ESPN2 aired Tuesday night’s USA-Azerbaijan friendly soccer match, but Stuart Scott probably didn’t get a chance to watch the action. And it’s a shame, because he made a comical mistake during SportsCenter as a result.
As soon as the match ended, the Worldwide Leader segued over to SportsCenter to recap the night in sports, per usual. And when the broadcast began, anchors Steve Levy and Stuart Scott led with the highlights from the soccer match.
So Scott introduced fellow ESPN employee Bob Ley to discuss the action. And Scott cleverly said that Ley used his passport to travel to Azerbaijan and cover the match. It would’ve been a great line, if that’s where Ley actually was.
The only problem: Ley was not in Western Asia. He was in the United States. The game was played in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.
He’s lucky in that Ley is a professional. The veteran broadcaster not only corrected Scott in the most polite way possible, but also attempted to minimize the damage and move on with the segment.
Aspiring journalists: Take notes and learn from this mistake. Always know what country your cohorts are reporting from.
(H/T: Timothy Burke, Deadspin)