Following critical commentary made by ESPN analyst and former National Football League safety Ryan Clark on NFL Live towards Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, he received a considerable amount of backlash. The moment generated laughs on set, but those listening to Tagovailoa respond to Clark’s remarks on his body could evince his austere tone, seeing that he was irked by the situation. Throughout his response, the quarterback spoke about the lack of respect within the discourse, stating that his family are tough-minded and can get scrappy if necessary. He concluded the hostile statement by saying that Clark should keep his name out of his mouth entirely.
Tagovailoa suffered various concussions last year and has had trouble staying healthy since his NFL debut after being selected No. 5 overall in the 2020 Draft. Dolphins fans hope he will be able to stay healthy and emerge as a top quarterback in the game, especially after enjoying a period of growth and success before a slew of injuries interrupted his campaign. Although 610 Sports Radio largely focuses on the Kansas City Chiefs, who will aim to defend a Super Bowl title heading into this year, they took notice of how Tagovailoa chose to handle this occurrence.
“I thought athletes never paid attention to what was said in the media, tune all that stuff out and worry about themselves,” co-host Josh Klingler said on Thursday morning. “….When you hear the noise, then it’s there, right?”
After listening to Clark’s comments, co-host Bob Fescoe broke out into laughter about how Clark had the audacity to compare Tagovailoa’s physique to that of a stripper. Klingler proceeded to make a paradoxical assertion, conveying how athletes are not listening but listening and not hearing something but hearing it. Fescoe did not like how Tagovailoa alluded to private matters that typical football fans are not privy to, leading him to advocate for more transparency between players and the media.
“When athletes and coaches say, ‘There’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes that you don’t know,’ well you know what? Maybe how about telling people so they don’t recklessly speculate. They can’t have it both ways.”
Fescoe and Klingler, along with most hosts across the sports radio format, criticize teams and players as part of their programming. Most hosts never look to make the criticism personal, understanding that there is a threshold and refrain from crossing it. Yet there are instances where people simply take it too far, and Tagovailoa seems to believe this was the case in terms of Clark.
The ESPN analyst, who was recently named to the Monday Night Countdown crew, issued an apology on Thursday morning for his actions via a video on X. Nonetheless, the criticism coming from Clark, a former NFL player, is different in Fescoe’s opinion because of the credibility he has from having played professionally.
“If everybody’s going to tell me that Tua’s a top quarterback in this league – which he’s not – and then doesn’t show up looking like he’s in shape and another player calls him out, that’s saying something man,” Fescoe said. “….That’s a big, big, big swing by Ryan Clark because this is a fraternity [and] guys don’t like to call each other out.”
