Mike Mularkey Revealed He Once Lied To Ian Rapoport About Getting A Contract Extension From The Titans While He Was Rumored To Be Getting Fired Just So He Could See His Bosses' Faces When The Report Came Out And Rapoport Is NOT Happy About It
Two quick things:
1. I like Ian Rapaport and have always considered him my favorite of the vaunted "tier 1" NFL insiders. Part of that is because Schefty used to be a stick in the mud back in the day, part of that is that he was cool with Barstool back when a lot of traditional media people treated us like the boogeman, and part of that is because he once mistakenly got fired by Portnoy before Dave realized he was firing a Rappaport who didn't even work for Barstool.
For more on that saga, ask@SmittyBarstool if he’s on JUICE right he loves talking to his “fans”.
2. Everything about that Mike Mularkey story is funny and Ian's reaction to it all these years later makes it hilarious. I'm sorry, but it's true. Everyone who watched that video thinks it's funny except Ian Rapaport (Mike Garafolo and the other guy whose name escapes me in this video can act like it's not funny, but we all know they were laughing about it when they were talking about it to people that were not named Ian Rapoport). If I had to rank the funniness of that story, I'd say it was 4 Balls after it happened but went to a full 5 Balls when Ian told it with pure rage in his voice and on his face.
Look, nobody likes being duped, ESPECIALLY people that have the title "Insider" in their job title. For example, if Big Cat pranked a random person about a fake draft pick scoop so they would tweet it out and look like an idiot, the internet may chuckle a little bit as they dunk on that person. But when Big Cat does it to someone like Steven Cheah, who craves those imaginary internet points that come with telling you something about the job status of someone in the pro football realm, it becomes LOL funny.
Or when Schefty got got by our very own Uncle Chaps.
The same logic applies to @Rapsheet, whether he likes it or not. I'm sure fighting for scoops is a ruthless game and getting word of an extension from the coach's literal mouth is gold. But to be fair to Mularkey, having rumors fly from an NFL reporter that he's about to be fired couldn't have been very fun. You know what is fun? Seeing the faces of your bosses as said NFL reporter tells the world you are coming back. That's a feeling you have to bottle up inside forever because I imagine it's the type of dopamine you need before getting canned. If it means burning a bridge with a reporter in the industry you will probably never be in again, so be it.
Plus let's be honest, any journalist worth their salt would've realized that Mike Mularkey's name literally translates to megaphone of nonsense. Rap should've known better. But that was a young Ian who will never, ever make that mistake again, even if it resulted in his sense of humor having a slight blindspot for the rest of his life.