Blyleven profanities heard on Twins broadcast, Sun. 9/3/06

"Viewers tuning in for the opening of the Twins-Yankees telecast Sunday afternoon on WFTC got an unexpected surprise.

Analyst Bert Blyleven, apparently thinking the segment was being taped, used two profanities after a slip-up during what is known as the standup. Blyleven seemed to think the segment could be shot again and was blaming himself for making a mistake.

"We're reviewing the situation," said FSN North spokesman Brian Peterson, whose network produces the package of Sunday afternoon telecasts that air on WFTC. Both FSN North and WFTC are owned by Fox.

WFTC could find itself in hot water with the Federal Communications Commission, which has the ability to fine a station for airing profanity. The words Blyleven used are high on the FCC's list of no-nos, and on the FCC website it clearly states such profanity cannot be broadcast between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

In this case it happened right around noon.

The site also reads: In 2004 alone, the FCC took action in 12 cases, involving hundreds of thousands of complaints, assessing penalties and voluntary payments totaling about $8,000,000. The Commission has also toughened its enforcement penalties by proposing monetary penalties based on each indecent utterance in a broadcast, rather than proposing a single monetary penalty for the entire broadcast.

This is not the first on-air misstep for Blyleven this season. The former Twins pitcher also made what Peterson termed "inappropriate" comments during a May telecast in Anaheim. In that case, Blyleven asked Ace Young of "American Idol" fame a question about "AI" judge Paula Abdul.

Blyleven heard from both the Twins and FSN North executives after that happened. Blyleven is an employee of the Twins, and his contract is set to expire at the end of this season. Team president Dave St. Peter said recently that both Blyleven and play-by-play man Dick Bremer are close to signing multiyear extensions. St. Peter could not be reached to comment Sunday, and it's unclear whether Sunday's incident will affect Blyleven's status.

Blyleven worked the weekend series in New York with FSN North's Anthony LaPanta after Bremer's mother passed away last week." by Judd Zulgad, Minneapolis Star Tribune

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