If this is how Pam Oliver works a room, she might want to stick to sideline reporting.
The Fox Sports NFL reporter flopped as host of a New York-New Jersey Super Bowl breakfast for regional business leaders Thursday, drawing gasps, groans and more than a few boos for her odd and insulting comments during a roundtable with owners of the Jets and Giants.
Oliver surprised and angered the crowd by alternately ridiculing Jets fans, coach Rex Ryan, the Giants’ current woes and New Yorkers in general during the 30-minute session.
The Times Square breakfast for roughly 50 area business executives was sponsored by the Association for a Better New York.
When Al Kelly, chairman of the New York-New Jersey Super Bowl Committee, was asked by Oliver how the committee would make sure people dressed appropriately for an outdoor game in February, he said there would probably be “a couple of idiots” who wouldn’t do so.
“Probably Jets fans,” Oliver said, prompting groans.
Oliver later showed her apparent ignorance of the Jets’ surprising 4-3 start by asking team owner Woody Johnson: “How does Rex [Ryan] keep his job?”
The 1-6 Giants weren’t spared, either. Oliver asked one of the team’s owners, Jonathan Tisch, to explain “what in the hell is the matter with the Giants?”
The most insulting comment from Oliver, however, was reserved for New Yorkers as a whole.
The crowd roared when she ask the team owners and Kelly how they planned “to instruct people of this area, particularly New Yorkers, to be nice? To say ‘please,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘I’ll get that’?”
Oliver quickly qualified that by saying, “I’m sorry — I’m from the South.”
But Tisch wasn’t pleased.
“I’m from New York City, and I take exception with that,” Tisch said. “New Yorkers are unbelievably hospitable.”
Oliver suffered a concussion before a game earlier this year when she was hit in the head by a football.