I did not know how much my latest piece in the Independent would bother Dan Gilbert, or his Cavs spokesperson Tad Carper. Last week, I found out in great detail just how much it does bother them.
The Cleveland Cavaliers share a radio home, WTAM 1100 AM, with Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, an uncomfortable situation I’ve been noting as increasingly problematic for a while now. I’ve been trying to get comment from the Cavs on this for about a month. Last week, Dan Gilbert, the Cavs owner, referred my editor at The Independent, James Renner, to Cavs VP of Communications, Tad Carper. James sent Tad my phone number.
I watched James email Carper my phone number from the table at Civilization Coffee House, got up to walk home along Lincoln Park, and a few minutes later, my phone rang. It was Tad Carper. Hey, how are you? I said. Didn’t expect to hear from you that quickly!
Before I could even ask a question, Tad launched into what I can only describe as a rant, all of which Tad wanted off the record. He more than once claimed I was trying to “blackmail” the Cavs. Tad wondered if the Cavs left WTAM, when would someone else say something objectionable? Where does it end, Tad begged? You’re making us a pawn in your agenda, Tad howled. People listen to those two, they’re popular, Tad cried. I thought Tad might be a Dittohead.
So I interrupted Tad’s rant, repeatedly, to say that all I wanted was comment from both the Cavs and Lebron James. If they didn’t want to comment, fine. But why, I asked, are you wasting my time with this if the Cavs, or Lebron, or Dan Gilbert, don’t have comment?
During this entire exchange, I was pacing in Lincoln Park, planning to return to Civilization knowing that James, my editor, would want to know about this call. My phone started beeping, warning me that the battery was about to die. That’s how long this rant went on. I interrupted the rant again to warn Tad my phone would turn off, nothing personal, call ya back. Phone turned off, mid rant. Glad that’s over, I thought.
So I walked back to James to tell him the whole thing, after which I walked back to my apartment, which takes about 20 minutes. In all, it took me about 45 minutes to get my phone plugged in and turned on again. The phone immediately rang when I turned it back on - it was Tad. Which means Tad Carper must have been hitting redial quite regularly during those 45 minutes.
Tad’s tone had changed dramatically, and he promised me a statement on the record, from the Cavs, by the end of the day Monday. Tad said they’d talk to WTAM, they’re good people, long relationship, blah blah blah, and they’d get back to me. Weekend came, weekend went. I emailed Tad asking for the statement for this blog post, which I put off at Tad’s request. Monday night, Tad emailed me to say they’d have no comment. Clever.
Perhaps Dan Gilbert and his spokesperson Tad Carper are nervous about making any sort of statement on why their NBA basketball team airs their games on a radio station that daily airs open incitement to racial hate, even advertises the shows that air that hate during their basketball games - one week before Ohio voters decide whether or not to write Dan Gilbert’s casino proposal into the Ohio constitution. That’s understandable. Maybe they can skate on this until election day next week, as they clearly want to.
But neither me, nor James Renner, are “blackmailing” anybody. I am a Cavs fan’s Cavs fan. And if this situation is so uncomfortable as to get the Cavs spokesperson to call it “blackmail”, unfortunately, I don’t think the passing of next week”s election is going to resolve whatever bothered Tad Carper and Dan Gilbert to the point of playing this ridiculous game all weekend with some dude who’s got a blog and a column in an alt weekly.
Not by a long shot.
2 Trackbacks