Local radio maven Dan Barreiro — you might remember him also from his work at the Newspaper of the Twin Cities — had quite a strange moment on the air yesterday. His Bumper to Bumper program is featuring a tribute to 1968, and as such he had Tommie Smith on the program. Smith, you might recall, was one of two U.S. athletes to make the famous Black Power silent tribute (pictured, center) after receiving his medal at the 1968 Olympics. We missed the initial brouhaha yesterday — we started listening only after the fireworks had been doused — but thanks to the magic of the Internet we were able to hear the very strange turn the conversation took when it went into a second segment. Smith took issue with two things Barreiro said, calling them “insults” and accusing the program of “ignorance.” The phrases in question were “history of sorts” and the word “absurd” to describe Bob Beamon’s long jump record. Strange reaction. Very strange. And words nowhere near either insulting or ignorant. Barreiro seemed befuddled, saying at one point, “I have no idea what is taking place here.” You can have a listen to the entire thing right here. The meltdown occurs about halfway through, right after the break.

*Meltdown, part II: Prince Fielder and Manny Parra in the Brewers’ dugout. This team is coming apart at the seams.

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