Reactions: Interviews gone wrong

How could you forget Weaver, Knight, Prime Time ... ?

SI.com unveiled its list of Top 10 Most Embarrassing Radio/TV Interviews gone wrong. Here are some of your responses:

You guys really blew this one. How can you leave off the Earl Weaver pregame show tape? I think he knew he was about to get fired (from his second stint with the O's) so he just let it fly one night on air.

Announcer: [A fan] from Frederick, Maryland, wants to know why you don't go out and get some more team speed.

Weaver: Team speed, for Chrissake, you get BLEEP god damn little fleas on the bases getting picked off trying to steal, getting thrown out, taking runs away from you. You get them big BLEEP who can hit the BLEEP ball out of the BLEEP ballpark and you can't make any god damn mistakes.

Announcer: Well, certainly this show's going to go down in history, Earl. Terry Elliott of Washington, D.C., wants to know why you don't use Terry Crowley as a designated hitter all the time

Weaver: Terry Crowley is lucky he's in BLEEP baseball for Chrissake. He was released by the Cincinnati Reds, he was released by the BLEEP god damn Atlanta Braves. We saw that Terry Crowley could sit on his BLEEP ass for eight innings and enjoy watching a baseball game just like any other fan, and has the ability to get up there and break one open in the BLEEP ninth. So if this BLEEP would mind his own business and let me manage the BLEEP team we'd be a lot better off.
 -- Jeremy Huber, Leesburg, Va.

Bob Costas asked Boomer Esiason when he was going to get a real name. Boomer replied "When are you going to get a real job?" Costas was clearly flustered as I recall.
 -- Dennis E. Lundquist, Big Flats, Wisc.

Come on! No Bobby Knight? He could have a top 10 all his own!
 -- Jim Murphy, Chicago

Then Iowa State basketball coach Johnny Orr was with his team watching the NCAA selection committee picks as a bubble team that year. ESPN cut to Coach Orr and the team as they were waiting for word on selections. Dick Vitale was asking Orr some ridiculous question, when Johnny launched into Vitale's record as coach at Detroit, and reminded Vitale that his Michigan team has "sure kicked his ass." Vitale was dumbstruck. It was classic Johnny Orr.
 -- Dan Conrad, Milwaukee

Now I admit I am a huge fan of Allen Iverson, but AI's season-ending summation of the bores of "Practice?!" takes the cake. I'll never forget his dismissal of "Practice, man ...We're talkin' bout practice!" He further went on to say that if the media promised to vote him MVP next season, he would hit the weight room all offseason "and come out like Arnold." But we're only talkin' bout practice, anyway.
 -- Dan McKee, Trenton, N.J.

Has to be the Roy Williams-Bonnie Bernstein interview. It's not that this was an interview that went bad; the interview itself and the manner in which it was conducted illustrates the insensitivity and boorishness of the media. Williams put it right when he chastised Bernstein for simply parroting what some producer was prompting her to do for the sake of getting some sound byte from Williams. The question was rude, the interviewer was rude; Williams was not as the title of the segment avers. All of these interviewers, with the exception of Costas and Gray, simply acted as cattle prods to evoke a response. That is not journalism but show biz and bad show biz at that.
 -- Warren Clark, Amarillo, Texas

FOX Sports Bill MacDonald interviewed Nicole Richie (Simple Life) as she sat in the crowd at a Lakers Game. It was a day that Kobe Bryant had spent in court for his trial in Colorado. When Bill asked Nicole who her favorite Laker was, she emphatically replied it was Kobe ... because she wanted to have sex with him. Tacky beyond words.
 -- Gina, Costa Mesa, Calif.

After the Bulls won their first championship, Bob Costas got the first interview with Michael Jordan. He then referred to Jordan's wife as his mother. Jordan turned up from crying on the Larry O'Brian Trophy and said, "That's my wife man." Without a doubt it was one of the strangest moments I have ever seen.
 -- Corey Elmaleh, Toronto

Two classic responses to questions from host Ralph Kiner by Clarence "Choo-Choo" Coleman on Kiner's Korner, the Mets postgame show:

Kiner: How'd you get your nickname, Choo-Choo?
 Coleman: I dunno.
 Kiner: And now here's a word from Rheingold beer.
 Kiner: So, Choo-Choo, I understand that you got married this past offseason. What's your new wife's name, and what's she like?
 Coleman: Her name is Mrs. Coleman, and she likes ME, bub.
 Kiner: And now here's a word from Rheingold beer.
 -- John McManus, Amityville, N.Y.

How can you possibly leave out Deion Sanders throwing ice water on Tim McCarver for criticizing him for trying to play football and baseball the same day during the 1992 National League Championship series? Granted McCarver was not interviewing Deion at the time, but it was still an interview gone bad!
 -- Alex Susor, Atlanta

Who can ever forget the John Calipari & John Cheney postgame interview, with Cheney threatening to kill Calipari?
 -- Omar Ramos, Richmond, Va.

Jim Mora was comical, but how do you not include Jets coach Herman Edwards when he was asked if the Jets should throw a game to get a better draft pick. "HELLO!?!?! you play to win the game!" That was one of the funniest lines ever that a coach gave, the way he said it made all of NY/NJ crack up.
 -- Joseph Colantoni, Rockaway, N.J.

The interview between Jeremy Schaap and Bob Knight. I actually can't believe that was left off the list. Remember, Knight told Schaap he had a long way to go before being like his father, who had just passed away. That was one of the more rude comments I have ever heard in an interview.
 -- Andy, Maplewood, N.J.

Only one of these ended up with men rolling around on the floor like kids in a school yard. Jim Rome and Jim "Chrissy" Evert take the gold.
 -- Patrick, Albany, N.Y.

Being a wrestling fan, I remember seeing the Vince McMahon interview with Bob Costas. It was truly a classic all I could think about was McMahon getting up and hitting him with a chair. He looked so mad, and this wasn't a wrestling show this was real. To make matters worse, Bobby Knight came out for an interview with Costas right after and came off as the nicest man in the world. He was laid back having a good time. Yes this is the same Bobby Knight that choked players and threw chairs at Indiana. For an honorable mention I would have to say Vince McMahon on Real Sports with Bryant Gumble. He did an interview with a different reporter and again got mad and this time knocked the papers out of his hand.
 -- Richard, Houston

Hard to imagine Al Campanis' interview with Ted Koppel not making this list, given the effect it had on Campanis' career and the game itself. Some of the interviews you listed in your story may have been funnier, but none have provoked more discussion.
 -- Adam Beechen, Los Angeles

My favorite interview gone bad was in the early '80s, at the height of the WWF, when John Stossel of 20/20 chose to interview wrestler David Schultz. When posed with the question of whether wrestling was fake or an actual sport, Schultz responded by beating the hell out of Stossel.
 -- Michael Anderson, Berlin, Conn.

I think that the Jimmy "The Greek" interview back in the 1980's in which he made comments about why African Americans are superior athletes is unforgettable. How could you possibly not include that?
 -- Eric Conner, Franconia, Pa.

After the Pete Rose-Jim Gray incident, Chad Curtis had hit a home run to win a World Series game for the Yankees. Gray tried to interview him after the game, and Curtis said "Hi" to his grandmother and then proceeded to tell Gray that the team had taken a vote and that they had decided not to talk with him if he tried to interview any of them.
 -- Phil Koboski, South Windsor, Conn.