Keyshawn suggests female reporter needs spanking

[Guest Vitamin X]

ESPN.com news services

Just give him the damn mike? It might be safer not to.

 

In responding to a sideline report with which he disagreed, Dallas Cowboys receiver Keyshawn Johnson suggested Fox reporter Pam Oliver could use a spanking.

 

Johnson criticized Oliver on his Sirius satellite radio show Thursday for her report during an Oct. 24 game that he had yelled at Cowboys assistant coach Sean Payton.

 

Johnson vehemently denied having yelled -- so vehemently that he said, "I almost wanted to get on a plane, find where she is at, and sit her down and spank her with a ruler really, really hard, because it makes no sense.

 

"You don't need to make up a story."

 

A Cowboys spokesman said the team had no comment on the matter.

 

The star receiver, who was a temporary studio analyst for Fox last season after getting bounced by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, made it clear that he considered the incident a gender issue. Even before the spanking comment, Johnson noted that he had been "all for" having female reporters on the sidelines but implied that his approval diminished if they "can't get their story straight," according to a USA Today report.

 

Oliver stood by her report just as firmly -- if not as colorfully -- on Friday, telling The Dallas Morning News, "My job is to report what I see. I do not make stories up. ... Keyshawn is having a complete denial of reality."

 

When asked what she would do if Johnson tried to spank her, "I will punch him in the face," Oliver told the newspaper.

 

Payton isn't talking -- Cowboys assistants aren't allowed to speak with the media during the season, according to the Morning News -- but Fox stood up for its reporter.

 

Fox's Dan Bell told USA Today on Sunday that the network stands "110 percent" behind Oliver's report -- and that it's "highly unlikely" Fox would hire Johnson again.

 

So the player, who told the national newspaper he hoped everybody talked about his complaint and made Oliver feel small, may be the one who has talked himself right out of a job.

 

So it looks like, in the battle of loudmouth egotistical receivers this year, Keyshawn's trying to catch up to T.O. already.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

At least TO is funny and good, Keyshawn only embarrasses himself.