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We Were Just Treated to One of the Most Ridiculous, but Funny, Apologies in Sports History

Also in Traina Thoughts: Keith Hernandez gets confused by memes, "Saturday Night Live" spoofs "First Take" and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. We all know soccer is serious business in England, so it’s not totally surprising that an innocent mistake would turn into a code red for Britain’s top broadcaster. It also doesn’t make this entire saga less absurd.

During coverage of the French Open earlier today, the BBC’s news crawl at the bottom of the screen flashed to a simple message: “Manchester United are rubbish.”

Clearly, this was not the typical update that you’d see on any scroll.

A little later, the BBC had an anchor person read a detailed apology that included not one, but two references to people who may have been offended by the shot at the soccer club.

“A little earlier, some of you may have noticed something unusual that runs along the ticker on the bottom of the screen with news making a comment about Manchester United,” said the newswoman. “My hope is that Manchester United fans weren’t offended by it.”

Now, just to imply that someone may be offended by something that is complete nonsense is laughable, but we are talking about sports fans here, so anything is possible.

The anchor then went on to explain that someone was being taught how to use the ticker, and while training that person typed up and sent out the Manchester United diss.

Can we just take a moment here to marvel at how classy things sound when they are said in a British accent? Here in America, we’d say, “Some dope was goofing around and decided to rip a soccer team on the scroll.” In Britain they say, “They were just writing random things and not in earnest.” It sounds so regal.

The anchor then went on to assure everyone that the BBC regrets what happened, saying, “Apologies if you saw that and you were offended and you’re a fan of Manchester United. But certainly that was a mistake and it wasn’t meant to appear on the screen. We just thought we better explain that to you.”

What I like about this story is that it combines two things that are out of control right now: everyone apologizing for everything and sports fans being a little off. Imagine thinking you need to apologize for something so benign because some weirdo might be offended.

Total rubbish.

2. “What’s a meme?" That question was asked by Mets broadcaster and Seinfeld star Keith Hernandez on Monday night during this great exchange.

3. Debate shows aren’t about being wrong or right. They’re about getting attention. At this rate, JJ Redick is going to get a huge contract from ESPN because every few days he goes viral. It happened again yesterday during an argument with Max Kellerman about Luka Dončić.

4. Saturday Night Live once again spoofed First Take last weekend, but the sketch was cut from the live show because of time constraints.

5. Normally, people use Jose Altuve to show just how large Aaron Judge is

Today, however, Altuve takes a back seat to a Poland Spring bottle thanks to this photo from Monday night.

6. This week's SI Media Podcast is an all–Traina Thoughts edition. Sal Licata, from WFAN and SNY, who joins me every week for the segment, is on for the full show, where we discuss the following topics:

• NFL’s Thanksgiving and Christmas games
• Phil Mickelson’s betting
• Worst bets we’ve ever made
• Drew Brees’s future
• The best sports quote of the week
• Upcoming roast of Tom Brady
• Carmen Electra joining OnlyFans

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY:  My favorite TikTok account is back with a new food porn video.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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