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BREAKING: Fox Sports Detroit’s Mario Impemba and Rod Allen involved in physical altercation
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By Katie Strang 1h ago https://theathletic.com/app/themes/a...mment-icon.png 64 https://theathletic.com/app/themes/a.../save-icon.png
When Mickey York and Craig Monroe threw to the booth during Wednesday night’s broadcast of Fox Sports Detroit’s “Tigers Live” pregame show, an unexpected duo appeared on screen — that of Matt Shepard and Kirk Gibson.
Conspicuously absent from the show was the regular tandem of play-by-play announcer Mario Impemba and analyst Rod Allen.
Multiple sources told The Athletic that neither Impemba nor Allen were part of Wednesday’s broadcast due to a physical altercation between the two television personalities following Tuesday’s game in Chicago against the White Sox. It is not immediately clear what prompted the attack.
According to the accounts of those sources, there has been simmering tension between both Impemba and Allen and the clash of personalities ultimately boiled over on Tuesday night.
Both Shepard and Gibson had to be brought in to Chicago at last-minute’s notice, according to at least one source. Another source said that Impemba’s and Allen’s travel arrangements back to Detroit were booked separately to avoid further issues.
Reached Wednesday night, Fox Sports Detroit general manager Greg Hammaren did not deny the incident but said:
“My only comment is this we are addressing an internal matter and we will not have any further comment at this time.”
Allen’s agent, Tom Shaer, declined to comment when asked the specifics of the incident.
“I don’t discuss professional matters that involve my clients with people who are not my clients or their employers,” Shaer said.
Impemba’s agent, Barry Meister, declined to comment when reached on Thursday. Neither Allen nor Impemba could be immediately reached.
Sources said that Impemba and Allen have long been at odds with each other and that their distinctively different broadcasting styles reflect their chasm in personalities. While it can work for lively on-air banter, it has often meant a much more contentious off-air relationship.
“They’re like an odd couple,” said one person familiar with the dynamics of the broadcast’s production.
Another person familiar with their relationship said that they had not seen eye-to-eye for a long time, but had managed to maintain a productive relationship, at least on air.
It is not clear whether there will be any discipline assessed for the incident, which one source said was broken up by a third party.
When reached Wednesday night, a Tigers spokesperson referred questions about the incident to Fox Sports Detroit.
*This is a developing story*
LOVE IT
The fight was over… a chair?!
The initial report about the altercation didn’t contain any details about what actually happened or what started it. A few hours later, WDIV provided a few more details about what reportedly went down.WDIV also reported that there were several long silences during the game, like 43 seconds of silence in the bottom of the sixth inning. That would seem to indicate that the two weren’t on the best of terms during the game, perhaps because of whatever issues there were with the chair. Did Impemba take Allen’s chair? Was Allen’s chair broken? Was there only one chair and the two of them had to share it, or switch off using it? We may never know.
Sources told Local 4 that Impemba left the broadcast booth at some point and Allen followed, assaulting Impemba from behind and choking him.
The altercation was because of a disagreement over a chair in the booth, sources told Local 4.
Both suspended for the rest of the season lol