Just to be clear, Ryan Clark did not arrive to his NFL playoff assignment for ESPN Monday night and decide to go on TV naked.
While covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Clark’s attire sparked rampant social media speculation as to whether he was wearing a shirt. Clark wore a burgundy sport coat and much to the surprise of many, the ESPN analyst paired it with a brown crew neck top.
Clark may have appeared shirtless on TV at times Monday night, but after the game, Tampa Bay safety Antoine Winfield Jr. arrived on ESPN’s set for an interview and actually was shirtless. Winfield Jr. rocked the look some thought Clark was attempting to pull off by donning a sport coat with nothing underneath. The risqué attire garnered praise from Scott Van Pelt and prompted Clark to address any speculation about his own shirt.
“I do have on a shirt, guys. I’m not on TV naked.” – Ryan Clark
“When you’re an All-Pro safety, though, you can come out nearly butt-ass naked.” – SVP
“I’m an NFL analyst. I can’t come out here with my chest open like Louis Riddick.” – Clark 🏈🤣 pic.twitter.com/aMM6wd2o97
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024
“I do have on a shirt, guys. I’m not on TV naked,” Clark insisted. “I am an NFL analyst, I can’t come out here with my chest open like Louis Riddick.”
If Clark was going to go naked on TV during the NFL playoffs, Tampa Bay is one of the better places to do it. No one would dare attempt that look in Kansas City where the Chiefs and Dolphins were tasked with playing amid some of the lowest temperatures on record, or Buffalo, which got dumped on with three feet of snow.
We’re not sure whether Winfield Jr. was trolling Clark or if the safety’s shirtless outfit was just a coincidence, but Riddick and Mike Greenberg definitely trolled their ESPN colleague Tuesday morning. After getting hit with a quip from Clark Monday night, Riddick and Greenberg played into the joke by unbuttoning their shirts on Get Up.
[ESPN]
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com