daily radio show in Washington D.C., not affiliated with ESPN, with syndication of sorts on satellite.

He’s a terrific writer, with three books compiled from his Post columns, but he has a terrific thing going with his “Pardon The Interruption” show, from which he is currently suspended. It’s a balance of speed, sports, comedy, insight and banter between his perfect partner and foil, Michael Wilbon, a black Washington Post columnist and ABC NBA on-air analyst. Its a fast half hour, with little production cost and perhaps ESPN’s best original programming.

Substitute hosts who sit in for Kornheiser (who seems to have more vacation than Johnny Carson had) can’t come close. If I were him I’d leave the gig that reportedly pays him $750,000 or more. Who can work for someone who can’t support you? Come on Tony, have some stones. The radio thing will carry you and Karrill until someone smart enough to grab you up comes along.