Myers Sorry He Called Reporter A "Retard"; Meant To Say "Idiot" Instead

Philadelphia Inquirer Finally Weighs In On Lockeroom Shoutfest With Phillies Closer
A day after the insults, pointed fingers and bleeps, Phillies relief pitcher Brett Myers was calm, to a point, in discussing his Saturday night smackdown with Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Sam Carchidi (see below post for more).
That may have been due to the fact that Carchidi, one of the Inky's backup Phillies writers, was not in attendance, replaced yesterday by Jim Salisbury. Suffice to say, though, the bad blood still flows.
Myers said he was sorry to have called Carchidi a retard, after Carchidi questioned
Myers' assessment of two home runs that he gave up to lose the game as looking like "pop-ups." Myers said he simply should have called Carchidi an "idiot" and moved on.
As for an apology to Carchidi, Myers says don't hold your breath. But Salisbury reports Carchidi isn't backing down.

"I stuck my finger in his face because he called me a retard. If asking tough questions is stirring things up, I'm guilty as charged."

A little context is warranted. This isn't the first time Carchidi has gotten under Myers' skin, apparently. While his primary beat is high school sports, Carchidi has worked as a backup Phillies writer since the 1980s. From Myers' vantage point, that only qualifies Carchidi to lap up whatever bromides and lame excuses Myers throws his way.

"He covers high school sports and comes in here and tries to stir things up, and we definitely didn't need it after a tough loss."

Randy Miller, who covers the Phillies for several suburban Philadelphia papers, noted that Myers returned a few minutes after the confrontation and apologized to the remaining reporters.
As we discussed yesterday, Carchidi could have very easily ignored Myers' insult and not instigated a further exchange and risk becoming part of the story. But there's nothing in the journalistic canon that says reporters should remain mute while being verbally abused.
It was easy for Carchidi to be incredulous over Myers' assessment of the homers, just as easily as it was for Myers to be pissed off. But if that was the case, you walk away, you don't comment, you say something else that doesn't make a bad situation worse. And for that, Myers should be sorry.