(would you trust this man to mix a Purple Pecker Wrecker?)
CSNNE.com’s Tom E. Curran took in Roger Goodell’s pre-Super Bowl XLIX press conference yesterday and denounced the NFL Commissioner for “a vindictive, self-important, spare-no-expense investigation into footballs being less than 12.5 PSI” (“how’s that Jets tampering charge coming along, Rog? What a %#$&*$% fraud”). Midway thru Curran’s rip job, he had a chance encounter with NFLPA President Eric Winston, who added, “Hey, even the worst bartender at Spring Break does pretty well. Think about it, a 2-year-old could [be NFL Commissioner] and still make money.” On Saturday, Winston apologized, as the Washington Post’s Marissa Payne details :
Winston, an offensive tackle on the Cincinatti Bengals who was elected to lead the NFLPA last March, took to Twitter after Curran used the remark in his Friday column and accused the reporter of taking his comment “out of context” and using it to “burn” him.
“I am disappointed that my comment was taken out of context and inserted into a column without any knowledge that the conversation was ‘on the record.’ I am disappointed that this reporter chose to burn me, but this is an important lesson that I will learn going forward,” Winston wrote.
While condemning Curran, Winston also doled out an apology to Goodell.
“In a casual conversation … about the success of the NFL and how nothing seems to get in its way, I inappropriately and flippantly made a remark about the job of Commissioner Goodell. We often disagree on the issues but I want to apologize to Roger for being unprofessional,” Winston wrote. “This is my fault and again, I apologize.”
Curran’s yet to respond, either via CSNNE or on Twitter, and it would be interesting to learn more about he “burned” Winston, who presumably has dealt with the media before.