By Tom Weir, USA TODAY

Jason Whitlock is a columnist for Fox Sports who frequently weighs in on issues involving race. And now he has weighed himself down with a racist comment about Jeremy Lin.

Whitlock made a totally inappropriate stab at humor after Lin's 38-point performance against the Lakers on Friday, with this tweet that played on an Asian stereotype:

"Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple of inches of pain tonight."

The Asian American Journalists Association called for an apology and Whitlock, who is African American, came back with one, writing that:

"I get Linsanity. I've cried watching Tiger Woods win a major golf championship. Jeremy Lin, for now, is the Tiger Woods of the NBA. I suspect Lin makes Asian Americans feel the way I feel when I watch Tiger play golf.

"I should've realized that Friday night when I watched Lin torch the Lakers. For Asian Americans and a lot of sports fans, his nationally televised 38-point outburst was the equivalent of Tiger's first victory in The Masters. I got caught up in the excitement. I tweeted about what a great story Lin is and how he could rival Tim Tebow.

"I then gave in to another part of my personality - my immature, sophomoric, comedic nature. It's been with me since birth, a gift from my mother and honed as a child listening to my godmother's Richard Pryor albums. I still want to be a standup comedian.

"The couple-inches-of-pain tweet overshadowed my sincere celebration of Lin's performance and the irony that the stereotype applies to pot-bellied, overweight male sports writers, too. As the Asian American Journalist Association pointed out, I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I'm truly sorry.

But is that enough? Others have been suspended or worse for similar comments.

USA TODAY