Given that 14-year NBA vet turned Bulls TV analyst Kendall Gill (above, left) had a brief tenure as a professional boxer, he might be the wrong TV guy to pick a fight with. Since Wally Szczerbiak’s punchable face is employed by MSG, however, he wasn’t on hand for a taping of Comcast Sports Net’s “Sports Talk Live” Tuesday, leaving the Big Ten Network’s Tim Doyle with no better opponent than Gill, as eyewitness Danny Ecker of Crain’s Chicago Business explains :
Mr. Gill approached Mr. Doyle and called him out for his comments, which escalated to a shoving match and ultimately Mr. Gill throwing a punch at Mr. Doyle. The two bumped up against a sign on the wall and a small amount of blood was drawn (though it was unclear exactly how) before the two were separated.
“We’re looking further into the incident that took place in our newsroom earlier today,” said CSN Chicago news director Kevin Cross in a statement late last night. “Until the investigation is complete, Kendall Gill will not be appearing on our air.”
After Monday night’s game against Denver, Mr. Gill said on the air that the call of basket interference against Bulls center Joakim Noah with 1.7 seconds left in overtime “was a very bad call on the officials’ part,” a point that Mr. Doyle, a frequent panelist on the show, refuted on air Tuesday evening. The two were also debating the topic before we went live in what appeared to be friendly banter.