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Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Blunders

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Kevin Durant explains why he snapped at heckling fan

November 21, 2018
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Kevin Durant was fined $25,000 by the NBA this week after he was caught on video cursing out a fan who was heckling him, and it does not sound like the Golden State Warriors star regrets the way he reacted.

Durant got tired of listening to a fan who was sitting courtside during Golden State’s 112-109 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, and he went over to the fan and rained F-bombs on him. Durant was recording a podcast with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports on Tuesday when he found out about the fine, and he expressed zero remorse.

“Grown men can’t come to the game and heckle grown men. That’s corny. That’s weak,” Durant said. “(If) you’re coming to a game to heckle another grown man — ‘You soft! You weak! Draymond this, Draymond that, you a b—.’ You’re going to sleep doing that as a grown man to another person?”

If Durant thinks a grown man heckling pro athletes is so pathetic, why is he going out of his way to respond during the middle of a game? Star players hear similar things all the time, and most of them just ignore it and go about their business.

Durant, of course, is notoriously thin-skinned. Whether it’s confronting a heckler outside a hotel or allegedly using a burner Twitter account to hit back at fans, the two-time NBA Finals MVP just can’t seem to tune out the trolls.

Jason Witten pokes fun at himself over ‘rabbit out of head’ line

October 16, 2018
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Jason Witten

Jason Witten had arguably the most embarrassing moment of his young broadcasting career on Monday night, but at least he has a good sense of humor about it.

After Aaron Rodgers led a touchdown drive to tie the game at 30 late in the fourth quarter of the Packers’ win over the 49ers, Witten tried likening the Pro Bowl quarterback to a magician. He did so by saying Rodgers pulled a “rabbit out of his head.”

What Witten meant to say, of course, was that Rodgers pulled a “rabbit out of his hat.” To his credit, the former Cowboys tight end mocked himself for the embarrassing flub after the game.

Witten has experienced some growing pains in his first season with the “Monday Night Football” crew, and fans couldn’t wait to jump all over him for the blunder. He has some work to do if he wants to become one of the better analysts in the business, but being able to laugh at yourself is half the battle.

Announcer Dick Stockton makes embarrassing ‘Denver Nuggets’ blunder

October 14, 2018
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Dick Stockton mistake

Announcer Dick Stockton got his Denver sports teams confused on Sunday.

Stockton was calling a promo before the start of Sunday’s Denver Broncos-Los Angeles Rams game. He erroneously said the upcoming game was between the Denver “Nuggets” and Rams.

Maybe something about the low temperatures had Stockton’s mind a little messed up.

Stockton, 75, has been calling NFL games for FOX since 1994 and only just now joined our long list of infamous broadcasting blunders.

Tip via Ed K.

Watch: Orioles announcer appears to have awkward slip-up

June 25, 2018
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Baltimore Orioles announcer Gary Thorne appeared to have an awkward on-air slip-up during the team’s game on Monday.

After the top half of the ninth inning of the Orioles’ game against the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore trailed 5-3. Prior to a commercial break, Thorne appeared to say the Orioles are in “within s—-ing distance as we go to the bottom of the ninth.”

Here’s the audio for you to investigate:

Perhaps Thorne said or was trying to say “spitting distance,” given the Orioles were only trailing by two runs. However, most thought Thorne used an expletive which, given the way the Orioles’ season has gone thus far, is completely understandable.

Monday’s loss drops the Orioles to 23-54 on the season and puts them 28.5 games out of first place in the American League East. As for Thorne, we’ve certainly heard worse slip-ups from announcers before.

Reggie Miller misspeaks, calls Ricky Rubio ‘Marco’

April 23, 2018
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Reggie Miller

Reggie Miller had a pretty humorous blunder during Monday’s playoff game between Minnesota and Houston.

The TNT analyst accidentally called former Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio “Marco” while providing commentary during Game 4. He had to be corrected by play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan.

As if messing up Ricky Rubio by calling him “Marco” weren’t bad enough, Miller then couldn’t figure out whether Marco Rubio was a senator or governor in Florida. Yes, Reggie, Marco is a senator.

It’s OK, Reggie. It’s not like we haven’t seen this sort of thing several times before.

Diamondbacks lose home run on ridiculous baserunning blunder

April 15, 2018
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Deven Marrero mistake

The Arizona Diamondbacks lost a home run on Saturday night due to a ridiculous baserunning blunder.

Deven Marrero was up with two on and one out in the top of the fourth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He drove a pitch to left center that narrowly cleared the wall for what should have been a 3-run home run.

Unfortunately, Alex Avila misread the ball and was going back to first to tag up, thinking it was caught. The result was Marrero passed him around first base.

The Dodgers contested the play and asked for a review. After convening, the umpires decided that Marrero was out for passing the runner in front of him.

Marrero was credited with a two-run single to make it 5-1 Arizona. They won it 9-1, but Marrero was robbed of what would have been his first home run of the season as a result.

Phillies troll Denver Post for using wrong photo in Coors Field feature

April 6, 2018
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Phillies logo

The Denver Post made an embarrassing flub in the Friday edition of its newspaper, and the Philadelphia Phillies were quick to have some fun with it.

With the Colorado Rockies hosting their home opener on Friday, the Denver Post ran a feature entitled “The Ultimate Visitors Guide to Coors Field.” Notice anything a little off about the photo they used?

Unfortunately, that is Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia — not Coors Field. The mistake was brutal enough, but the person in charge of the Phillies’ Twitter account decided to sprinkle a little salt in the wound:

As we know, newspaper mistakes happen. Some are bigger than others, which we saw about a year ago when MLB legend Keith Hernandez had his name come up in a very disturbing context. Needless to say, Opening Day 2018 for the Rockies is already a memorable one.