A Former Coach Is Not Ready for His Close-Up
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
Chris Berman: Eric Mangini is standing by in San Diego with the Chargers’ injury report. A big welcome to ESPN, Coach. What about LaDainian Tomlinson’s ankle?
Eric Mangini: Boom, it’s between his toes and his shin.
Berman: Understood, but what about the sprain he sustained last week?
Mangini: It’s not my policy to discuss injuries in the media.
Berman: But, coach, you are part of the media. So the ankle — which one is it?
Mangini: The right or the left.
Berman: You don’t know or you won’t tell us?
Mangini: One of those, Chris.
Berman: Are you saying he’s injured or casting doubt on whether he’s hurt at all?
Mangini: If you want to look at it in a very narrow context, then that could be the context that you analyze it in.
Berman: Coach, is there anything you can tell us about L. T.?
Mangini: I tell my kids that sharing is caring and I think I’ve shared enough today.
If Mangini, who was fired on Monday after three seasons with the Jets, resurfaces in a television studio or a stadium booth, as many former coaches do, it would be astonishing.
His blandness is legendary, his talent for obfuscation Olympian, his refusal to describe, or admit to, the existence of certain player injuries nearly unparalleled.
