Yesterday, we posted an item regarding the Ravens’ 38-point outburst against the Chiefs -- and receiver Derrick Mason’s post-game outburst against ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson.
The verbal assault was prompted by this line from Keyshawn during a recent media conference call: “You want a bum, you pay a bum.”
When writing the blurb initially, which was based directly on an item from Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com documenting Mason’s comments, my cranium temporarily had been inserted into an opening other than the one created by a straw hat, and I mistakenly wrote that Keyshawn had uttered that phrase in reference to Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
ESPN contacted us Monday night to point out the error, and to request that we correct the story.
Without hesitation, we did. Clearly, Keyshawn wasn’t talking about Flacco. (Of course, it didn’t change the fact that Mason unloaded on Keyshawn, but we usually aspire to be mostly accurate.)
So we thought the case was closed. And, once again, we were wrong.
We heard from ESPN today, requesting that we again change the article, which now attributes Keyshawn’s “bum” statement generally to the Ravens receivers.
But what the hell should we change it to?
Here’s the relevant portion of the transcript, as provided to us in the e-mail from ESPN asking that we revise it further.
Cris Carter: “One thing I have to respect of [G.M.] Ozzie [Newsome] in Baltimore, they have a philosophy to their team. They have a philosophy . . . spend money on Ray Lewis and defense to keep people off of Ray. They’ve won that way and I’m not going to knock that. They only have a certain number of dollars out of that pie still available for the wide receivers. Wide receivers, you get what you pay for. You don’t spend no money on them, that’s what you going to get.”
(Laughter.)
Keyshawn Johnson: “Hey it is true though. You want a bum, you pay a bum.”
OK, so if Johnson isn’t referring to the Ravens receivers, who in the hell is he referring to?
Meanwhile, we’ve contacted Freeman directly to confirm that we haven’t completely lost our damn minds, and Freeman has fired off a response that makes Mason’s attack on Keyshawn look like an exchange between Chip and Dale.
So if any of you have any idea as to whom Keyshawn is referring to, please let us know.
