NFL Network's Chris Rose during the intro to this morning’s “Free Agent Frenzy” special issued an apology after several expletives were aired during a segment on the net last night. Viewers could hear expletives during a segment with former Patriots VP/Player Personnel Scott Pioli, who was being asked "about the Patriots' philosophy for accumulating draft picks." Rose said, “We want to offer an apology. Last night during some live programming we accidentally aired an expletive. It will not happen again so our sincerest apology to Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, the Patriots family, Robert Kraft and his entire family. A classy organization out there. Once again, it’s not who we are, it’s not what we do and it will not happen again” (“Free Agent Frenzy,” NFL Network, 3/13). In Boston, Greg Bedard noted the expletives came when an analyst's microphone "was left on -- likely that of Warren Sapp." While Pioli was talking, a voice sounding like Sapp's said, "It's the same (expletive) spew that we had Mike Lombardi do. The (expletive) Bill Belichick (expletive) angle" (BOSTON.com, 3/12). AWFUL ANNOUNCING's Ben Koo noted the audio is "a bit hard to make out and you can't definitively say it is Sapp" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 3/12).
TWITTER REAX: SI.com's Richard Deitsch tweeted, "Whatever show Warren Sapp is hosting on the NFL Network during Scott Pioli interviews is the one I want to watch." CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" Exec Producer & Writer Eric Stangel joked, "I actually think along with the SAP button, they should have a SAPP button. Would make things more interesting." SB Nation's Dan Kadar opined, "The best apology from NFL Network would be keeping Warren Sapp off the air."
