For the fourth time since 2004, the Boston Red Sox are World Series champions after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Sunday night’s Game 5.
After the game, Red Sox manager Alex Cora met with the team in the locker room, and ESPN decided to go live to Cora’s speech during SportsCenter with SVP.
Just over 30 seconds later, a screaming “FUCK YEAH!” from at least one Red Sox player (or coach etc) was heard loud and clear on ESPN.
ESPN surely knew f-bombs or some sort of vulgar language would be heard on this live feed. Scott Van Pelt even said as much:
“There was a 1,000 percent chance someone was going to cuss. 1,000 percent. I mean it’s after midnight, unless you’re out at west, and if so it’s cable and we’re sorry. The minute you open up the mics you get what you get.”
And he’s exactly right with his point: it’s late night, on a Sunday night (and early Monday morning on the east coast). Are many viewers going to care about an f-bomb from an ecstatic baseball team that just won a World Series? No. The response to this topic from most viewers (and most of you that are reading this) would be, “Who cares?”
So, the point of this post isn’t to criticize ESPN for letting an f-bomb on TV when they should’ve “1,000 percent” seen it coming as SVP correctly said. It’s a post commending ESPN for not being afraid to show a very cool live moment of a team celebrating a championship, while being fully aware some adult language could/would likely come with it.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.
Recent Posts
Sinclair CEO rips Disney, YouTube TV over dispute
"We have no say in whether our content and the content we pay to air will be distributed to local viewers."
ESPN and YouTube TV reportedly ‘remain far apart’ as another football weekend looms
As another football weekend approaches, Disney and Google remain without a deal.
Miami leads ACC’s new TV ratings-based revenue sharing model
60% of the ACC's TV revenue will be distributed based on viewership.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz regrets missing Josh McDaniels firing scoop
"It didn't work out too well for me."
Nick Wright piles on Draymond Green over end of ‘New Media’ as Green offers lazy NFL take
"It feels like maybe the 'New Media' is becoming a bit of the old media."
Did JJ Redick turn off his mic before talking to Luka Dončić?
JJ Redick appeared to shut off his microphone during Wednesday night's ESPN broadcast before speaking to Luka Dončić on the sideline.