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Remembering The Time “Steve Bartman” Prank Called SportsCenter

During last night’s 30 for 30 documentary on reviled Cubs fan Steve Bartman, filmmaker Alex Gibney highlighted a funny moment on SportsCenter when a Howard Stern fan prank-called then-anchor Dan Patrick.

After scoring what they thought was a monumentally huge get in the reclusive Bartman, who up to that point had refused to talk to the media, ESPN’s producers put Patrick on the phone with him. Or so they thought.

There was some back-and-forth about the Game 6 incident, then the person on the other end of the line (it turned out to be a Stern fan by the name of “Capt. Janks”) asked Patrick if he “liked Howard Stern’s butt cheese.” Patrick handled the moment well, and actually seemed slightly amused by it.

Although he handled it well on air, Patrick would go on Stern’s show a few weeks later and tell the host that he wanted to “crawl under the desk” after this call. The prank occurs at the 1:35 mark.