In 28 seconds of a halftime interview Saturday night, Ravens coach John Harbaugh reminded me and thousands of others how rude and arrogant he can be.
He bullied and tried to humiliate Brent Harris, who was only trying to do his job as sideline reporter for the Ravens' preseason telecast of their game with the Washington Redskins.
See it here. The headline on the video tells one-half of the story succinctly: "John Harbaugh was a complete jerk to Ravens' sideline reporter at halftime."
After giving him intentionally terse non-answers, Harbaugh said, "Give me a good question and I'll answer it."
As Harris thanked Harbaugh for the interview, the Ravens coach walked away and then looked back to give Harris an extra smirk.
It was unpleasant to watch such a crude display of ego and power. And I bet Harbaugh gets away with it -- with no reprimand from the Ravens. Talk about role models.
But Harbaugh has long been this way, and local sports broadcasters have long let him get away with it.
That's the other half of the story here that's not being mentioned in all the righteous social-media vilification of Harbaugh today -- Harris' employment as part of the Ravens' telecast. His primary job is as reporter/host for Comcast SportsNet.
Don't take a job in which you wear a Ravens shirt or hold out a microphone emblazoned with a Ravens logo to the coach and expect to be treated like a journalist. You can act like a journalist and ask questions, but you are working for the man. And in holding that branded microphone you show your acceptance of your subservient role as publicist to the coach and the team that has right of approval over your employment of the telecast.
That's the story that needs to be talked about -- the way some of the people who cover the Ravens for radio and TV stations in Baltimore also work for the team in various capacities ranging from stadium announcing to doing voice-over work on team and NFL productions. And they are proud of it.
And if the payment isn't as direct as it is in those cases, it's indirect with the stations they work for, reaping profits from the contracts they have with the Ravens - contracts that give the Ravens right of approval on your employment. And nothing must jeopardize those contracts -- certainly nothing critical of the coach or the team.
It's the same at MASN where people who write about the Orioles for the Orioles-owned channel act as if they are doing journalism. No, you take a dollar from the team and you are part of the marketing operation.
The Baltimore Sun Media Group has a business relationship with the Baltimore Ravens. It does not have a newsroom relationship.
With so many people behind the microphones in this town having relationships with the Ravens often through their stations, I wonder if they will talk about that aspect of the story on sports radio today.
And while I am talking about contracts and overly timid sports broadcasters, how long are we going to have to wait for the folks on 105.7 The Fan to say something honest about the depths to which the Orioles have sunk the last two weeks?
UPDATE: Kevin Byrne, senior vice president community and public relations for the Ravens, responded after this posted to an earlier request from The Sun for information on the arrangements with broadcasters like Harris.
Here's what he wrote:
We do not pay Brent or the other members of the broadcast team (Gerry Sandusky, Stan White and Qadry Ismail). They are paid by Comcast and WBAL, respectively.
Comcast and WBAL-TV do pay us a rights' fee to broadcast our games - in this case, Comcast and WBAL-TV each pay us a fee to carry our games. They, in turn, produce the broadcasts with help from the Ravens' broadcast production group. (I'm pretty sure we select and pay the producer and director.)
We have the right of refusal for whom they select as talent. We sell the ads with these broadcast partners and there is shared revenue.
I'm not sure these halftime interviews are a good idea. They are not done at the network level. Coach Harbaugh has different priorities at the time and only does them because the local partners ask, plus WBAL-Radio has, as part of the contract, a "walk-off"interview at halftime with the head coach. Since there is a simulcast in the preseason, TV gets Harbs. (White has done these with Harbs over the years -- and it has become an on-air running joke through the years about what Harbs' mood will be, depending on what happens in the second quarter or late stages of the half.)