Renee Gork, the Arkansas radio reporter who was fired after wearing a Florida hat to Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino’s press conference last Saturday, tells her side of the story in an interview with TJ Carpenter on ESPN 92.1 The Ticket.
Gork, a Florida graduate, said it was an innocent mistake to have the hat on in the first place and that she sent a letter of apology to Petrino, who remarked during the press conference that he wouldn’t be answering any more questions from her while she was wearing that hat.
“It wasn’t a stunt I was trying to pull, and I wasn’t trying to get any attention. It was just a dumb mistake,” said Gork, who added that her station (KAKS Hog Sports Radio) fired her because it didn’t appear that she would be allowed to cover practice any longer.
In Gork’s defense, she’s not the first reporter to attend a practice, press conference or game wearing another school’s logo or colors. It’s not something you see all the time, but you do see it from time to time.
I can also understand how no coach wants to look out into the press corps and see a reporter wearing a hat of a team that has ruled his league for the past few seasons and a team he has to beat if he’s going to win a championship. It’s simply not professional on the reporter’s part.
At the same time, I can’t help but wonder if anybody would have said anything had Gork been wearing an Arkansas hat, which would have been equally unprofessional.
The only difference is that she would probably still have a job.
