CHICAGO - Several hours after removing an offensive poll question, ESPN.com offered an apology yesterday afternoon.
The question, based on the success of Boston?s professional sports teams, asked whether voters would rather see the Patriots [team stats] lose to the Steelers, Johan Santana be traded to a team other than the Red Sox [team stats] or Kevin Garnett blow out his knee.
The poll was switched by Friday night, but when Garnett learned of it, he told the Herald, ?Wow, that?s really distasteful, man.?
Nor was Celtics [team stats] coach Doc Rivers pleased to hear about the feature, which appeared on ESPN.com?s Page 2. Celtics PR man Jeff Twiss expressed the team?s unhappiness with the item and said yesterday afternoon that ESPN was ?apologetic.?
Later in the day, ESPN released the following statement:
?Friday?s ESPN.com Page 2 poll used very poor judgment in its option about Kevin Garnett. The poll was removed immediately upon the senior editorial staff becoming aware, and we sincerely regret the error in judgment. We are addressing the issue and apologize to Kevin Garnett, to the Celtics organization and to those offended by the poll question. Obviously, we wish good health to all athletes.?
The Garnett portion of the poll was obviously a poor attempt at humor, but it had to be particularly perplexing to Garnett, Paul Pierce [stats] and Ray Allen, who had taped promotional spots for ESPN
