Media MonsterNFL

Bart Scott Nearly Punched A Jets Reporter Who Took A Cell Phone Pic Of Him (UPDATE)

Athletes constantly have to answer inane questions from beat reporters poking and prodding them for headline-grabbing quotes. Bart Scott, noted mutinous rebel boycott specialist, let his emotions boil over today in an incident with Dan Leberfeld of Jets Confidential. And by boil over, we mean puffing out his chest and threatening to punch Leberfeld.

Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post was on hand for the entire near-melee and documented the play-by-play in a series of tweets.

Bart Scott just had to be separated from reporter Dan Leberfeld in the locker room. Bizarre scene.

— Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) September 21, 2012

Jets PR guy Bruce Speight stepped in front of Scott. Only thing that seemed to prevent fisticuffs.

— Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) September 21, 2012

Incident triggered by Leberfeld taking a phone pic of Scott, who responded by telling him to “get a life.” Threats & puffed chests ensued.

— Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) September 21, 2012

Scott threatened to punch Leberfeld, who said, “Yeah, and I’ll sue you!” Scott responded: “I don’t care!”

— Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) September 21, 2012

Some color: Jets PR guy Bruce Speight had to use both hands to Scott’s chest and ask for help from PR aides to keep Scott away.

— Bart Hubbuch (@HubbuchNYP) September 21, 2012

Fisticuffs! This pseudo-paparazzi behavior, snapping a cell phone pic of an athlete, is definitely odd for a locker room reporter. Unless of course, that pic wasn’t aimed at Scott’s face. Busted Coverage piped up and asked the relevant question:

@hubbuchnyp Dan wasn’t trying to snap a dong shot, right?

— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) September 21, 2012

Ah, okay. You have to appreciate the irony of Scott’s blowup, which comes on the heels of his defamation of the entire New York media for constantly slandering his team. They definitely won’t talk about the Jets now.

UPDATE (3:32): Thanks to our friend Keith Gormley (via Ian Rapoport), we now know that the Bart Scott-Jets Confidential beef may stem from something else. As you can see here, the cover of Jets Confidential claims it was Bart Scott’s friend who started all the “circus talk.” And thus we continue to unravel this ENGAGING mystery.

[@HubbuchNYP, via PFT]

Photo via Getty

Follow @dylantmurphy