Whenever YouTube yanks something off its virtual shelves, you know it has to be good, and this one was.
Danyelle Sargent, who was previously famous for yelling, “What the f–k was that?“ as an ESPN News anchor when she thought her mic was off, came close to royally pissing off Mike Singletary yesterday in a taped pregame interview from the sidelines. Sargent’s foot-in-mouth moment didn’t make the actual broadcast, but the live feed was available for media types to check out and post.
Working as the sideline reporter for Fox’s broadcast of the abominable Niners/Seahawks game, Sargent made an error that will never be forgotten, even if YouTube has erased all evidence. Since now the link has received the “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available” treatment, I’m going to have to paraphrase.
Sargent asked Singletary, “So Bill Walsh was your mentor, and one of the first phone calls you made when you found out you got this job was to him.”
Singletary looked at her like she was the female version of Vernon Davis, and Sargent started having a conversation with her earpiece, as the production truck was probably on the verge of spontaneous combustion. Sargent was afterwards seen looking down and away from a completely shocked Singletary, muttering, “What, what was wrong with that?” to the producer who was undoubtedly screaming the same quote Sargent uttered a couple years ago on ESPN News.
NY blowhard Mike Francesa got hold of the tape and ran it on his TV show last night. While he made the correct point that Bill Walsh has been “the late Bill Walsh” for quite some time, Francesa jumped the gun when he said Walsh didn’t mentor Singletary because he was from Chicago, as you can see from this story. The same article was probably the reason Sargent asked the phenomenally stupid opening question that she did, although that’s no excuse. I’ve never been a TV reporter, but it would seem to me that if your weaknesses are “fact checking” and “ability to keep from cursing on live television,” it may be time to find a new line of work.
