Mike Francesa Thought Todd Gurley Actually Swapped Jerseys With a Ref

By now you’ve probably seen Todd Gurley’s Instagram post from after the NFC Championship Game, the one in which he appears to be swapping jerseys with referee Bill Vinovich.

It’s a funny post, racking up nearly a half-million likes on Instagram but no one could possibly believe it was a real photo, right? Wrong. New York radio host Mike Francesa saw the image and was outraged.

Sooo... Mike Francesa thought Todd Gurley swapped jerseys with the ref *for real* https://t.co/TafjNp0qsz
— SI Media (@SISportsMedia) January 21, 2019

“You should never have another jersey, whether you exchange them with players before the game—which should be an outrageous thing to begin with,” Francesa said while criticizing Vinovich. “No way should an official be exchanging jerseys with a player before a game. That sets such a bad—that’s such a bad thing to do.”

Ever heard of Photoshop, Mike? And this wasn’t even a particularly convincing Photoshop! Vinovich is still wearing the striped jersey he supposedly just handed to Gurley, is wearing gold Saints pants and has hands that are a completely different color from his face.

During a commercial break, Francesa was informed that the image had been doctored and expressed relief that Vinovich hadn’t actually been fraternizing with the Rams.

Maybe Francesa had the right idea when he initially retired in 2016.