There's an unwritten rule among professional athletes to not make light of their peers' injuries. Former Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott no doubt knows about it, but apparently was more interested in continuing to earn his stripes as another bombastic, self-aggrandizing sports media talking head than honoring that code. Good on Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell for calling Scott out on his gauche joke about injured Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs.
Scott's insensitive remarks about Diggs came on Friday's episode of First Take.
“This is a major, major blow for Dallas,” he begins, “and like Stephen A. always says, ‘Just wait, something bad always happens.'”
Bart Scott joking about Trevon Diggs’ injury is insane work. Most these guys on the big networks are so bad, it’s unreal. pic.twitter.com/F8raYqVC5y
— Ernie (@es3_09) September 22, 2023
Ryan Clark clearly knows the rules. The former Pittsburgh Steelers star immediately stopped Scott in his tracks, shaking his head in shame with a stern “don't start that.” Even a glorified shock jock like Smith knew Scott had crossed a line, too.
“No, no, no, no, no. First of all, I wouldn't do that right now, in all seriousness,” Smith interjects. “This is a season-ending injury, so I'm certainly not gonna joke about that with Trevon Diggs, my brother.”
You can see the immediate embarrassment on Scott's face. Just in case that real-time dressing-down wasn't enough, though, Mitchell—directly referencing that professional athlete code—piled on Scott hours later via Twitter.
This is lame… and as a former player this makes it 10x worse 🤦🏾♂️ https://t.co/2VpDfwZSp3
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) September 22, 2023
Bravo, Donovan Mitchell.
Diggs suffered the season-ending injury to his knee during Cowboys practice on Thursday. The two-time Pro Bowler seemed en route to his best season yet over the Cowboys' first two games of 2023, racking up one interception, three deflected passes, one forced fumble and four tackles.
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