New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ripped into Daily News reporter Manish Mehta during a recent segment with WFAN’s Craig Carton.
A walking, talking McDonald’s advertisement, the rotund Christie attempted to demean Mehta.
“Self consumed, underpaid reporter…The only reason he’s empowered is because we’re spending all this time talking about Manish Mehta…Who by the way, I couldn’t pick out of a lineup and no Jets fan really gives a damn about Manish Mehta. We shouldn’t be giving this dope, you know, the amount of airtime we’ve given him already.”
Wow. I’m sure Mehta is wounded (ha).
This was in the aftermath of Mehta’s question that evoked a bizzare response from Jets coach Rex Ryan during a recent press conference.
I’m not a huge fan of Manish Mehta, but I do read him pretty religiously. If I were to berate him, I’d probably back it up with an explanation, detailing what it was about the article that drew my ire.
I actually think Mehta is another controversy-starved tabloid writer rife with “people close to the organization” and a bevy of anonymous sources.
I like to think that most of these newspaper thug, wannabe terse tough guys (see Lupica, Mike for more on that) couldn’t get on a ride at six flags unless they were wearing stilts or Timberland Boots.
Most of these NYDN scribes tar athletes all day, shredding them into pieces in articles and severely one-sided, personality-attacking columns…only to cry their eyes out when they get turned down for an interview.
That’s not what bothers me about him, though.
The pint-sized punk walks around like he’s the Jordan of sports writing and sports radio, a major power broker in professional sports.
It’s sad, it’s tired, it’s pathetic.
The Daily News reporters are known to constantly search for a story where there isn’t one, to take cheap digs and then get all offended and up deep in their feelings any time an athlete has a terse reply for them. So, I’m clearly not defending Mehta or the NYDN here.
At the same time, it was Christie came off as nothing more than an ignorant idiot. An ignorant idiot looking to seize the spotlight.
Just like Jay-Z, Christie is bent on using his name in sports when he seems to know little about them.
Christie came off as nothing more than an ignorant idiot, trying talk tough and back up his hero Ryan. In Christie’s mind, Ryan is perhaps a football deity, a mouthy man who shed a ton of weight the way Christie so desires to.
Christie doesn’t seem to possess immense knowledge about the Jets or sports writing, but he can surely pen a thick-paged book about the nation’s best and most obscure burger joints. He’s tried in them all.
If anything, Christie gave this reporter a new horde of followers and a universal group of fans who will now read him religiously. Mehta can thank Christie with a check.
If the bakery is CLOSED…Christie won’t spend the money right away.
If Christie opened his nose to a scent beyond the delicious pastries, if he opened his eyes into the Daily News sports section, he’d stumble on columns that were a hell of a lot harsher than anything Mehta has ever penned.
Of course, with Christie’s heavy agenda at PF—assuming PF is an acronym for Pizza Feast and not Planet Fitness—his slapdash schedule hardly allows him time to peruse the sports section.
If you are going to rip someone, however, at least have a concrete reason.
Mehta didn’t write a dud or produce manufactured drama. He didn’t use one of his trustworthy no-name sources, as he did in that putrid Tebow article last winter. Christie, however, should have at least had a reason to take a dig at the guy.
Christie should have had some legit beef behind the loud words that cascaded down his Dominoes Deep Dish-inhaling lips.
…
It was like watching Michael Moore walk next to “Kyle” from Road Trip.
It was akin to watching John Candy stroll proudly with Reggie Miller by his side, Reggie using those quick hands to supply a Chocolate Danish in the case of an emergency.
Christie should stick to politics and those juicy rib eye steaks. I am sure Mehta will stick to sports writing.
