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Just seven weeks after a younger WDIV colleague dropped an F-bomb on the air, you'd think veteran sportscaster Bernie Smilovitz would recall this Basic Rule of Broadcasting: Assume the mic is on.
Bernie Smilovitz: "C'mon, man, what do you want us to fuckin' do?"
Alas, the sports director -- whose shticks include a Bernie's Bloopers segment -- on Wednesday afternoon commits one of his own, as Timothy Burke of Deadspin relates under the headline "Detroit NBC Winter Classic Broadcast Gets Angry, Profane."
"C'mon, man, what do you want us to fuckin' do?"
That's what greeted Detroit viewers this afternoon on NBC affiliate WDIV when it appears some technical problem interfered with their live pre-Winter Classic show from nearby Ann Arbor.
The outburst, clearly audible at 0:26 in a video with Deadspin's item, comes after a producer says "OK Bernie, we're here" as Smilovitz awaits an ice-level segment before the Wings-Maple Leafs game. Though it's 13-degree day, Smilvoitz gets hot.
Burke notes that the station's on-air intro slide is apt:
They did enter the live shot with a "RED ALERT" graphic.
No word on whether Mr. Potty Mouth gets an offside penalty for an off-color play.
It's the second fuck-up by a WDIV newscaster in under two months. On Nov. 13, reporter Lauren Podell told a producer -- and viewers -- "I can't get this fucking IFB in there." (That's TV talk for an interruptible foldback earpiece.)
Related coverage:
Pro Tip: Always Assume The Mic Is On (F'ing Always!) , Nov. 13
