If you’re a beat writer covering a specific sports team, the last thing you’d probably want to do is piss off all the players so that they refuse to talk to you. Unfortunately, that is what Mets beat writer Mike Puma did last week.
Puma, who writes for the New York Post, had less than flattering things to say about pitcher Bartolo Colon, even though he pitched the team to a 4-1 win over the Cardinals.
Via SB Nation:
Using the Michael Pineda pine-tar-on-neck incident as a conceit, New York Post beat writer Mike Puma made a joke about Bartolo Colon’s weight in his game recap of this past Thursday’s 4–1 win over the Cardinals at Citi Field. In his lede, Puma wrote under the headline “LARDBALL”:
“If the umpires searched Bartolo Colon’s neck for a foreign substance on Thursday, chances are they only would have found peanut butter.”
…
According to Daily News reporters Justin Tasch and Kristie Ackert, the team refused to speak with the media after Friday night’s win until Puma was no longer in their presence. Puma was escorted out of the clubhouse without incident, and then the players began taking questions as promised. The team refused to comment on the incident.
And here’s a picture of the article from the Post. Pretty impressive to get a food pun in the headline and sub-headline if you ask me.
Sounds like Puma is going to have to work on some serious damage control. Colon’s girth has been a repeated punchline for sportswriters everywhere, but obviously the team doesn’t find the humor when it comes from someone that spends time in the clubhouse. (Let’s hope the Mets haven’t seen this video collection.)
It’s unfortunate that what was probably a poor attempt at humor has resulted in this. Hopefully, Puma just apologizes and everyone can move on.
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