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Ryan Fitzpatrick Gets Annoyed During an Awkward Interview With ‘The Dan Le Batard Show’

Also in Traina Thoughts: NFL RedZone anniversary; Mike Tomlin ‘compliments’ rookie; ‘Bad Beats’ and much more.

Jimmy Traina

1. There’s this very weird thing on Twitter where you are not allowed to ever criticize or say a bad word about certain people. One of those people is former NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

I’m going to risk my online life here by saying something negative about Ryan Fitzpatrick. Here it goes: Ryan Fitzpatrick needs to lighten up.

Fitzpatrick, who is currently one of Amazon Prime Video’s slew of pre- and post-game personalities appeared on The Dan Le Batard Show on Tuesday, and things ended up super awkward when Stugotz asked the journeyman about a ridiculous old rumor.

About 10 minutes into the otherwise pleasant interview, Stugotz asked this question:

“Ryan, there were several reports last year, granted these reports came from callers into a Washington, D.C., radio station, that you had hurt yourself last year before the season on a waterslide and I think, listen, you probably shouldn’t be doing that right before the NFL season if indeed these rumors are true, so I just want to either find out if they’re true or put the rumors to bed. Did your career end on a waterslide?”

O.K., a couple of things here. Stugotz made it pretty clear he was just trying to go for some levity here and wasn’t actually asking the question in a serious manner when he said the “reports” were actually callers into a sports-talk radio show. This was clearly an attempt to give Fitzpatrick a chance to have some fun with something that was obviously absurd.

However, Fitzpatrick did not find the question amusing. At all.

“No, I got hurt in a game,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think everyone saw that. I’m now part of the media. I think we all, and you probably already know the answer to that question, I know it’s funny and light, but now you give a rumor more breath, but it’s silly and it doesn’t make sense, so no, it never happened.”

No. The show wasn’t trying to give a rumor more breath. The show was giving Fitzpatrick a chance to mock how absurd the story of him getting hurt on a waterslide sounded.

Le Batard tried to lighten things up by asking Fitzpatrick how he attacks a waterslide when he does partake: Do you slide down on your stomach? On your back? Again, Fitzpatrick was not amused even one iota.

“We can move on to something else,” he responded.

Clearly, Fitzpatrick doesn’t get how the show works.

From there, the Le Batard Show crew did something that perfectly highlighted why their show is so popular: Instead of moving on, they played up the friction, mock-ripped Stugotz for asking the question, yelled about “crossing the line,” and Dan screamed out, “He just no-commented us on a water flume!”

Fitzpatrick remained unamused and accused the show of asking a “gotcha” question.

It’s not a “gotcha” question. It’s a question to have some fun with because it’s so outlandish.

Look at the way Tom Brady has handled the absurd “stories” about him leaving camp to be on The Masked Singer. As I wrote in Tuesday’s Traina Thoughts, Brady addressed this on his Monday SiriusXM radio show and said, “I don’t know where they get all these things. They gotta talk about something. It wasn’t me. I wasn’t masked, and I’m not a singer. That wouldn’t really fit my profile. I’m basically good at one thing, which is throwing passes. Other than that, I’m basically worthless.”

That’s how you handle a ridiculous question when you’re being interviewed.

A lot of people have high hopes for Fitzpatrick as a studio analyst for Amazon. Hopefully he isn’t this uptight Thursday nights.

2. Here is what the NFL RedZone channel looked like on its debut 13 years ago yesterday.

3. Steelers rookie running back Jaylen Warren had three carries for seven yards in his NFL debut Sunday, but he still earned some praise from coach Mike Tomlin.

4. Here is your weekly edition of the best segment on all of sports TV: “Bad Beats.”

5. Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien got quite a surprise during last night’s game when it was his turn to bat.

6. This week’s SI Media Podcast features a conversation with play-by-play legend Al Michaels.

The new voice of Thursday Night Football on Prime Video talks about working with Kirk Herbstreit, what the challenges are for Prime Video getting into the NFL business, why it wouldn’t make sense for Amazon to reinvent the wheel and the Thursday-night schedule.

Michaels also shares his thoughts on how Tom Brady will do as a broadcaster, talks about what Aaron Rodgers is like, reveals the criticism that bothers him and reminisces about his early days in broadcasting.

Following the interview with Michaels, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins Jimmy for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, Jimmy shares his thoughts on legalized gambling websites, Sal talks about a big mistake he made when he recently attended a Mets game and more. 

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

You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Aaron Judge now sits at 57 home runs after two dingers Tuesday night. Five years ago, New Yorkers didn’t know who he was.

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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