As an NFL insider, you truly never know when big news will emerge that will require you to put everything else going on around you on pause. And on Tuesday, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo had his round of golf interrupted when San Francisco 49ers star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk made his trade request from the team public.
Garafolo took to social media to report on the trade request at 1:01 EST, sharing how the 49ers “haven’t been willing” to engage in negotiations with Aiyuk over the past few months, which led to the request.
Source: #49ers All-Pro WR Brandon Aiyuk has officially requested a trade after an offseason of unsuccessful attempts to reach an extension.
Despite a recent meeting, the Niners haven’t been willing to engage in negotiations since May so Aiyuk has respectfully asked out. pic.twitter.com/EWxYMvsHch
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 16, 2024
What those who saw the report didn’t know is that Garofolo actually reported on the news at the very beginning of a round of golf at Skyway Golf Course in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Hours later on the 17th hole, Garofolo joined The Rich Eisen Show to further discuss the news in an eight-minute conversation with his colleague Tom Pelissero.
Hilariously, Garofolo didn’t let the interview disrupt his round too much. He even continued on playing golf and hit the first two shots of the hole while maintaining the discussion.
“Hold on, you’re going to watch this shot,” said Garafolo as he tee’d up his first shot on the hole. “That’s gonna play nicely.”
https://twitter.com/RichEisenShow/status/1813310443412476070
The worst part about this entire situation was that Garafolo was actually playing the round with a random playing partner he didn’t previously know named Alex. Garofolo detailed towards the end of the interview that he believed Alex was getting frustrated by his slow pace of play.
“I think Alex is a little freaked out/annoyed with the way that I’m playing right now,” Garafolo admitted. “And I just met him a couple of hours ago. He doesn’t know what is going on. He has no idea.”
For a moment, imagine being Alex and watching your playing partner on a video call while hitting his tee shot. It has to be one of the strangest round of golf he has ever played.
With that being said, credit to Garofolo for multi-tasking in perhaps the most impressive way possible, as he did provide some very valuable insight on Aiyuk’s future in San Francisco. But maybe next time, Garofolo may want to pick a playing partner who knows about his career ahead of time…
