Jim Rome can add another contentious encounter to his resume. The confrontational sports radio and television host sparred with NBA Commissioner David Stern on Wednesday and managed to coax a soundbite for the ages.
After being pressed by Rome to address the rampant conspiracy theories that the NBA Draft Lottery has been fixed on various occasion -- the temperature of those envelopes in 1985 is still a hot topic -- Stern eventually shot back with a question of his own.
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?"
Um, what?
Clearly frustrated by the topic, Stern made clear his disdain for the line of questioning and implied that he posed his rhetorical question to highlight what he perceived to be the absurdity of the Rome's initial query.
Later describing the conspiracy theories and his not-so-playful banter as "cheap thrills," Stern couldn't quite seem to extricate his foot from his mouth before he excused himself from the interview to go call Stephen A. Smith of ESPN.
A day earlier, Stern seemed much more at ease talking about the prevalence of draft lottery conspiracies.
"I think we have the loot from the Brinks Robbery and the Great Train Robbery, as well," Stern joked during an interview with CBS, before adding, "We also make sure that our process is about as airtight as it could possibly be and well reviewed and viewed, so there's no problem."
[H/T Deadspin for audio]