Last Sunday, Gary Peterson of the Bay Area News Group fired off this line in an otherwise straight-up assessment of Raiders quarterback Jamarcus Russell:
Or maybe Russell, rumored to have spent part of the offseason at a clinic being treated for lethargy addiction, shows up for minicamp weighing 230 sculpted pounds and ready to work twice as hard as anyone else in the building. Sorry, didn’t mean to make you blow coffee out your nose first thing in the morning — just trying to cover all bases.
Though Peterson was trying to make a joke, at least one person didn’t get it. With that person happening to be a prominent member of the Bay Area electronic media.
NBC-TV sports anchor Raj Mathai cited Peterson’s “rumor” in his Sunday sportscast.
Mathai compounded his goof by not noting on-air that Peterson had referenced the lethargy addiction as a “rumor.”
Mathai’s report didn’t go unnoticed by venerable SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE columnist Scott Ostler, who noted the mistake shortly thereafter.
(JaBlargus Russell)
Ostler didn’t single out Mathai and the reporter’s name continues to be scrubbed from the comments section of the SFGate.com article. While I suppose it’s admirable that Ostler gave dude a break, this isn’t 1989. Thanks to the online sports media age, once Ostler brought it up, the video was bound to surface.
If I was Mathai’s boss, I wouldn’t be too hard on the guy. For all the ridiculous fake conditions people are getting treated for these days (see Tiger Woods), it was somewhat understandable that the NBC TV anchor didn’t get Peterson’s veiled attempt at humor.
Russell’s reax to all of this? He was rumored to have said, “blaaaaargggaaahhhhiwannnnnsizzzurrp.“
12:07 pm on March 11th, 2010
tommy like wingy!
12:16 pm on March 11th, 2010
Why does Charles Barkley have a Raider becklace on ?
12:50 pm on March 11th, 2010
Jamarcus Russell was a an overall number one pick.
2:03 pm on March 11th, 2010
Only because Al is clinicaly insane.
Scout : hes lazy and couldn’t beat Matt Flynn for the starters role.
Al : but hes got a cannon
Scout : Hes Dew Bledoe without the good years
Al : but hes got a cannon
Scount : how many times do you throw from your knees
Al ; but hes got a cannon
Scout : but sir
Al; anyone see my cat ? Oh and hes got a cannon
2:35 pm on March 11th, 2010
Oh, that poor reporter. The clip is funny as hell though.
10:13 am on March 12th, 2010
Gary Peterson is an asszz. He talks about lots of good atheletes that way and he has no business to be so righteous, he may be forgetting but all don’t.
5:26 pm on May 19th, 2010
“somewhat understandable that the NBC TV anchor didn’t get Peterson’s veiled attempt at humor.”
IMO, it is this reporter who should be treated for “lethargy addiction” as he’s just too lazy to do two minutes of research to see if such a thing exists or if possibly someone was playing a joke.
Really, reporters today are a joke. They report trivialities 24/7 while our country goes down the tubes. This bonehead mistake is just an example of the disease. This is beyond a normal MFE. This story is 100% false. Personally, I think a reporter should be suspended for a first such offense, fired for a second.