Ric Bucher is an entertaining fellow. When the ESPN NBA analyst isn’t reporting incorrect trade deals, he’s offending entire states & religions.

SPORTS MEDIA WATCH tunes in to hear Bucher go off on fans of the Utah Jazz. Appearing on Colin Cowherd’s show Wednesday, Ric tried to explain why the Jazz seem to have such a strong home-court advantage:

“Let’s be honest. They’re Mormon. And they’re in Salt Lake. And there’s nothing else there. You’ve got to smile and be happy all the time. This might be one opportunity for fans to get vicious.”

Hmmm, interesting viewpoint. Well, one person who wasn’t smiling & being happy was Scott Price of the DESERET NEWS, who found another opportunity to get vicious:

Let’s leave aside the lame comment about how there’s nothing to do in Utah. That’s been done so many times it’s neither original nor amusing — let alone accurate. If Bucher had left it at that, nobody would have noticed his comments.

And let’s leave aside how dumb it is to assume that everyone in Utah, let alone everyone in the EnergySolutions Arena, is a member of the LDS Church.

But let’s be honest. If Bucher had been talking about the Knicks and said, “They’re Jews and they’re in New York City”; if Bucher had said, “They’re African-Americans and they’re in Memphis,” he would have been suspended if not fired by now.

But as SMW reveals, there may be employment ramifications, after all, as Ric isn’t scheduled to work any of this weekend’s playoff games.

To be fair, Bucher did offer an apology to any upset Utahans:

The point I was trying to make is that the manner in which some Jazz fans get on visiting teams is counter to the general friendliness that the people of Salt Lake City are known for and have exhibited to me. I tried to revise my remarks later in the broadcast and remove any connection between that behavior and the Mormon faith, but I clearly did not go far enough.

With his original comments, many Jazz fans think he did go far enough.

But maybe Buch is not totally to blame for his mean Mormon mutterings. It could be that being on Cowherd’s show, some of Schrutebag’s stupid behavior just rubbed off on Ric.