Most of us watching the U.S. Open endurance test between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate last weekend caught some off-hand comments from NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller regarding Mediate’s chances of the David vs. Goliath-style upset, particularly with regard to something about Rocco looking “like the guy who cleans Tiger’s swimming pool.”

That gaffe just happened to rile a few people, as most of us predicted when we heard it, and the NEW YORK TIMES’ sports media reporter Richard Sandomir writes that Miller has officially issued an apology for the wisecrack.

I’m still waiting for both him and his partner Dan Hicks to apologize for the sloppy mess they made slobbering over Woods from late last Saturday on, but at least it’s a start, y’know?

Miller’s apology comes on the heels of complaints issued to both NBC SPORTS and head honcho Dick Ebersol regarding the pool cleaner crack and other remarks, including this one: “Guys with names like Rocco don’t get their names on the trophy, do they?” For his part, Miller said it was more of an effort to get at Mediate’s Average Joe manner and status on the tour:

“’I chose my words poorly and in the future will be more careful,’ Miller said in a statement. He added that his intention was to ‘convey my affection and admiration for Rocco’s everyman qualities and had absolutely nothing to do with his heritage.’”

The heritage aspect comes because the folks that wrote letters happen to be mostly from groups representing Italian-Americans. One group wanted Miller to feel a bit more in the way of punishment:

“But Anthony Baratta, the president of the Order Sons of Italy in America’s commission for social justice, demanded Miller’s suspension. ‘If Johnny Miller had made a similar remark about Tiger Woods,’ he said Thursday in a press release, ‘he would have been fired.’”

One: Miller is much too much in thrall of Woods to make such a crack. Two: someone has already made a gaffe ten times worse about Tiger and is still gainfully employed.

(No, not Nick Faldo, sillies.)