There’s a lot of things people call Tom Brady: Champions, future Hall of Famer, the GOAT — but the local CBS Station in Pittsburgh had a different take on Monday night.
Pittsburgh TV station introduces Tom Brady as ‘Known Cheater’ on Super Bowl media night
Welp.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
KDKA was covering the Patriots on Super Bowl media night when they showed No. 12 with the title “Known Cheater.” Let’s be honest, between SpyGate and DeflateGate this take is a crowd-pleaser, especially in Pittsburgh where Brady is loathed about as much as any sports figure in the city’s history.
Is it fair? No. Funny? A little. But KDKA didn’t think it was much of a laugh. On Wednesday, the station provided the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with a statement that said a staffer was fired over the stunt:
“While fans are entitled to have personal opinions, we have a journalistic responsibility to provide unbiased reporting. The graphic that appeared Monday violated our news standards. The individual who created the graphic no longer works for KDKA-TV.”
Either way all this is going to do is put fuel on the fire of Patriots fans and their “us against the world” mentality that has somehow positioned the Pats as plucky underdog, despite being the most successful NFL team in recent history.
