Monthly Archives: April 2013

Suburban Chicago reporter’s unexpected one-on-one with Tiger: ‘Engaging, funny, and more than willing to talk’

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On Thursday, I did a post on how Tiger Woods declined to do an interview with Sports Illustrated for a cover story. Nothing new there, given how Woods rarely grants 1-on-1 interviews.

However, there are exceptions. My post prompted to Jim Owczarski to drop an email. Now with OnMilwaukee.com, Jim wrote about an unexpected encounter he once had with Woods while working as a reporter in suburban Chicago.

It’s too bad Woods doesn’t do this more often.

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(The SI story) got me thinking about the one-on-one I had with Tiger following his win at the 2003 Western Open.

It was the weirdest thing, and I (nor my editors at the Naperville Sun) knew how “big” that get was at the time.

Early in tournament week, I told a PGA Tour media rep that I wanted Tiger for a few questions about his interview style. I was intrigued at how he made eye contact with each questioner, and I felt he offered up more in his answers than he was given credit for. I was curious as to how and why he developed that interview style.

Thankfully, the Tour media rep felt the topic was interesting enough to bring it Tiger, and to my surprise, I was quietly called back to the interview room there at Cog Hill to meet with Tiger. I initially pitched a walk-and-talk, but Tiger remained seated and offered me a chair next to him.

He was engaging, funny, and seemed more than willing to talk longer about the topic than what I was “allowed” – though his security team made their presence known that it would be kept to 10 minutes.

The first time I realized this was a relatively big coup for a 22-year-old reporter from (at the time) a small daily paper was when one of my heroes, Bob Verdi, raised an eyebrow with a “really?” when I told him about it.

Tribute: Recalling Roger Ebert’s reviews of sports movies

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As a student attending the University of Illinois in the 1970s, it was natural that Roger Ebert was one of my first journalism heroes. Ebert roamed the Daily Illini offices in the early 60s. He gave us the feeling that if he could make it big, perhaps there was a chance for the rest of us.

In tribute to one of the all-time great film critics, I pulled excerpts from reviews on notable sports films from his site at RogerEbert.com.

In a review of Hoosiers, Ebert reminds us that he actually once was a sportswriter.

Hoosiers: I was a sportswriter once for a couple of years in Downstate Illinois. I covered mostly high school sports, and if I were a sportswriter again, I’d want to cover them again. There is a passion to high school sports that transcends anything that comes afterward; nothing in pro sports equals the intensity of a really important high school basketball game.

“Hoosiers” knows that. This is a movie about a tiny Indiana high school that sends a team all the way to the state basketball finals in the days when schools of all sizes played in the same tournaments and a David could slay a Goliath. That’s still the case in Indiana but not, alas, in Illinois. 4 stars

Bull Durham: “Bull Durham” is a treasure of a movie because it knows so much about baseball and so little about love. The movie is a completely unrealistic romantic fantasy, and in the real world the delicate little balancing act of these three people would crash into pieces. But this is a movie, and so we want to believe in love, and we want to believe that once in a while lovers can get a break from fate. That’s why the movie’s ending is so perfect. Not because it seems just right, but because it seems wildly impossible, and we want to believe it anyway. 3 1/2 stars

The Natural: Why didn’t they make a baseball picture? Why did THE NATURAL have to be turned into idolatry on behalf of Robert Redford? Why did a perfectly good story, filled with interesting people, have to be made into one man’s ascension to the godlike, especially when no effort is made to give that ascension meaning? And were the most important people in the god-man’s life kept mostly offscreen so they wouldn’t upstage him? 2 stars

Hoop Dreams: A film like “Hoop Dreams” is what the movies are for. It takes us, shakes us, and make us think in new ways about the world around us. It gives us the impression of having touched life itself. 4 stars

A League of Their Own: The movie has a real bittersweet charm. The baseball sequences, we’ve seen before. What’s fresh are the personalities of the players, the gradual unfolding of their coach and the way this early chapter of women’s liberation fit into the hidebound traditions of professional baseball. By the end, when the women get together again for their reunion, it’s touching, the way they have to admit that, whaddaya know, they really were pioneers. 3 stars

Rocky: His name is Sylvester Stallone, and, yes, in 1976 he did remind me of the young Marlon Brando. How many actors have come and gone and been forgotten who were supposed to be the “new Brando,” while Brando endured? And yet in “Rocky” he provides shivers of recognition reaching back to “A Streetcar Named Desire.” He’s tough, he’s tender, he talks in a growl, and hides behind cruelty and is a champion at heart. “I coulda been a contender,” Brando says in “On the Waterfront.” This movie takes up from there. 4 stars

Caddyshack: Maybe one of the movie’s problems is that the central characters are never really involved in the same action. Murray’s off on his own, fighting gophers. Dangerfield arrives, devastates, exits. Knight is busy impressing the caddies, making vague promises about scholarships, and launching boats. If they were somehow all drawn together into the same story, maybe we’d be carried along more confidently. But Caddyshack feels more like a movie that was written rather loosely, so that when shooting began there was freedom_too much freedom_for it to wander off in all directions in search of comic inspiration. 2 1/2 stars

Raging Bull: Martin Scorsese‘s “Raging Bull” is a movie about brute force, anger, and grief. It is also, like several of Scorsese’s other movies, about a man’s inability to understand a woman except in terms of the only two roles he knows how to assign her: virgin or whore. There is no room inside the mind of the prizefighter in this movie for the notion that a woman might be a friend, a lover, or a partner. She is only, to begin with, an inaccessible sexual fantasy. And then, after he has possessed her, she becomes tarnished by sex. Insecure in his own manhood, the man becomes obsessed by jealousy — and releases his jealousy in violence. 4 stars

 

 

Losing turf: Media moved out of floor seats for Final Four; Down from 200 to 70

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It won’t be business as usual for many writers at the Final Four. Grumbling is sure to be at an all-time high.

The media loses again in the futile battle to maintain its turf. The NCAA has decided to reduce floor seating for reporters from in the neighborhood of 200 to around 70. The ousted members will be shipped to various spots of the Georgia Dome. More than likely, many of them, ticked off, will decide to watch on television from the press room.

Actually, this has been the routine for writers at venues for the entire tournament. NCAA officials told the United States Basketball Writers Association that it had other uses for those prime floor locations.

According to USBWA president John Akers of Basketball Times, the situation could have been worse. The media could have been booted off the floor completely.

“Last May, we got an inkling they were interested in moving us,” Akers said. “If we hadn’t gotten involved, there wouldn’t be anything at courtside. That’s not to say we did anything special because we still lost 2/3s of our seats. But we saved what we could.”

According to Akers, the NCAA plans to use those former media seats for family and friends of the teams; for use to raise money for charities; and for sponsors. “We all suspect the seats will go to CBS more than the others,” Akers said.

The likely reason is more about aesthetics than making money. The NCAA tournament generates billions of dollars; a few more bucks for floor seats isn’t going to make a difference.

Akers said the NCAA wants to have more fans closer to the floor. Cheering fans look better on TV than rumpled reporters pounding a computer. In some cases, those seats are empty, especially for the second game on Saturday, when media members are working on their accounts of the first game.

“They kept asking questions, ‘Why aren’t those seats filled?'” Akers said. “We explained, ‘People have to work on their game stories.'”

There’s the obvious question: Why is it important the media to be sitting on the floor in the first place?

“In basketball, you need to be down there to hear what’s going on,” Akers said. “It’s different than covering football and baseball. You wouldn’t want to be on the floor for those sports. Unless you cover basketball, you can’t really understand why it is important to be on the floor. If somebody doesn’t want to believe it, they aren’t going to believe it.”

Akers knows many media members won’t be happy with their new seat locations for this year’s Final Four. However, he doesn’t intend to be in charge of the complaint department.

The NCAA asked Akers and the USBWA to create a priority list for the floor seats. They declined.

“We didn’t want to get involved and have it be on us,” Akers said. “It’s on them. They wanted to do this. If people are upset, they should be upset at the NCAA.”

Akers joked that he “picked the short straw” in being on call as USBWA president this year. Normally, he said the job is mostly ceremonial. It wasn’t this year, and he expects it won’t be the case for future presidents. He anticipates the NCAA likely isn’t done when it comes to reducing media seats on the floor.

The situation could be worse next year when the Final Four is in vast Cowboys Stadium. Preliminary reports say some media seating will feel closer to Oklahoma than Dallas.

“People are going to have to put in more work than ever before,” Akers said. “And probably the best we can do is salvage what we have.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keith Olbermann recalls how Stan Isaacs helped launch his career

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Tributes have poured in for long-time Newsday columnist Stan Isaacs, who died Tuesday night at the age of 83.

Keith Olbermann has ample reason to have fond memories of Isaacs. One of his columns literally launched Olbermann’s career.

On August 12, 1981, Isaacs, one of the first sports media columnists, wrote a column about a 22-year graduate of Cornell who had an unconventional approach in his early days on New York radio.

Isaacs wrote:

Olbermann does straight news and scores, but it is with his eye for the offbeat that he distinguishes himself from the run-of-the-mill sportscasters with pear-shaped tones and empty heads.

Olbermann said the column was reprinted as filler in the national edition of the Sunday Washington Post. CNN sports vice-president Rick Davis, a displaced Washingtonian, wanted to liven up the network’s sportscast. He saw Isaac’s column. Six weeks later, Olbermann made his debut for CNN.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

In an email, Olbermann added more about his relationship with Isaacs:

*******

Stan and I had lunch that day and he wanted to hear more of my sportscasts. At the end of it he said he was disappointed in only one thing. “You sound too much like…” here great disgust crept into his tone “…like an announcer.” He forgave me that.

Stan and I used to talk regularly about the amazing influence one mention in a column like that could have in those days. And he would always quote me on Fred Merkle.

About 10 years ago we were in the press box at Yankee stadium and he was reading aloud from the press guide. He came to the part in which the Yanks admitted they had no idea who their PA announcer had been before Bob Sheppard. “You’re this great researcher/baseball expert/television muckety-muck. Certainly you can find out this perplexing hole in history. I give you one year.”

I found it.

With Roger Ebert gone in the same week, the world is, sadly, a little more safe for mediocrity.
 

 

Selena Roberts breaks Auburn cheating story on her new site

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The notion that Auburn might not play by the rules hardly is new. I almost feel like Captain Renault saying he’s “shocked” to discover gambling at Rick’s.

However, what is new is the source of the latest allegations. They came from Selena Roberts in her website, Roopstigo.

Here’s the summary of the story from USA Today:

Selena Roberts, an Auburn alum, writes in a story on Roopstigo, a website she founded, that Auburn committed a variety of NCAA violations including payment of players and changing grades in 2012. Based on interaction with former Auburn safety Mike McNeil, one of four former Tigers who were arrested for an armed robbery in 2011, and “more than a dozen players” from the BCS title team including Neiko Thorpe, Darvin Adams and Mike Blanc, Roberts reports players had grades changed, were provided with money and “more than 40” tested positive for drugs after the title game.

The former New York Times and Sports Illustrated reporter founded the site last October. Her story alleging misconduct at Auburn is fairly good way to get Roopstigo’s name out there.

She definitely has their attention in Alabama. Denials were flying all over the place.

In a Q/A with Al.com, Roberts stood by her story.

AL.com: Mike Blanc is now denying some of the things he said to you. What’s your take on that?

Roberts: Well, I think I mentioned this to you before in an email. It takes a lot of courage to speak the truth and to go out and have some conviction about, you know, a subject that would very popular, obviously. A subject that, let’s face it, at Auburn, draws a lot of backlash. I think it’s unfortunate that he’s taking that stance, but given the pressure he’s under I can see how it happens.

AL.com: Do you think he changed his story after this story got so big today?

Roberts: I think any time athletes talk and have interviews, I think they’re used to, maybe a smaller market or something like that, I don’t know. I don’t know why he would change his stance, to be honest with you. I don’t know what goes on in his head.

 

 

 

Not talking: Tiger Woods snubs Sports Illustrated for cover story

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This week marks Tiger Woods’ 21st cover on Sports Illustrated. So it isn’t exactly a novelty for the old/new world No. 1 golfer.

Yet it still is Sports Illustrated. If the magazine is going to do a big cover piece, you figure you might make yourself available to spend a few minutes with the reporter. Right?

Well, in the no-surprise department, Woods snubbed SI’s Michael Rosenberg. In an email, Rosenberg wrote:

“Tiger did not talk to me. I knew he probably would not. His representatives were honest with me about that from the beginning. I told them I would love to talk to Tiger and get his voice in the story, but I did not beg for access. I told them my goal was not to defend or criticize Tiger, but to explain him.

“It’s no secret that Tiger Woods is one of the toughest subjects for a sportswriter because he is so guarded. But I felt strongly that there was a good story here, and I didn’t want to avoid it simply because he avoided me.

“I talked to many people who have interacted with Tiger. Most of them are not quoted in the piece, and many of them have no stake in Tiger’s career. They all informed my view of him. I hope readers will finish the story feeling like they understand Tiger better, and have a sense of how he recovered from his personal and professional nadir.”

******

Some things never change. I never had a one-on-one with Woods during my 12 years covering the PGA Tour. That was the case with virtually everyone out there.

Once, I spent three days in Southern California tracking his roots. I talked to his father, Earl, for two hours at his house; met with his first coaches; toured the courses where Woods hit his first shots.

I asked if I could get five minutes on the phone with Woods to talk about his early days. I thought it might be a topic he would enjoy discussing.

The answer? A definitive no.

That’s fine. However, where I have a problem is when Woods suddenly is available whenever he has something to promote.

There he is talking to Darren Rovell or popping up on CNN and CNBC. Woods is willing to chat when it suits his agenda.

I’m sure Woods’ handlers have advised, if not begged him to make himself more available. From a PR standpoint, it just makes sense.

But as I said, some things never change.

 

 

 

New 60 Minutes Sports: Lara Logan seems very enthralled with Chris Berman; makes him squirm about his wallet

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The latest edition of 60 Minutes Sports (Showtime, Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET) features a Chris Berman profile by Lara Logan.

Judging from the clip below, it seems as if Logan was very much taken by Berman.

“Some guys are just funny,” Logan said. “He’s funny…He loves what he does. He cares about people.”

Hopefully, Logan will bring up the criticism that has been leveled at Berman in recent years.

Also, near the end of the video, check out Berman’s ridiculously overstuffed wallet, and how Logan makes him squirm.

Q/A with CBS’ Tracy Wolfson: Horrific injury shows need for sideline reporters

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Tracy Wolfson was about four feet from Kevin Ware when the unthinkable happened Sunday afternoon.

“I didn’t see the actual fall,” Wolfson said. “Everyone was watching the game. The fall isn’t what you’re looking at. I heard him when he hit the ground. I was probably one of the first people who realized what took place. I remember I picked up my mic (and told producer Mark Wolff), ‘He’s down and it’s bad.'”

In seconds, Wolfson, CBS’ sideline reporter for the Louisville-Duke game, went into scramble mode for what would be the most challenging assignment of her career. Ultimately, she was lauded for securing vital information about the horrific injury and an emotional post-game interview with Louisville coach Rick Pitino.

Yet when I talked to Wolfson nearly 48 hours after Sunday’s game, you could sense the intensity of that situation still had a grip on her. She still hasn’t watched a replay of the telecast.

“You’re running on adrenaline when it’s going on,” Wolfson said. “It didn’t sink in for me until I got to the airport. I looked at Jim (Nantz). We let out a big sigh. It was a feeling of, ‘Oh my God, what just happened?'”

Here’s my Q/A with Wolfson on how she handled Sunday; how it validated the role of sideline reporters; how she hopes to see Ware during the Final Four in Atlanta; and how the Michigan grad intends to be impartial at the Final Four.

What was Sunday like for you? Did you ever have a comparable experience?

No, it was so unprecedented. You don’t expect to be in a situation like that. Sports is supposed to be lighthearted and fun. Then all of the sudden, you’re facing a news story like that. It’s almost like when the lights went out in the Super Bowl.

I remember I put my hands to my face. I knew I had a few seconds to catch my breath. You saw how devastating it was and you don’t want to get in the way. Then I realized, ‘OK, now I’m part of the story.’

Your job is to get as much information as you can get while trying to be respectful to the team and the coach. You have to find the right balance.

How did you and CBS achieve that balance?

CBS decided not to do any on-cameras interviews with the coaches at halftime like we normally do. Let’s just talk to (Pitino) off-camera. Let him regroup with his team and then see what he wants to say. If he didn’t want to say anything, that’s OK too.

He wound up giving us an inside look at what Kevin Ware said to his teammates and a reminder that his mom lives in Atlanta.

Louisville (sports information director Kenny Klein) was tremendous. There was no panic in him whatsoever. He gave us the information we needed.

How did you mentally prepare for the post-game interview with Pitino?

I wasn’t supposed to do the interview. Normally, (Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg) do the interview with the winning coach during the celebration. I interview the loser.

With three minutes to go, the producer said, ‘Tracy, we’re going to try to get this live before we go to 60 Minutes.’ The only possible way was for me to do it.

It was another delicate situation. You have to ask the right questions. I didn’t want to neglect what the team did. That was the one thing on my mind. You need to ask about Kevin Ware and the incident, but I wanted to get in one question about the team and how well they played despite everything that was going on.

Were you surprised at how graphic Pitino was in talking about the injury?

It did catch me by surprise, I have to admit. We saw the emotion. Maybe for him the best way to keep going was to give the facts. Sometimes, it brings you back to reality. It caught a lot of people by surprise, but they wanted to hear that.

A few days have passed. Are you still replaying what happened in your mind?

I’ve got to be honest. There’s a little bit like a sadness. Not that you don’t get to grieve, but I didn’t have time to actually process what went on. It was trying for everyone involved to not only balance it, but to feel for this kid. It takes a lot out of you. You don’t really have time to think.

What I’ve been doing is following him and seeing his progress and things he tweets out. It brought a smile to my face knowing that he’s going to try to be in Atlanta. I really hope we get a chance to sit down with him to see he’s OK.

You have heard people question the need for sideline reporters. Did your work Sunday provide a sense of validation?

I used the example earlier of what happened at the Super Bowl. I truly believe that is the need for a reporter.

I work with Jim and (Verne Lundquist). They are two of the best storytellers in the business. If you have a game without an incident, you don’t necessarily need someone.

It is in those situations (like Sunday) where you need someone. I’m OK being that person who only steps into that role when it is necessary.  I’m not someone who needs to be on the air six times a game because you have a reporter there and you have to put them on. We’re all a team and I add to the broadcast. I try to give to the viewer something they can’t necessarily get. In those situations (like Sunday), that’s a perfect example.

CBS doesn’t use sideline reporters for regular-season NFL games. You work as a sideline reporter for CBS’ college football games. How do you feel about that?

I’m biased. Of course, I believe there’s a need for sideline reporters.  It’s my job. I want to work. I see the difference between college football and the NFL. Any relevant information, injury reports. In the NFL, a lot of that stuff goes directly to the booth. But you did see in the Super Bowl where you need them.

There’s nothing wrong with having a sideline reporter present and just utilized pregame, halftime interview or report, postgame. It doesn’t mean they have to do those out-of-the-box stories during the game.

But you have access down there. You can see things that you don’t necessarily get from a PR person. In college you can hear things. You have relationships where you can get information.

It’s great to hear from a coach. It always brings to life the emotions, especially in tight games or when upsets are happening. I think that access is huge.

There’s nothing wrong with having someone down there and not doing a typical sideline reporter job that we’ve all known in the past that gets so criticized. The No. 1 thing is to have someone that can do that job and is knowledgeable is about sports. Also, (that person) can adjust on the fly to have to cover a blackout or a horrific injury like we saw Sunday.

The most visible element for the sideline reporter is to interview a coach after the first half. How do basketball coaches compare to football coaches when it comes to the halftime interview?

It’s always challenging. It depends on the situation and the coach. If his team is getting blown out by 20 points, he’s not going to be happy. It’s a delicate balance. You don’t want to put them in a bad position with your questions, but you want to get the best out of them.

You’re a 1997 grad of Michigan. How is it going to be having the Wolverines in the Final Four?

I’ll definitely know a lot of people in the stands. However, I won’t be wearing maize and blue. This is the Final Four. Once they tip off, it’s just another game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonnie Bernstein to become ‘public face’ of Campus Insiders

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Bonnie Bernstein is set to launch the next phase of her career.

She is going to become the “public face” of Campus Insiders, a digital college sports network. Bernstein also will be the network’s vice-president of content and brand development. She will be based out of Chicago, recording her shows from Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios.

Also coming on board is IMG, which will participate on several levels.

I’ll have more later on. Here’s the official announcement.

******

Campus Insiders, the online destination for college sports fans, today announced the addition of acclaimed sports journalist Bonnie Bernstein as the public face of the digital sports network and Vice President of Content and Brand Development.

Bernstein will host a daily show providing opinion on the news of the day, studio analysis and debate, and reports from an unprecedented network of campus-based “Insiders,” offering reports and news from college campuses around the country. Launching at the start of the 2013 college football season, Bernstein’s programming will also feature unique interactive components to engage CI viewers. Content will stream on CampusInsiders.com and will be distributed via social media and a strategic alliance of third-party digital destinations. Bernstein’s show is projected to be viewed 100 million times annually.

As VP of Content and Brand Development, Bernstein will utilize her keen eye for talent and her creative vision to develop original programming for Campus Insiders.  She will also work closely with the network’s marketing team to develop the Campus Insiders brand and secure corporate sponsorships.  Campus Insiders is produced by Silver Chalice and IMG College.

“I’ve always had a passion for entrepreneurship, and this is an incredible opportunity to branch out beyond my broadcast work,” said Bernstein. “I’m looking forward to wearing new hats as I help bring shows from concept to market and build a brand powered by tremendous resources. The unequivocal goal is to make Campus Insiders a destination for college sports fans.“

“Sports fans all over the country recognize and connect with Bonnie Bernstein.  We’re fortunate to have both her on-air talents and her passion for programming and content at our disposal,” said Crowley Sullivan, GM of Campus Insiders. “We fully expect Bonnie to act as a guiding force for Campus Insiders as we continue to grow.”

Bernstein is recognized by the American Sportscasters Association as one of the most accomplished female journalists in the industry. She has hosted a variety of ESPN shows, including NFL Live, Outside the Lines, Jim Rome is Burning and First Take, as well as a daily NFL show on ESPN Radio in New York. Bernstein is the only female fill-in host for The Dan Patrick Show. She spent eight years at CBS Sports as the lead reporter for the NFL and NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships.

Bernstein’s show will originate from HARPO Studios in Chicago. CBS Sports basketball analyst Seth Davis and CollegeFootballNews.com founder Pete Fiutak are also featured on the CI talent roster.

To extend the reach of Campus Insiders, Silver Chalice has enlisted the participation of IMG, a global leader in sports, media, and entertainment. IMG will help provide access to on-air talent, contribute sales and marketing support, and provide access to universities, helping increase exposure for the schools and their sports teams.

About Campus Insiders
Campus Insiders will serves college sports fans by creating timely, relevant, and behind the scenes content, programming, products and destinations, and live events that go beyond the standard and give fans a unique, inside perspective, all delivered through the strength of a smart technology experience.

About First Round Media
First Round Media, LLC creates digital product experiences and video properties for digital distribution. The Company develops infrastructure, digital assets, and operations designed to create a leading digital platform for producing and distributing, audio-visual, college sports-themed content (including game highlights).  First Round Media’s first property is Campus Insiders, which showcases exclusive video content, national and local coverage, and in-depth analysis for college football and basketball.

First Round Media is a division of Silver Chalice New Media. The Silver Chalice team operates offices out of Boulder and Chicago, with additional satellite sales offices in New York and Los Angeles.  Silver Chalice is an equal opportunity employer.

 

Outrageous behavior: How does Mike Rice still have a job at Rutgers?

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If you thought Bob Knight was bad…Well, he has nothing on Mike Rice.

ESPN just released video and a story by Don Van Natta Jr. about the outrageous behavior of the Rutgers basketball coach at practice. Appalling is the only appropriate word here.

From the story:

“Outside the Lines” has obtained several-dozen hours of Rutgers men’s basketball practices from 2010-2012 that show dozens of incidents in which head coach Mike Rice hurls basketballs from close range at his players’ heads, legs and feet; shoves and grabs his players; feigns punching them; kicks them; and screams obscenities and homophobic slurs.

About 30 minutes of the video was viewed in December by athletic director Tim Pernetti, who suspended Rice for three games that month and fined him $50,000. But the incidents in the videos obtained by “Outside the Lines” appear to go beyond Pernetti’s description at the time of “inappropriate behavior and language” between Rice and his players. When he announced the suspension on Dec. 13, Pernetti offered few specifics after conducting a week-long investigation.

In addition to Rice’s physical actions seen in the practices, Rice calls Rutgers players “fa–ots,” “mother—-ers,” “pu–ies,” “sissy b-tches,” and “c—-,” among other epithets.

Eric Murdock, an ex-NBA player and a former director of player development for the Scarlet Knights, told “Outside the Lines” that Rice’s “outrageous” behavior had caused at least three players to transfer from the team, including forward Gilvydas Biruta, who transferred to Rhode Island prior to last season.

“He would throw his cap at me and he would call me many names,” said Biruta, who was born in Lithuania but played high school basketball in New Jersey. “The adjectives were creative. They were mean words.” Biruta said Rice’s insults were often not about his game but about him personally. “If you’re going to criticize me as a basketball player, I’m OK with that,” he said, “but he would criticize me as a person.”

If this guy still has a job tomorrow at Rutgers, I’d be surprised.