Editing Jim Rome (section)

== Controversy and incidents ==

Rome gained notoriety in 1994 for an incident on his [[ESPN2]] television show, ''[[Talk2]]'', when his guest was [[National Football League|NFL]] [[quarterback]] [[Jim Everett]]. Rome had often referred to Everett on radio as "Chris" (after [[Chris Evert]], the female tennis player), suggesting that Everett was less than a man whenever he shied away from getting hit.  Everett appeared as a guest on the television show, where he warned Rome about repeating the insult.  Rome continued to address Everett as "Chris" and Everett overturned the table between them and shoved Rome to the floor while still on the air. Their confrontation resulted in no legal action, although Rome publicly apologized to Everett. Rome considers that event one of his early career mistakes.<ref name=rome_everett_beaver>{{cite news|last=Conley|first=Cecil|title=Jim Rome Back for ESPN Encore|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8aI1AAAAIBAJ&pg=1365,922437|access-date=June 19, 2012|newspaper=[[Beaver County Times]]|date=May 1, 2003}}</ref>

In 1997, hockey legend [[Gordie Howe]] announced an attempt to play a shift with the [[International Hockey League (1945-2001)|International Hockey League]]'s [[Detroit Vipers]], which would allow Howe to claim having played professional hockey in six decades. Rome challenged the 69-year-old ex-hockey star, offering a bounty of $3,000 to any player on the team playing against the Vipers to take Howe out of the game permanently by saying, "Putting this old fool back to reality."  Rome clarified that the statements were a joke.<ref name=rj_howe>{{cite news|title=A bounty on Howe? No way|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2sFbAAAAIBAJ&pg=4526,4677449|access-date=June 19, 2012|newspaper=[[Record-Journal]]|date=September 28, 1997}}</ref>

In 2012, Rome was involved in a controversy with NBA Commissioner [[David Stern]]. During an interview, Rome asked Stern about the conspiracy theories that the NBA Draft Lottery was fixed in favor of the [[New Orleans Hornets]], and he asked, "Was the fix in for the lottery?" Stern replied with two answers: "Number one, no; and a statement, shame on you for asking." He then proceeded to ask Rome the [[loaded question]] example of "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" and accused Rome of "making a career out of cheap thrills". This led to a heated exchange between Rome and Stern, ending when Stern said he had "to go call someone important like [[Stephen A. Smith]]."<ref name=espn.com>{{cite news|title=David Stern, Jim Rome battle on radio|url=https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/8048426/nba-commissioner-david-stern-radio-host-jim-rome-get-lottery|access-date=December 22, 2013|newspaper=ESPN.com|date=June 13, 2012}}</ref>

On January 1, 2015, Rome sent out a tweet that stated, "Is there anyone not in a marching band who thinks those dorks running around with their instruments are cool?" After a backlash, he later deleted the tweet and issued an apology. The incident also inspired the hashtag "#MarchOnRome".<ref name=Larimer>{{cite news|last1=Larimer|first1=Sarah|title=Jim Rome tweets his take on marching bands, then tweets apology for his take on marching bands|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2015/01/02/jim-rome-tweets-his-take-on-marching-bands-then-tweets-apology-for-his-take-on-marching-bands/|access-date=2 January 2015|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|date=2 January 2015}}</ref>