↵With so much attention on the late night talk show circuit this week, especially those on NBC, it's interesting that Jimmy Fallon is the one who ends up being blogged about today. But unlike Conan and Leno, who are stealing all the entertainment headlines this week, it's Fallon who piqued a little sports interest last night. The Late Night host is a noted Red Sox fans (you may remember him from such Red Sox-related films as Fever Pitch) and invited David Ortiz to come on the show, hit a few balls and talk about how awesome his watch is.↵
Jimmy Fallon Interviews Big Papi, Talks Sauce Not Juice
↵↵Oh, and he got to plug his line of hot sauce too:↵
↵
↵↵
↵
↵As Dan Lamothe of Red Sox Monster pointed out, how does Fallon not toss a few soft balls at Ortiz about steroids, what with the giant announcement of Mark McGwire just hours before taping?↵↵⇥Is it too much to expect that Ortiz would change his previously stated vitamins-led-to-me-testing-positive defense against his own allegations on Fallon’s show? Given the forum and Fallon’s impish persona, I suppose. But it certainly is conspicuous, and mildly disappointing to watch for this journalist and Red Sox fan.↵⇥↵⇥Memo to Fallon: At least ask the question and let Papi brush it aside. If he wouldn’t agree to talk about it in whatever ground rules were set, it’s the wrong night to have him on the show.↵⇥
↵↵↵Look, Fallon is no Bob Costas, and despite Lamothe calling him a ‘journalist and Red Sox fan’ I’m not sure most would categorize the host as anything close to a journalist. In addition, the Big Papi interview was obviously booked well in advance of McGwire’s sudden admission and subsequent interview with MLB Network, so changing the premise of the interview on him at the last minute is a tough thing to do. But there had to be some resolution other than ‘ignore it completely,’ as Fallon passed up a great opportunity by avoiding the subject altogether. ↵
↵
↵Good talk show hosts – be it daytime or late night – would have found a way to ask the questions people wanted to hear. Keep in mind that Papi, himself, has been connected to PEDs as recently as July. Fallon was sitting on a golden opportunity to toss in a question about McGwire or give Papi a chance to clarify his previous statements on the matter of his own PED use in light of the fact that one of the two greatest sluggers of this generation just came clean.↵
↵↵Fallon proved to be more of a fanboy than worthwhile host. Eh, at least Papi got to throw eggs at him, which is something most of us would probably love to do. ↵
↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
See More:
