Sports talk radio interviews with active professional athletes are usually a trigger to change the channel, especially when they’re preceded by a three-minute promo montage.
Active players have a way of using as many words as they can, while still saying absolutely nothing at all. But apparently, Chicago White Sox reliever Joe Kelly is different.
Kelly was in studio with hosts Danny Parkins and Matt Spiegel on Chicago’s 670 The Score Monday afternoon and the MLB pitcher didn’t seem concerned about the FCC rules. After already dropping one f-bomb, Parkins and Spiegel assured Kelly they had the dump button handled.
“We have bets off-air on how many times we’re gonna make you so comfortable that you curse,” Parkins joked, without revealing the over/under. Kelly was then asked about his reaction after picking off New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks Sunday afternoon during the first game of a doubleheader.
The brutal baserunning blunder came in the bottom of the seventh, with Hicks on second and the White Sox leading 1-0. After Hicks was called out, Kelly turned to him with his hands out and started yelling something.
Joe Kelly caught him WAY off the bag pic.twitter.com/YX0dwEPkib
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) May 22, 2022
“Where’s that button at?” Kelly asked during his radio interview, hinting that he might be on the verge of some profanity.
“You’re good,” Parkins and Spiegel assured him.
“So I was like ‘That a baby, Aaron. What the f*ck are you doing?’” Kelly recalled emphatically.
I said, ‘Way to go, you’re such a stud, that a baby.’ And I just let it rip because it was the dumbest sh*t ever, you know what I mean? Just play your game, don’t press.”
I would have taken the under on how many f-bombs will Joe Kelly drop…And I would have lost. pic.twitter.com/GmCyxhxqpc
— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) May 24, 2022
“Alright,” Spiegel interjected. “We do have to ask you to think about the cursing thing just every once in a while.”
Kelly literally asked for the dump button! You can’t expect him to “think about the cursing thing” any more than that.
“I said, what the f*ck are you doing,” Kelly reiterated seconds later. OK, that one was without warning.
“I asked him not to!” Parkins said with a laugh, clearly getting complaints from his producers who were forced to deal with repeatedly hitting the dump button so the curses don’t air on terrestrial radio. But at least now, after three f-bombs in the span of 90 seconds, Kelly probably got it all out of his system. Nope.
Less than 30 seconds later, Kelly again described laughing at Hicks while saying, “what the f*ck.”
“You gotta stop cursing,” Parkins pleaded, now realizing Kelly wasn’t joking when he asked where the dump button was two minutes ago. “They are gonna actually have an aneurysm on the other side of the glass, I apologize.”
That’s four f-bombs in the span of two minutes. I would have taken the under. Profanity aside, Kelly is a solid sports radio guest who brings natural energy and colorful commentary to the airwaves. He even looked like a radio pro, sitting in-studio with one ear exposed out of his headphones. Kelly clearly doesn’t subscribe to the “don’t say anything newsworthy” rule that so many other pro athletes attempt to follow, and for that, the audience is thankful.
