When Jason Bishop of The Sports Junkies delivered some bad news to producer Matt Valdez last week, it wasn't so much the nature of the news as it was the delivery method that was so unsettling.
After hightailing it out of the radio station at his usual 9:59:59 on Friday, Bish made a beeline down the street to the Homewood Suites (where the entire show staff parks their cars) to discover a boot shackled to what he thought was Valdez's Volkswagen Passat.
Again, it's how he chose to deliver this message that got Valdez caught in a wholly unnecessary tizzy. Instead of reaching out to Valdez directly, Jason for some reason texted their other producer, Drab. And, for another unknown reason, he only painted a partial picture of the scenario.
Drab: You never want Jason to break bad news to you.
JP: Did he have glee?
Drab: No. He was very confusing. Like, why didn't he tell me?
Bish: I don't know. I just wanted you to come up and see it.
Drab: Yeah, it made no sense. 'Hey, what kind of car does Valdez drive?' I said a Passat. He goes, 'Oh, he's gonna be salty...' I said, 'What happened?' He goes, 'You'll see!'
As Valdez went on to explain, he was bracing himself for a walk to his car with the panic of someone expecting to find it bludgeoned in by a hit-and-runner. He was relieved to learn it was only a boot, even though it wound up costing him $225 in previously unpaid tickets — and a 12:30 tee time at Potomac Shores — to get it removed.
Valdez: I was actually relieved that there was a boot on my car, because I thought that the car was in a billion pieces.
Bish: That was my cliffhanger!
Valdez, sneaking in a great zinger, sniped back, "Why are you better at text teases than radio teases?"
