OT: Reporters Asking NBA Players Stupid Questions

[Carnac]

Hello friends, this dynamic IS NOT limited to just the NBA. It happens all across the wide world of sports, including WCBB. We've all listened to and and cringed as we watched a number of pre/post game interviews where Geno or other coaches were subjected to some real dumb a** questions. The reporters that ask these questions are "paid professionals." They should know how to ask intelligent questions.

It makes me think that leaning how to ask "intelligent - thought provoking" questions WAS NOT part of their journalism curriculum in college. Some (not all) ask some of the most stupidest - dumb a** questions ever. I believe some ask a question just to ask it, not thinking about its relevance, importance or if it's a question anyone wants to know the answer to, before they ask it.

Food for thought - Before Super Bowl XXII in 1988, here are a few questions reporters asked Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams during media day:

• “Doug, do you feel like Jackie Robinson?”
• “Doug, would you have been able to handle all of this, especially the black thing, if you had made the Super Bowl a few years back, say, when you were 25?”
• “Doug, has there been much progress in this country since 1970, when the schools you grew up in were finally integrated?”
• “Doug, do you feel because of the black quarterback issue, that the whole country is looking at you and saying, ‘Well, what are you going to do?'”

This one is an honorable mention because the question wasn’t exactly asked at a press conference. But it seemed downright wrong to exclude it from the list entirely. Following a 2012 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, a reporter asked Bryce Harper (then 19 years old) if he was going to take advantage of the lower drinking age in Canada by going out for a “celebratory Canadian beer.” Harper’s response, which instantly went viral, was nothing short of spectacular: “That’s a clown question, bro.”

A reporter once asked LSU head football coach Les Miles, via Cracked.com: "Coach, all week you've seemed really relaxed. I'm wondering how much of that was actually true, real relaxation -- how'd you sleep last night? I mean, give us a sense of what you actually went through this week."
Miles’ response? Laughter, of course, followed by “That is not even relevant.”

What's the "dumbest question" you've heard a reporter ask Geno (or any other interviewee) ?

 

[#12in21]

Geno is one of the best at turning that back on the idiot that asked it, that is all I can remember off the top of my head. He has definitely fielded a great number of innane questions from reporters but you would think by now they would know not to go there!

 

[Bigboote]

To Bryce Harper, 19-year-old Nationals right fielder, when they were playing in Toronto:

Reporter: So, Bryce, you gonna go out for drinks after the game? Y'know the drinking age is 18 up here, so you're legal.

Harper: I'm not gonna answer that question.

Reporter: C'mon, aren't you gonna have a beer or something?

Harper: I said I'm not gonna answer that question:

(Back and forth once or twice more)

Harper: I'm not answering that question. That's a clown question, bro.

I got a tee-shirt saying "That's a clown question bro" within a few hours of when that aired. I honestly don't even know where Harper's playing, but I have so many tees, I still wear that one sometimes.

 

[EricLA]

Not sure about Geno but there was a pretty famous exchange between Jim Calhoun and a moron reporter Ken Krayeske "Get some facts and then come back and see me"... Coach Calhoun was asked about his salary and if he'd be giving any of it back.

 

[chrissaran]

To Bryce Harper, 19-year-old Nationals right fielder, when they were playing in Toronto:

Reporter: So, Bryce, you gonna go out for drinks after the game? Y'know the drinking age is 18 up here, so you're legal.

Harper: I'm not gonna answer that question.

Reporter: C'mon, aren't you gonna have a beer or something?

Harper: I said I'm not gonna answer that question:

(Back and forth once or twice more)

Harper: I'm not answering that question. That's a clown question, bro.

I got a tee-shirt saying "That's a clown question bro" within a few hours of when that aired. I honestly don't even know where Harper's playing, but I have so many tees, I still wear that one sometimes.

Philadelphia.