NESN announcer Jack Edwards. NESN announcer Jack Edwards after a Bruins’ Stanley Cup Final loss in 2019. (NESN.com.)

There is a long and strange trend of announcers or media members commenting on athletes’ bodies or food choices. Sometimes that leads to consequences, sometimes it doesn’t. The latest case has seen the subject of that criticism turn it into a donation, though. That would be Tampa Bay Lightning forward Pat Maroon, who weirdly caught a bunch of weight- and diet-related criticism from controversial NESN Boston Bruins’ play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards Tuesday:

Here’s a transcription of that. It starts with color commentator Andy Brickley saying “Pretty good strong shift there for the fourth line for Tampa. Maroon, he’s a handful down in that offensive zone below the goal line.” Edwards (seen above in 2019 after the Bruins’ Stanley Cup Final loss that year) responds “Listed at 238 pounds. That was day one of training camp. I’ve got a feeling he’s had a few more pizzas between then and now.” Brickley then says “Yeah, that’s before pregame.” And Edwards says “Yeah, right. Fasting! Inadvertent fasting for Pat Maroon is like four hours without a meal. But hey, three [Stanley] Cups in a row, who can argue with his formula?”

This garnered a lot of further attention Wednesday, especially after a notable response to Edwards from Maroon himself. Maroon tweeted that he’s making a donation in Edwards’ name to Tampa Bay Thrives, a non-profit organization assisting those with mental health and substance abuse issues:

This is far from the worst thing said on the airwaves, and it’s maybe not even the most objectionable thing Edwards has said. But it’s still not a great thing to randomly throw out there. Kudos to Maroon for taking that and turning it into something positive, though.

[The Comeback on Twitter; Edwards screengrab from NESN.com]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.