When tempers cool down after a scuffle, it's a bad idea to yell out "Did you hear what else he called you?"

That's the essence of what an editor at Golfweek magazine did, albeit unintentionally. Executives at the magazine fired Dave Seanor last week after subscribers objected to a cover story illustrated with a noose.

The story focused on a stupid but hardly malicious joke by Golf Channel commentator Kelly Tilghman earlier this month that other golfers could only end Tiger Woods' dominance if they were to "lynch him in a back alley".

She quickly recognized the mistake and apologized, and everyone including the top golfer himself denied her remark was laden with any racist intent. But, because Woods is part African-American, the resulting anger took on a racial subtext.

Rightly refusing to make the punishment exceed the crime, Golf Channel officials suspended Tilghman for two weeks - a punishment from which she is scheduled to return this week. That should have put the incident into the past, alongside the nation's disturbing history of racial lynchings.

Golfweek had other ideas and took its own whack at the story. That in itself might have been overkill, but limited to such a niche publication it likely would have ended at that. Putting a noose on the cover, however, dredged a much larger pool of emotions and dumped them on the magazine's doorstep.

Seanor's defense was that the noose was meant figuratively, to signify the pressure being exerted on Tilghman. Over the years the noose has become a symbol of the thousands of innocent blacks whose blood was spilled. Not something to equate visually with a bad joke.

Perhaps the editor himself got caught up in the media's overblown response to the initial incident. With that in mind, we recognize the magazine could have found a less severe way to punish him for the big lapse in judgment.

Ultimately management determined the damage was done, and not just to Golfweek's reputation. PGA Tour officials, continuing to ride the wave of Woods' worldwide popularity did not enjoy the negative attention.

As tour commissioner Tim Finchem said, all the magazine graphic accomplished was "to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion". Which means filed away.

With the lessons they've learned the hard way, Tilghman and Seanor can file it under "What not to do." Our fellow members of the press would be best served to file it under "How not to respond".