The
incident happened in the CSN newsroom after the taping of “Sports Talk
Live,” a panel discussion on CSN Chicago among Doyle, Chicago Business’
Danny Ecker and Chicago Sun-Times reporter Herb Gould.
According
to Ecker, who witnessed the incident and wrote about it, Gill
confronted Doyle in the
newsroom over critical comments Doyle had made
on the air about Gill’s analysis of the controversial final moments of
Monday’s Chicago Bulls-Denver Nuggets game. The referees disallowed what
at first appeared to be a last-second basket by the Bulls, thus giving the Nuggets win.
After the game, Gill said on the air that a basket interference against Bulls center Joakim Noah with
1.7 seconds to play in overtime “was a very bad call on the officials’
part,” a point that Doyle refuted on “Sports Talk Live.”
Ecker
says Gill approached Doyle and “called him out” for his comments. The
two got into a shoving match, with Gill eventually throwing a punch. The
two bumped up against a sign on the wall and a small amount of blood
was drawn — though it was unclear exactly how, Ecker wrote — before the
two were separated.
“We’re
looking further into the incident that took place in our newsroom
earlier today,” CSN Chicago news director Kevin Cross said in a
statement late Tuesday night. “Until the investigation is complete,
Kendall Gill will not be appearing on our air.”
Gill,
a former star at Illinois who had a 15-year NBA career, has been doing
live pregame and postgame coverage of Bulls games on CSN Chicago
