Mark Jones’ feud with the Washington Huskies apparently has led to the announcer being banned from calling the team’s games for ESPN this year.
Jones, who is a play-by-play announcer for ESPN, tweeted a shot at Washington on Sunday, a day after the Huskies lost a tough season opener to Auburn.
His “where’s Montana” line was a reference to one of the weak non-conference opponents Washington played last season. ESPN actually had a rocky relationship with Washington last year due to the infamous cupcake stunt. Jones also called Huskies head coach Chris Petersen “irascible and somewhat cantankerous” while broadcasting last year’s game against Cal.
Jones sent a more positive tweet about Washington on Monday, saying he still thinks the Huskies “will have a great season.”
Despite that tweet, the damage apparently had already been done. Both Bay Area News Group’s Jon Wilner and The Seattle Times said that Washington was told Mark Jones will not be assigned to any of their football games this year.
Fans of teams often think and complain that announcers are biased against them. In this case, Washington fans might have a good reason for believing that.
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