The NFL on Fox crew revealed how they pulled off a prank in which they made star tight end Rob Gronkowski talk about a nonexistent player.
During the taping of Fox NFL Sunday in Gronkowski’s first season as an analyst, the crew was instructed to talk about Rich Russo — a Dallas Cowboys tight end with missing fingers.
“We decided to play a little joke on our buddy Gronk,” NFL insider Jay Glazer said. “He thought we were going live with an extra segment. Everybody at Fox knows this is not real — except for Gronk. And the premise was I was gonna break news that the Cowboys were activating this great Pro Bowl tight end, who doesn’t exist, and Gronk has to go on what he thinks is live TV, to talk about this tight end.”
During the segment, Michael Strahan and Howie Long raved about Russo’s importance to the team. When they handed it over to Gronkowski, he rambled off some non-specific observations. The crew eventually burst into laughter before host Curt Menefee walked up to Gronkowksi and told him it was all a prank.
“Is that live?” a stunned Gronkowski said. “Right when [the segment] was done, I was gonna say, ‘Guys, I’ve never heard of Rich Russo in my life. Never heard of him in my life!”
After watching the prank on Sunday’s episode, Gronkowski admitted
While the prank was relatively harmless, one could argue that it confirms a major criticism made against modern sports media. Some believe that many of the most popular faces in sports media — like Stephen A. Smith — don’t even watch the sports on which they claim to be experts. In the Fox Sports clip, Gronkowski may have confirmed that analysts will simply make things up if they’re unfamiliar with a subject. That could explain the more questionable takes in the industry.
Watch above via Fox