Hilariously Bad Interview Questions

Trust me: The athletes and coaches already know you're dumb, and I don't mean that as an attack on you. We are all dumb. They know better than we do why they ran that play, why the X broke off his route, why they attacked that particular corner, etc.

Most sports reporters know far less than they think about what they cover. Coaches and athletes know this. They talk about it among themselves. For obvious reasons they don't make an issue of it very often in scrums.

It's OK to ask questions. Playing dumb, for lack of a better term, is an honest approach I think most coaches and athletes would find refreshing.

 

Not to threadjack, but I'm wondering if a boxer has ever gotten hit, reeled back and yelled really loudly, "Man, that freaking hurt! What's up with that?"

 

I don't think it's bad, either. On the rare occasion where a boxer might be honest, you might get a decent response.

"Did that hurt?"

"Oh, hell yeah ... I want to eat your children."

Or something like that. Never know.

 

Many years ago when Karl Malone was a member of the USA Basketball Dream Team, an international reporter asked him: "Why is a basket worth two points?"

Not necessarily a bad question, but the variety of looks on The Mailman's face (astonishment, befuddlement and amusement were at least three of the emotions etched on his face) as he searched for an answer was absolutely hilarious. I laugh about it 'til this day.

 

I got that same look from him when I asked about his child support payments.

 

What did he eventually say?

 

Something along the lines of its none of my damn business and wanting to kick my ass. I can't recall the exact words exchanged but I never asked him that question again, that's for sure.

 

damn, you coulda added salt lake to your list.

 

It didn't happen in Salt Lake. It happened in Oakland and yes, Oak Town is on the list.

 

even the mailman watches his back in oak town.

 

I was covering a high school football game and Podunk defeated Rival Not in Our Coverage Area 38-31 or something like that. Of those 31 points, 14 came on special teams (a blocked punt and a kickoff return) and one touchdown came in the last minute on a broken play (Podunk's defensive back fell down) to make the score look slightly more presentable. I write for the Podunk paper and was trying to get a quote from Rival coach asking if Podunk's defense did anything to stifle the rhythm of the Rival offense (Podunk had several sacks and tackles for loss).

Hometown coach's response: "We scored 31 points. That's a stupid question."

Then he yelled, "That's a stupid question!" again and walked away.

 

That's a great story. I knew Blache when he coached the DBs at Tulane. We all thought he was a good enough screamer to make it to the NFL.