The Ohio State Buckeyes finally opened their 2020 football season on Saturday. That means that the majority of the media that covers the team had access to Heisman Trophy candidate QB Justin Fields for the first time after the game.
It’s 2020, so like with so many other sports and teams, the Buckeyes’ presser was done via Zoom call, and like so many other Zoom calls, someone who thought they were muted was not. That led to hurt feelings and shouts from one reporter.
Cleveland.com’s Doug Lesmerises asked Fields if he was “better than last year, and if so how?”. Fields answered the question and then left the call. While reporters waited for Ohio State coach Ryan Day to show up, the game day broadcast from 610 WTVN in Columbus can be heard on the call. The hosts acknowledge they thought Lesmerises’s question was ridiculous. The feed is cut before they go any further.
Lesmerises was upset and took a shot back at who he thought was criticizing him.
“Can I shout out the Big Ten Network, who has no idea how this job operates,” Lesmerises says for all on the call to hear. “Hey Big Ten Network, sometimes you ask a question to get a good answer. You wanna go head-to-head on asking questions anytime, I’m here.”
Someone then points out that it was 610 AM in Columbus and not the Big Ten Network that Lesmerises heard. He then redirects his ire and amends his challenge.
“610…anytime…question-asking competition. You know where I am.”
That is the end of the exchange on the call.
The hosts on air at 610 WTVN at the time were Matt McCoy, Jeff Logan, and Bill Conley. None of them addressed the error on air. McCoy is the only one of the three with a public, updated Twitter account. He has not addressed it on social media either. Lesmerises seems to have let the subject drop as well.
