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Friday, September 07, 2018

Sources: Fox Sports Detroit’s Mario Impemba and Rod Allen involved in physical altercation

Sadly, because of Disney’s purchase of FOX, I suspect that we can rule out any airings of When Announcers Attack in primetime in the coming weeks.

When Mickey York and Craig Monroe threw to the booth during Wednesday night’s broadcast of Fox Sports Detroit’s “Tigers Live” pregame show, an unexpected duo appeared on screen — that of Matt Shepard and Kirk Gibson.

Conspicuously absent from the show was the regular tandem of play-by-play announcer Mario Impemba and analyst Rod Allen.

Multiple sources told The Athletic that neither Impemba nor Allen were part of Wednesday’s broadcast due to a physical altercation between the two television personalities following Tuesday’s game in Chicago against the White Sox. It is not immediately clear what prompted the incident.

QLE Posted: September 07, 2018 at 08:19 AM | 15 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: announcers, detroit, fight, fight, fight, tigers

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1. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: September 07, 2018 at 09:15 AM (#5740391)

I wish there were a decent copy of that video of Rod Allen charging the mound in Japan. All the ones on YouTube look like they were filmed with a potato.

2. phredbird

Posted: September 07, 2018 at 10:29 AM (#5740436)

article's behind a paywall. i'm already oversubscribed in that area. anybody want to fill me in?

3. spanx for the memories Posted: September 07, 2018 at 10:37 AM (#5740443)

Tiger announcers involved in altercation

Here is the story on Yahoo

4. Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: September 07, 2018 at 11:09 AM (#5740464)

Someone keeps moving his chair.

5. Bote Man the walk-off king Posted: September 07, 2018 at 11:13 AM (#5740468)

We're all waiting for the Impembing announcement of a change in on-air crews.

6. villageidiom Posted: September 07, 2018 at 11:18 AM (#5740471)

Someone keeps moving his chair.

Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful.

7. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: September 07, 2018 at 11:40 AM (#5740486)

This should be pretty clear right? Whoever laid hands on the other first is fired. You can't physically attack people at work.

8. Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: September 07, 2018 at 12:40 PM (#5740530)

You can't physically attack people at work.

Not with that attitude.

9. Gary Truth Serum Posted: September 07, 2018 at 01:35 PM (#5740563)

This should be pretty clear right? Whoever laid hands on the other first is fired. You can't physically attack people at work.

Per this update from Craig Calcaterra and WDIV in Detroit, Allen followed Impemba from behind and choked him. Sounds like one was a wee bit more culpable than the other.

10. The Yankee Clapper Posted: September 07, 2018 at 02:10 PM (#5740581)

Allen followed Impemba from behind and choked him. Sounds like one was a wee bit more culpable than the other.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Allen's agent put out a statement disputing that account, but I'm still unclear on how a chair dispute could escalate to such extent. One article said Allen was using a "special chair" because of a back ailment of some kind, but no indication as to how that became an issue. I'm not quite cynical enough to suggest this is a ploy to boost TV ratings, but these guys need to do a better job justifying workplace violence - can't lower the bar too far on that.

11. Man o' Schwar Posted: September 07, 2018 at 02:15 PM (#5740585)

That must be one hell of a chair. Probably one of those Sharper Image jobs, with all the massage features.

12. Slivers of Maranville descends into chaos (SdeB) Posted: September 07, 2018 at 02:32 PM (#5740589)

This is just viral advertising for their upcoming motivational book, "Who Moved My Chair?"

13. The Yankee Clapper Posted: September 07, 2018 at 09:12 PM (#5740781)

Both suspended for the rest of the season. No word beyond that, or what about the chair provoked such violence.

14. cardsfanboy

Posted: September 07, 2018 at 09:39 PM (#5740798)

Cardinal fans are wondering what caused this, and if there is any way that this can be repeated in a booth with Joe McLaughlin and Tim McCarver broadcasting?

15. QLE Posted: September 07, 2018 at 11:26 PM (#5740824)

article's behind a paywall.

Sorry about that- when I had originally clicked on the link, I was able to read the whole article (I'm not a subscriber to the Athletic), and it seems that the change was made sometime after I submitted it.

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Friday, September 07, 2018

Sources: Fox Sports Detroit’s Mario Impemba and Rod Allen involved in physical altercation

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