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Phelps Calls Le Batard An 'Idiot' After Cutting His Interview Short

Posted: Sep 26th 2008 11:01AM by Shane Bacon (author feed)
Filed under: Sports Media

Michael Phelps might be the best in the world at winning gold medals and drinking Corona Light out of a can at NFL games, but one thing he isn't great at is handling a few "tough" questions.

Yesterday Phelps appeared on the Dan Le Batard Show and in typical Le Batard fashion, was thrown a few random and awkward questions that didn't seem very relevant to anything people would really care about. (For example, the first question was, "Give us a story that involves your agent calling you and you saying "holy bleep I can't believe they're giving me that much money.")

Michael Phelps

Kellogg's products with the image of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps are shown during a news conference, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, in Baltimore. Phelps also accepted a $250,000 donation from the company for his charitable foundation. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Michael Phelps, winner of eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, looks at Kellogg's products with his image on it during a news conference, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, in Baltimore. Phelps also accepted a $250,000 donation from the company for his charitable foundation. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Michael Phelps, winner of eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, smiles during a news conference, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, in Baltimore. Phelps accepted a $250,000 donation from Kellogg's for his charitable foundation and also unveiled products with his image on it. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Michael Phelps, winner of eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, smiles while holding a box of cereal with his image on it during a news conference, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, in Baltimore. Phelps also accepted a $250,000 donation from the Kellogg's company for his charitable foundation. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Michael Phelps, winner of eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, smiles while being interviewed, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008, in Baltimore. During a news conference Phelps accepted a $250,000 donation from Kellogg's for his charitable foundation and unveiled products with his image on them. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

** FILE ** U.S. swimmer Brendan Hansen shows off his gold medal during ceremonies after the men's 4x100-meter medley relay final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He lost his gold medal from the Beijing Games during a flight from Philadelphia to Texas, but got it back a day later. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

In this photo provided by NBC, U.S. Olympic star Michael Phelps, right, dances with actor Will Forte during "Saturday Night Live" Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Dana Edelson, NBCU Photo Bank)

** FILE ** In this Sept. 7, 2008 file photo, Michael Phelps arrives at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards held at Paramount Pictures Studio Lot in Los Angeles. Phelps takes a break from rehearsals to discuss his weekend gig hosting the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live," where the Olympic champion swimmer follows in the footsteps of such previous jock hosts as Peyton Manning. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

The interview was cut short because Le Batard and Phelps had this exchange and Phelps wasn't in the mood for games (audio here).

"What is the single coolest thing to happen to you since the Olympic Games," Le Batard asked.
Phelps replied that the his biggest thrill since Beijing was setting up a charity through one of his sponsors, Kellogg's. And in a stunning coincidence, Phelps was only doing the interview to promote his appearance on the boxes of various Kellogg's food products.

Le Batard (predictably) pressed Phelps after his pat response, saying, "That was a nice move there Michael because you just segued right into what you were selling there, when that can't be the coolest thing to happen to you since the Olympics. I'm sure you're very happy about it, but the coolest thing, the thing you tell your friends about, when you're out getting a beer?"

Continue Reading Phelps Calls Le Batard An 'Idiot' After Cutting His Interview Short

EliteXC: Kimbo Slice Described on ESPN as 'An Incredible Celebrity'

Posted: Sep 25th 2008 11:35PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: EliteXC, MMA Media Watch, MMA Videos

1 COMMENT

Kimbo Slice talked to Tony Kornheiser and Dan Le Batard on today's Pardon the Interruption:

Kornheiser doesn't know much about MMA, but he did tell Kimbo, "You are an incredible celebrity all around the country now. Everybody under the age of 30 knows exactly who you are."

Kimbo replied, "I never considered myself a celebrity. Celebrities don't go to K-Mart. Celebrities don't go to McDonald's. ... I do things the average guy does."

Le Batard is knowledgeable about the sport and has interviewed Kimbo several times, and he asked good questions about how the hard-core MMA fans view Kimbo. Kimbo's not much of a salesman, but the mere fact that a popular ESPN show is featuring Kimbo has to be good news for EliteXC.

Dan LeBatard Rips Tony Kornheiser for Saying Matt Millen Was Qualified to Run the Lions

Posted: Sep 24th 2008 6:25PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: Lions, NFL Media Watch

5 COMMENTS

One of the strange things about the Matt Millen reign of terror over the Detroit Lions is that he was even hired to run the team in the first place. Most of the time, a guy who gets full authority over a football team has to have experience as a scout or executive or coach, not just as a player and TV analyst.

So it was bizarre to hear ESPN's Tony Kornheiser claim on today's Pardon the Interruption that Millen was qualified.

"I know him a long time," Kornheiser said. "I think he was qualified for his job. I think that his years of being a player, and his years of being on television, helped him evaluate personnel. I'm stunned by the totality of his failure because I like the guy a lot."

Dan Le Batard then proceeded to tell Kornheiser he's nuts.

Continue Reading Dan LeBatard Rips Tony Kornheiser for Saying Matt Millen Was Qualified to Run the Lions

ESPN's Jay Bilas and Dan Le Batard Get Into It Over Race in Basketball

Posted: Apr 8th 2008 5:18AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: March Madness, NCAA Basketball Media Watch, ESPN

6 COMMENTS

Hat tip to Awful Announcing on this one.

ESPN's Jay Bilas was a guest on Dan Le Batard's radio show and they got into it. The main topic of discussion was race in basketball (mainly at Tyler Hansbrough's pro prospects).

It didn't seem to be what Bilas wanted to discuss. I mean, it is only the national championship coming up and I'm sure that Jay was prepared to talk about that. Le Batard instead hit him up with weird questions about scenarios if Hansbrough was black or Michael Beasley was white.

After a heated exchange, Bilas got off this classic blast -- "Take offense ... it's stupid"

Heat Owner Was Heavily Involved in Shaq Deal

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 8:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Heat, Suns, NBA Gossip, Miami, Phoenix

1 COMMENT

Everyone has been fawning the past few days over Pat Riley's ability to shed big, ugly contracts, particularly the 40 additional million that Shaquille O'Neal was owed over the next two years. But it turns out that Miami Heat owner Mickey Arison had a lot more to do with this trade than anyone knew about at the time; he also was determined to send Shaq to someplace where he would either be close to home or have a chance to contend, acting on the close personal relationship that the two had developed during Shaq's time in South Beach.

Initially, according to Dan Le Batard, it was a phone call from Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to Arison that brought the possibility of moving O'Neal to the forefront and moved the Heat owner into a more prominent role in trade discussions. Well, that and the fact that Shaq was clearly unhappy half-playing for arguably the worst team in the NBA. And now, Barry Jackson, also of the Miami Herald, reveals through a conversation with Arison that the owner not only contacted Suns owner Robert Sarver directly but that more than usual, he took this deal out of Riley's hands and ran with it.

Continue Reading Heat Owner Was Heavily Involved in Shaq Deal