ESPN's Chris Mortensen Received Death Threats Over DeflateGate Reporting
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Of all the sports figures that morphed into hated villains during the 18-month debacle that was DeflateGate, ESPN's Chris Mortensen was certainly high up on the list. His infamous "11 of 12" DeflateGate tweet, which took six months to delete, transformed Mortensen from trusted NFL insider to journalistic pariah in New England.
Mortensen is in the midst of a comeback to TV after successfully battling cancer, but even during his fight, he became one of the top enemies of Patriots fans after his tweet caught fire and essentially launched DeflateGate into unprecedented levels of controversy - even for the Patriots, who were not dealing with their first highly publicized scandal.
According to a story on Mortensen's career and his return in The Ringer, the longtime ESPN reporter revealed that he received constant death threats over his reporting on DeflateGate. It's unsurprising - expected, even - that some people would go that far, especially on social media. But it's still stunning to know that a reporter had hordes of people threatening his life over merely bad reporting - even after he was diagnosed.
"What bothered me is we're in an era where if your wife goes onto social media, she basically reads that they want you to die," said Mortensen. "Even after I got cancer, I got some death wishes."
Mortensen did admit that he should have done a better job reporting on DeflateGate, instead of falling victim to the digital age's need for immediacy in fans' consumption of information.
"That should have raised the journalist in me to a higher level," he said. "I've got to ask some more questions here. What are we talking about, 2 pounds under? But, no, I got to get on TV."
In light of all of the deceitful activity from the NFL front offices through DeflateGate and its many other controversies, it's not the least bit shocking to know that the league didn't exactly help Mortensen through this, either.
"I remember asking people in the league office, 'Is there stuff we need to clarify?'" said Mortensen. "Basically, it was like, 'Hey, let Ted Wells do his job.'"
It's unlikely that Mortensen will redeem himself as a reporter in New England with this story, but it makes more sense knowing that the NFL league offices remain far and away Enemy No. 1 in the entire DeflateGate saga. Mortensen certainly could have done his job a lot better throughout the story, a mistake that he finally admitted. But at the same time, at no point did he deserve to get death threats for it.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
