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Tim Saunders found himself in hot water following an on-air blunder.
The Philadelphia Flyers’ play-by-play announcer was handed a suspension on Friday, stemming from an inadvertent comment during the third period of Thursday’s radio broadcast against the Buffalo Sabres.
As the game transitioned to a commercial break with about seven minutes left on the clock, Saunders initiated the break—or so he thought—and, after a moment of silence, started humming.
Unexpectedly, he was caught saying, “While you’re down there, would you mind blowing me?”—a remark that quickly circulated across social media platforms.
Former Flyer and current analyst Todd Fedoruk tried to alert Saunders to the situation.
“I think we’re still on the air, Tim,” he said, with some urgency in his voice.
“No we’re not,” Saunders answered, laughing. “… Are we? Are we? … Do you have us? Talk to me.”
Indeed, they were.
The Flyers announced Friday that they, along with radio partner 97.5 The Fanatic, were imposing a two-game suspension for Saunders.
“We are aware of the inappropriate comment made during last night’s radio broadcast in the TV timeout of the Flyers-Sabers game. These remarks do not reflect the standards of conduct of values we expect from anyone associated with our organization,” the team said in a statement. “We take this matter very seriously and sincerely apologize to our listeners, fans and all those affected by these comments.”
Saunders, 60, has been a game voice for the Flyers since 1997.
He has not publicly addressed the incident as of this writing.