CBS and YES Network broadcaster Ian Eagle was a guest this week on ‘Evan & Tiki’ with Evan Roberts and Tiki Barber on WFAN to clear up the recent “controversy” he found himself embroiled in.
A video was posted to X of Eagle and “The Czar” Mike Fratello calling a New Jersey Nets-Boston Celtics game where Eagle and Fratello appear to have a bit of a spat.
Many people believed this was a recent event and began commenting about the way Eagle and Fratello spoke to each other. The video, posted by Mink Flow, has over 11.5 million views since being put up Tuesday night.
Unbeknownst to most those weighing in, the clip is from a game in 2011.
“I just wanna say that earlier, you had a very patronizing tone towards me,” Eagle says to Fratello. “I fully understand what a slip-screen is. I’ve been doing the NBA for 18 years. But the way you presented it initially was gobbledygook so, like the audience, I wanted you to come back and explain yourself. You then took a firing line on me, and it was uncalled for.”
Eagle joined Roberts and Barber from Portland where he was getting ready to call that evening’s Blazers-Nets game and said, “I woke up this morning in Portland to about 40 texts. I was told I was trending on X with the likes of ‘Jim Carrey’ and ‘Stock Market Crash,’ those were the three trending topics.”
Very sarcastically, Eagle continued, “I want to first thank ‘Mink Flow’ for puting this out there and allowing a whole new generation of people to think that I had an epic fight with ‘The Czar’ Mike Fratello on Yes. This was…12 years ago. Unfortunately I am hear to tell you – it was a gag. I don’t want to burst any bubbles, but it was a joke. In fact, ‘The Czar,’ at the end of that harangue, high fived me.”
While the two were clearly laughing about the discussion, the humor was missed by many, including Eagle’s own sister who he said called to check on his well-being.
“It was like Andy Kaufmann and Jerry Lawler, this was performance art,” Eagle said.
The conversation did turn serious for a moment as Eagle was asked about this past weekend when his son, Noah, called the Browns-Texans game for NBC while Ian worked the same game on radio for Westwood One.
“This was such a pivitol weekend in my personal life,” Eagle said. “I realized I went to Houston to do the game on radio, my son’s doing the game on TV, which was incredible. He had a better hotel than me, he had a better booth than me and then we took a picture toghether and I realized when I looked at the picture he was wearing better clothes than me.”
Eagle ended with, “I was really impressed and obviously very proud of how he handled himself.”
