San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel made headlines this week after he abruptly ended an interview on CBS Sports Radio with Zach Gelb. The interview, which was scheduled for 15 minutes and only at the five-minute mark, transitioned into asking Samuel about comments he made regarding last year’s NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. When Samuel answered questions with a sense of apathy and lethargy, he hung up the phone and another voice, presumably a public relations staffer, was heard on the line saying he was going to camp. Ken Carman and Anthony Lima simply would not have stood for it and felt badly for Gelb.
The duo acknowledged the incident on their morning show Wednesday on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland, Ohio. They made sure to mention they are on good terms with Gelb and do not have any acrimony towards him. Contrarily, fans of the 49ers and Eagles are not pleased with his line of questioning. Upon listening to the audio for the first time, Lima strongly disagreed.
“It’s fine to ask about that,” Lima said. “It’s fun, maybe a budding rivalry here because both teams are expected to be good again.”
“I don’t think it’s budding,” Carman replied. “I think it’s a serious [rivalry].”
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Burdy suffered an injury early in the contest and his team’s defense was unable to stop the explosive offense of the Eagles, suffering a 31-7 defeat. The Eagles went on to lose Super Bowl LVII to the Kansas City Chiefs two weeks later from State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
“I didn’t understand the 49ers fans going after him for asking the question,” Carman said. “….You can hear it in Zach’s voice [that he’s] trying to have fun, but I’m sure Deebo Samuel doesn’t know Zach and maybe he thinks he’s trying to do a ‘Gotcha’?”
If the incident had happened on their show, Carman and Lima agreed that they would spend the remaining time the interview was supposed to last to staunchly criticize his actions. Gelb did not do that, but was understandably perturbed at what transpired. Had Lima been in his position though, he would have tried to keep the other person on the line for an extended period of time.
“Just to annoy everybody, [I would have said], ‘Hey, how can you get tickets to camp? Oh, it’s actually closed to the public – well is there a way we can come and get autographs after camp?,’” Lima contrived. “I would keep her on [for] as long as possible and make it excruciating for everybody involved.”
