The Alliance of American Football is a fledgling sports league trying to grow in an area where the National Football League has absolutely dominated for the last several decades.

Nobody expects a league trying to do what the AAF is attempting to become appointment television overnight, but the image of success vs. struggle can be vital in the league’s first few years. So, it’s probably not great when an analyst covering the league is caught saying, “Nobody’s watching, nobody cares,” on television. Unless they have a really good reason.

Rod Woodson and the AAF have a regrettable hot mic moment

Hall of Fame safety Rod Woodson had some explaining to do after he was apparently caught mocking the AAF’s ratings and relevancy when a broadcast got its wires crossed on Saturday.

Marvin Lewis and AAF crew joking about Christian Hackenberg's completion percentage and Rod Woodson follows up with "nobody's watching" lol pic.twitter.com/iSAtj1fGDL — AAF Reddit (@AAF_Reddit) February 23, 2019





A transcript of the exchange, via Deadspin:

Lewis: “Before we get there. Hack….Hack’s about 50 percent [laughs]” Flanagan: “[inaudible] say that on TV coach, I got you. We’re not on TV, we’re on Bleacher Report. It’s different.” Woodson: “Ahh nobody’s watching, nobody cares, no one’s listening.”

A strikingly similar comment was captured on a similar broadcast, with “Nobody’s watching, nobody’s listening, nobody cares.”

@TheAAF just left a mic open on their broadcast. Quote "nobody's watching, nobody's listening, nobody cares". Oops. pic.twitter.com/o5uofGGMqa — David Berrisford (@berrisforce) February 23, 2019





Taken separately, those comments are mortifying for both the league and analysts. However, Woodson and his co-host Alex Flanagan had a pretty convincing story for how those words reached the microphone in the aftermath of the incident.

Rod Woodson: Hot mics can ‘miscapture a moment’

The way Woodson explains it, the three phrases are a mantra for broadcasters to basically forget about the thousands or millions of people watching them speak (and possibly post their lowlights on Twitter).

Hot mics can sure miscapture a moment. A mantra. That’s what that was. @alex_flanagan & I both know viewership for AAF games is exceeding all expectations. I’m watching Memphis at Orlando right now. I hear Coach Spurrier is mic’d up, too!🎙 https://t.co/s55qZjt8Um — Rod Woodson (@RodWoodson26) February 24, 2019





That backs up Flanagan’s earlier story in which she explained that Woodson was merely repeating the mantra she had learned earlier in her career. Flanagan said Woodson was joking with her and lamenting the criticism being thrown he co-worker’s way.

In @TheAAF studios today telling Marvin Lewis a story of being young anchor at WSFA. To ease my nerves sports anchor Jeff Shearer would tell me “no one’s watching, no one cares, no one listens”. @RodWoodson26 laughed, said it back. that was aired & totally taken out of context. — Alex Flanagan (@Alex_Flanagan) February 23, 2019





Rod was laughing at the ridiculousness of me saying that, but I explained it helped me not get nervous if I didn’t worry what people watching might think. I feel horrible Rod is getting nasty tweets. — Alex Flanagan (@Alex_Flanagan) February 23, 2019





That story seems to track, especially since the same phrase was captured at two separate sources. Of course, it does say something about the AAF broadcast that two moments like this were caught on the same day, but at least those mistakes don’t indicate the league’s analysts secretly think their ratings are awful.

Rod Woodson had a surprisingly good explanation after a hot mic caught him seeming to mock the AAF’s ratings. (Getty Images ) More

Some people are watching AAF games

Woodson’s comments appeared especially perplexing on the surface because, well, some people actually are watching, and listening, and possibly caring about the AAF.