O’Neil: Profanity-laced speech may have been a big misunderstanding
Aug 25, 2015, 12:56 PM | Updated: 1:03 pm
Southern California NCAA college football coach Steve Sarkisian has publicly apologized for his drunken appearance at a team rally last weekend, attributing his slurred, profane speech to a combination of alcohol and medication. (AP)
(AP)
There must have been some confusion on the part of Steve Sarkisian when he walked on stage during a kickoff event for the USC Trojans on Saturday.
An intoxicated former University of Washington football coach addressed the crowd like it was part of a comedy routine, KIRO Radio’s Dave Ross pointed out. That routine turned into a profanity-laced tirade.
But hey, he did what he felt needed to be done at the time.
“Sometimes a man’s gotta have a drink,” 710 ESPN’s Danny O’Neil told Dave. “And sometimes a man’s gotta get on stage and say that three teams you have never beaten as a head coach all suck, which is what he did.”
Sarkisian even finished his speech to the alumni and donors in attendance with an epic closing.
Sarkisian has since apologized and assured his players and fans that something like that won’t happen again.
“I sincerely apologize to my players and staff and to our fans for my behavior and my inappropriate language at our kickoff event Saturday night,” Sarkisian said in a statement. “I have a responsibility to all of them and I let them down. Pat Haden talked to me after the event about my actions and I assured him this will not happen again.”
Haden, USC’s athletic director, met with Sarkisian and expressed his disappointment.
Though the details of the meeting between Sarkisian and Haden will remain between the two, Haden is convinced Sarkisian understood the “message loud and clear.”
But maybe it wasn’t all the coach’s fault, O’Neil said. He could have been confused about what type of event he was attending: The event was called “Salute to Troy.” Sarkisian may have thought it was “Salud to Troy.”
