Cowherd leaves ESPN early

ESPN would rather end its relationship with Colin Cowherd a week early than fight with Major League Baseball, so the network announced Friday afternoon that Cowherd's show would no longer appear on ESPN Radio.

If you've missed the drama the past two days: Cowherd said Thursday on his show that baseball isn't "too complex," then cited the abundance of Dominican Republic-born players in MLB as evidence. He essentially said, if a bunch of Dominicans can play, how complex can it be? As you can imagine, insinuating an entire country is dumb, didn't go over well.

Jose Bautista, one of baseball's biggest stars from the Dominican Republic called out Cowherd on Thursday afternoon. Cowherd tried to clarify his comments on Friday's show, but didn't actually apologize and instead just attempted a do-over, re-explaining why he was right. A couple hours later, MLB condemned Cowherd and the players' union sent a tersely-worded statement about Cowherd's "ignorance." By the end of the day, ESPN announced:

Mike Soltys @espnmikes

Colin Cowherd’s comments over the past two days do not reflect the values of ESPN or our employees. Colin will no longer appear on ESPN.

11:24 AM - 24 Jul 2015

ESPN decided there was no reason to stand in Cowherd's corner, since he recently said that he is leaving the network. It hasn't been formally announced yet, but it's been widely reported that Cowherd is joining Fox Sports. His last day on the air at ESPN was supposed to be July 31, so really, this amounts to a week's suspension as opposed to a "firing."

Cowherd did finally apologize via Twitter after ESPN announced its decision:

Colin Cowherd ✔

@ESPN_Colin

I did not intend to offend anyone w my comments. I realize my choice of words was poor and not reflective of who I am. I am sorry.

11:32 AM - 24 Jul 2015

The bigger question now is what Fox does about the baggage it is inheriting with Cowherd. Fox, of course, is the biggest rightsholder in MLB, broadcasting weekly games, as well as the All-Star game and World Series.