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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; Two Lions players believe certain words are appropriate behind closed doors. (Leon Halip/Getty Images)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Is a racial slur used between friends still a racial slur? A couple of players in the Detroit Lions' locker room are, somewhat inadvertently, putting that question to the test.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &lt;em&gt;Detroit News&lt;/em&gt;' Terry Foster wrote Thursday about the relationship between tight end Tony Scheffler and safety Louis Delmas, a friendship which dates back to their time together at Western Michigan in 2005. Scheffler spoke very highly of Delmas for a piece that ran right here on Audibles, and the pair shares what Foster calls \"one of the tightest bonds in the Lions dressing room.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So, what to make of this ...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"Hey, cracker,\" Delmas often says to Scheffler inside the Lions practice facility.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"How\u2019s my n-----?\" Scheffler replies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Delmas is black. Scheffler is white.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Delmas said there is a difference between using slurs in public and doing it behind closed doors with a close friend you consider a brother, even if the brother is white.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"Me and [Scheffler] have a relationship many people do not have -- both black and white,\" Delmas said. \"I look at him like my brother. I love him to death.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\"He greets me, 'What up, n-----?' But I understand it. So I say, 'What\u2019s up, cracker?' But we would never take it outside the building.\"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In an increasingly-PC world, the lighthearted back and forth between Scheffler and Delmas seems to walk a very tenuous line. The recent incident involving Eagles WR Riley Cooper, in which he was caught on tape using the n-word and was subsequently excused from Eagles practices for a few days to undergo counseling, turned Cooper into something of a pariah, even within the Philadelphia locker room.\nScheffler's use of that taboo word is Delmas-approved and done in a much more affectionate manner. But does that make it OK?&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nfl/audibles/2013/08/08/detroit-lions-racial-slurs-riley-cooper>