Maybe that FanDuel “series” suggesting that all of ESPN reporter Adam Schefter’s interactions are broken up by football questions was more accurate than we knew. Schefter appeared on ESPN’s SC6 Thursday, and bizarrely broke off in the middle of a discussion with hosts Michael Smith and Jemele Hill to take a phone call:
Schefter’s defense of “That was something I figured might be something you could use” makes some sense, as ESPN would certainly love to say that important news broke on SC6, but the “You can’t just do that!” reaction from Hill also makes sense; this was supremely awkward TV. (And it also might cause problems for Schefter’s source; the source’s voice is minimally audible here thanks to his microphone, and dogged enough detective work might reveal who it is. That doesn’t seem too likely in this specific case, but it’s an argument against taking calls on the air; what if a voice is clearly heard and identified on something that’s supposed to be anonymous?)
Schefter’s response of “Yeah, I can, I just did” isn’t winning any debate contests, either. And Smith’s right with his response of “Clearly, you can. It’s not the first time,” as Schefter has done this before, taking a call during Mike and Mike in July, taking another call on air during ESPN’s NFL free agency broadcast in March, and regularly texting on-air. But hey, if the normal social media rules don’t apply to Schefter, why should the normal on-air behavior rules?
[Ben Koo on Clippit]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.