It has been more than six months since ESPN’s Chris Mortensen falsely reported that 11 of the 12 game balls the New England Patriots used in the AFC Championship Game were underinflated by two pounds per square inch each. But by canceling a scheduled appearance on a Boston sports radio station earlier this week, Mort has opened the floodgates.
Mortensen bailed out of an interview with WEEI’s “Dennis and Callahan Show” on Friday morning. He was unhappy with the way the hosts promoted the interview and felt they were looking to make him a “centerpiece” of the Deflategate scandal. As a result, Mortensen has yet to address the report publicly.
And you can guess how Twitter feels about that.
NFL sources say Tom Brady is being investigated amid accusations that he's a midget standing on another midget's shoulders @mortreport
— Fake Mort (@falsemortreport) August 1, 2015
@mortreport commissioner Goodell hopes to have a franchise on the Moon by 2019. Buffalo Bills current favorite to relocate. @amillernews
— Fake Mort (@falsemortreport) August 1, 2015
@mortreport I wonder if that one tweet will define your career. does in my eyes. id love to hear you address it. #indefensible #Patriots
— Jeff Icuss (@jefficuss) August 1, 2015
@mortreport start reporting Frisbee golf. COWARD!!!#
— John Allen (@johndallen11) August 1, 2015
@mortreport hey perhaps you should write a retraction you hack. Way to fuel the fire, I'm glad you have all that integrity. #FreeBrady
— Melo (@DeMello87) August 1, 2015
That’s only a small sample of the tweets Mort has been getting, many of which contain four-letter words. You can browse through them all here.
It’s never a good idea to reveal your sources, and Mortensen doesn’t have to. At the very least, he should have retracted the initial report and admitted that he got bad information from a source he believed to be reliable. The fact that he has remained silent about a report that played a huge role in shaping the way the public views Deflategate is not a good look, especially if this is the who leaked the info to Mortensen.
