Thin-skinned football millionaire gets hissy, reporter loses her job

Posted by on Aug 18, 2010 in Marketing Industry, Media Industry | 5 comments

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This hat = lost job

As Minnesotans revel in Favre-a-palooza, the sequel, sports fans in another state are watching a sports circus with a more disturbing ending.

On Monday, an Arkansas radio reporter was fired for wearing a Florida Gators hat to a press conference with University of Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino. Renee Gork, a Florida alum, drew Petrino’s ire at Saturday’s presser. After answering a question from Gork, Petrino said, “And that will be the last question I answer with that hat on.”

Watching the video, it’s not clear whether Petrino was joking or whether there was an edge of seriousness in his tone. I don’t know him well enough to make that kind of judgment on his vocal inflection. But two days later, Gork was fired from her job at station KAKS, “Hog Sports Radio.”

Ultimately, the blame for this ridiculous decision rests with station management. I don’t know whether they got some pressure from the Razorback football program or if they just decided to root out the ”traitor” in their midst.

But given that Petrino makes nearly $4 million a year and Gork was probably pulling down $30,000 at most, it’s a cruel, gutless and baffling move to cut loose a young woman in the worst job market in decades to avoid ticking off a coach who will likely collect his outsized paycheck for a couple more years and then move on.

If Petrino has any common decency he’ll be calling for the reporter’s reinstatement.

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  • Joe Anderson

    John -

    Glad you’ve stepped away from your daily monitoring of the local radio commercial load to peek into some other media-related controversies ;-) .

    While I am in 100% agreement that the action taken by the radio station is inexcusable, much of the blame has to be placed on the reporter herself.

    Maybe the lifetime of failings by our beloved Gopher football program has dulled us to the passions of college football, but Media 101 at her alma mater (Florida State- hmmmm) should have mentioned something about appropriate attire in the workplace.

    I don’t believe her for a second when she says she simply threw a random cap on as she walked out the door. She knew exactly what she was doing by wearing a cap from another football program – which doesn’t make the reaction of Petrino (who’s a lower life form) or her employer ok.

    I’ve been in thousands of locker room and press room settings and would never, EVER consider wearing an article of clothing featuring a logo of a sports team or organization. It would simply be unprofessional and trust me . . . players and coaches take notice.

    I once had an intern arrive in the pressbox for a Twins game against the Mariners wearing a Ken Griffy jersey and carrying a bucket of baseballs. After he finished his 4th hot dog I informed him his services would no longer be needed (he looked hungry). While this reporter’s “faux pas” isn’t nearly as egregious, considering her position with the station she is eqaully guilty of being unprofessional.

    Her initial act of unprofessionalism set off this entire series of events. She has no one to blame but herself.

    PS – Let Jorg know he’ll have to wait until next year to prove his Tavaris Jackson equals Brett Favre theory.

    PPS – Sorry for any spelling errors, we radio guys talk better than we write.

  • http://www.fasthorseinc.com JohnR

    Hey, thanks for the perspective, Joe — it’s great to hear from someone who knows. Although I spent many years in the news biz, it rarely involved sports (except for the time I triggered an extended, profane tirade from Tom Kelly by stepping into fair territory during BP).

    I completely agree that she was stupid to wear that hat. But I hate to see people lose their livelihood over stuff like that. In Catholic terms, I’d call her transgression a venial sin, not a mortal sin.

    And yes, it’s pretty hard to believe that she didn’t realize that wearing the hat of a competing SEC school was a bad move. If she had been wearing an App State hat, or Murray State, I don’t think we’d be having this discussion. But as you point out, why would a media professional wear ANY logo garb on the job?

  • Skeeter Williamson

    …then you just don’t understand SEC football. GO DAWGS!

  • http://www.fasthorseinc.com JohnR

    Hey, Skeeter — it’s been about 60 years since we’ve seen a real college team play in these parts. So we don’t always understand why other people are so passionate about it.

    We’re more like, can we beat North Dakota State to go 6-6 and get a spot in the Insight Bowl?

  • JorgP

    Phunnsy — Really? You fired an intern for wearing a Griffey jersey? You sound like a man who enjoys pulling the wings off a butterfly. From the looks of it, you were paying him in hot dogs, so I can’t really blame the kid for trying to score a few autographed balls to sell on E-bay. Radio guy’s gotta pay the rent somehow ….

    Re: Tarvaris = Favre. Not convinced we’re going to wait until next year to learn whether TJack is equally capable of throwing a season-ending interception. You know every D-line’s motto will be: “Meet me at Favre’s left ankle!”

    When Favre goes down, I know Broberg will be leading the delegation to Tarkenton’s house …