Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: Pittsburgh TV Station Runs Graphic Labeling Tom Brady as ‘Known Cheater’
Taking a shot at the GOAT
Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Not everyone is pleased to see Tom Brady in yet another Super Bowl. Like in Pittsburgh, for instance, where the Patriots-Steelers rivalry lives on even though the Steelers missed the playoffs this year. During yesterday’s late afternoon news on KDKA, the Pittsburgh CBS affiliate, the station ran a chyron identifying Brady not as “Patriots quarterback” but as “known cheater.”
Hey, that’s totally fair. Remember the 10-year-old kid in Kentucky who won his science fair by proving Brady was a cheater? That should be enough proof right there. It’s not just Deflategate, either. How about how Brady benefited from Bill Belichick taping other teams’ practices during the Spygate scandal? And maybe there are other ways Brady is cheating that we just don’t know about yet. Rather than risk libeling Brady, I’m just going to link to two news stories here.
The main problem I have with this isn’t calling Brady a cheater. It’s that Boston fans feed off this sort of hate more than any other fan base. We don’t need to give them any more reasons to feel aggrieved. If the Patriots end up winning on Sunday, there will be a non-zero number of fans at the championship parade wearing anti-KDKA T-shirts.
I’ve reached out to KDKA to ask whether multiple people signed off on the “cheater” chyron or if it was a rogue editor’s joke and whether they’ll be reprimanded. I’ll update this post if I hear back.
The Grizzlies blew an epic lead
A 25-point third-quarter lead should be insurmountable, right? Or at least a 19-point advantage in the fourth quarter should be. But the Grizzlies found a way to let the Nuggets come all the way back by getting outscored by 20 points in the fourth.
Mark Sanchez is a good sport
This reeks of a Super Bowl ad but I can’t for the life of me figure out what they’re trying to sell me. I think maybe they’re just trying to sell Mark Sanchez as a comedic actor? If that’s it, it’s working. We already knew Sanchez could have fun at his own expense, now it looks like he can do it on script.
The best of SI
This is how Tony Romo got his job at CBS. ... Anthony Davis wants out of New Orleans. Here are the five best landing spots. ... Who better to give insight on Tom Brady playing at an advanced age than his oldest former teammates?
Who wants free stuff?
With snacking on the mind before the Super Bowl, we’re giving away three prize packs from Kettle Brand potato chips. (The prizes won’t arrive until after the game, but still.) Each winner will get a case full of Kettle’s Buffalo bleu, salt and ground pepper, dill pickle and brand new wasabi ranch flavors.
Here’s what you need to do. Follow these instructions carefully or you won’t be entered. Send me an email (dan.gartland@simail.com) with the subject line “I want chips” and tell me which former Yankees pitcher new Yankees pitcher Adam Ottavino got his picture taken with when he was a kid. The answer is in yesterday’s Hot Clicks. The 15th, 30th and 45th person to email me with the right answer (and the right subject line) will win.
Update: All prizes have been claimed—way faster than I expected!
Around the sports world
Wade Phillips confirmed that he was wearing his dad’s jacket on the plane to Atlanta to “recognize” Bum. ... ESPN isn’t restoring Baseball Tonight to daily programming.
Wade Phillips knows Tony Romo knows what’s coming
The Super Bowl is going to look great in this stadium
The Raiders are a total mess right now
You have no chance stopping this
Not sports
The actor who plays El Chapo on the Netflix series Narcosshowed up at the real Chapo’s trial in New York. ... A scary iPhone bug grants users access to other people’s microphones without their permission.
An unfinished city of Disney castles
This was supposed to be a $200 million development of French-style miniature castles in Turkey before the builder ran out of money.
I don’t think you can call that a ferry anymore
The best Twitter thread I’ve seen in a long time
(Click here to read the whole thread.)
That return of “The Dude” that Jeff Bridges teased is just an ad for skunk beer
People forget how spectacularly trashy England can be
A good song
Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.
