Reactions continue to pour in after 104.5 The Zone host Buck Reising had a viral interaction with a Tennessee Titan at the team’s training camp. 92.3 The Fan host Ken Carman shared that’s exactly why he tries not to criticize players on social media.
During The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima Wednesday, the Cleveland-based host
“I don’t like to tweet about players, basically. Anything I say that’s critical of a player anymore, I just say it on the radio,” said Carman.
“Our Twitter feeds stink now,” Lima argued. “Younger me was absolutely trying to do the ‘Look at me’ thing. And going after guys. I remember Pac-Man Jones. I said I didn’t want Pac-Man Jones in Cleveland because I did not want him living in my neighborhood. People took that a different way. In the end, I think he got arrested four more times. What was I doing? I was trying to do ‘Look at me’ stuff. I was trying to draw attention.
“There’s no reason to go after guys, the professional athletes. Fans will say ‘These guys don’t pay attention to any of the media guys.’ They kinda do sometimes. And they pay attention to the fans,” Lima said. “You don’t hear me come on the radio and complain about being blocked by Deshaun Watson. Maybe it’s a good thing.”
Carman then brought up a time when a former Cleveland Brown confronted Anthony Lima at a restaurant. Lima admitted the issue was actually not over something the radio host said on 92.3 The Fan or shared on social media, but rather that he had been flirtatious with the player’s significant other at a Cleveland establishment. Lima joked the confrontation was based on his “irrational confidence,” but said he had no idea the woman was the girlfriend of a Brown.
Ken Carman added that he has been in a situation similar to Reising.
“A former Browns linebacker was told somebody said something nasty about him on the radio. And he thought I was a different radio show host. He stared at me and I thought he was going to come over the table and kill me,” Carman said with a chuckle. “And then it got clarified that, ‘No, Kenny was not the guy who said it about you. It was somebody else.’ And things then changed very, very soon. He’s a very nice man.”
Anthony Lima admitted it is somewhat backward that players put their well-being on the line every week, and then are expected to answer questions from people who can not fathom what it takes to do what they just did. That dynamic leads to situations like Titans defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons having a hostile reaction to seeing Buck Reising, which led to the viral confrontation Tuesday.