Nevada held off Texas on Friday evening in a tense NCAA Tournament first-round matchup, and Wolf Pack coach Eric Musselman was justifiably excited about it. So excited, in fact, that upon entering his team’s locker room, he dropped a series of F-bombs. If Musselman was aware the TBS cameras were rolling during his moment of glee, he sure didn’t show it.
Over the course of about 25 seconds, Musselman said the following, as captured by TBS:
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- “Hell fucking yeah.”
- “Fuck yes.”
- “We’ve got to feel fucking good.”
- “What a fucking game.”
The first three exclamations were kind of muted behind the TBS commentators, so we might not have them precisely right, but the last one came through crystal clear.
Musselman’s language may earn TBS some angry phone calls, and the network only has itself to blame. When a team overcomes a double-digit deficit to force overtime and claim its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2007, the coach is going to be pretty pumped. And when people are pumped, well, they often let some words fly.
TBS no longer basic cable but a premium channel now thanks to Eric Musselman’s locker room language.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) March 16, 2018
Musselman apologized at his postgame press conference, not that he really had to. He’s entitled to speak as colorfully as he wants in his own locker room without having to worry about whether some guy in the TBS control truck is quick enough with the censor button. And besides, we’ve all heard that word before and can probably handle hearing it one more time.
Still, when TBS returned to the studio, host Greg Gumbel issued another apology, on behalf of the network.
Gumbel said Musselman was “overly excited,” but we disagree. He was appropriately excited.