Member-only story
A Funny Thing Happened at Wednesday’s ETSU Press Conference
Or “Why It Is Important the Media Be Allowed To Ask Any Question”
Years ago, Mike North, the famous sports talk show host, was covering an NBA Playoff Series between the Chicago Bulls, then in the midst of their Michael Jordan dynasty, and the Miami Heat, a good but not great team coached by Pat Riley.
North asked Riley “if God came down to you and said, ‘Look if you shave your head, I’ll let you beat the Bulls,’ would you?”
Riley did not answer, giving only a blank stare. North was removed from the premises. Sportscasters around the country chided him for unprofessionalism.
But North should have been allowed to ask the question.
It was later revealed a decade and a half later in Sports Talk: A Journey Inside the World of Sports Talk Radio by Alan Eisenstock as “a question right out of O’Henry’s The Gift of the Magi: If you had two loves in your life, would you give up one for the other?”
“Would you trade your most valuable possession for an NBA Championship?”
Now, see, that doesn’t sound so bad.
The thing is, however, if we start banning people for asking a question about Riley shaving his head, or giving up his most prized possession as the case may be, what slope…
