Howard Eskin Is “Truly Sorry,” Everybody

Howard Eskin, who was banned from Phillies games after allegedly kissing an Aramark employee at Citizens Bank Park, has issued an apology. (Getty Images)

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Howard Eskin Issues On-Air Apology for Misdeeds That Got Him Banned From Phillies Games

Worst of Philly-winning, fur coat-wearing Philadelphia legend-in-his-own-mind Howard Eskin is sorry, everybody.

You may remember that in early July the Phillies banned Eskin from all games at Citizens Bank Park after he made an unwanted advance on an Aramark employee there. (Reports alleged that he kissed the woman.) In the wake of the ensuing bad publicity — the story made it to the New York Times, New York Post, and USA Today, among other national outlets — the Sixers also banned Eskin from its training facility in Camden.

Eskin didn’t lose his longtime radio job as a sportsmouth on WIP, though. And he returned to the airwaves the other day for the first time since the scandal broke, the short WIP hiatus reportedly not because of any suspension that he should have received but because of some non-punitive circumstances too boring to report here.

Listeners no doubt wondered if Eskin would address his bad behavior. And he did. Here’s what he had to say on the air:

I’d like to briefly address the recent reports about an incident at Citizens Bank Park. I’m not going to get into specifics other than to say that I recognize my actions have offended and upset her. I feel awful about that. I really do. I apologized to her at the time of the incident and I apologize again now. I’m truly sorry that this did occur. I know a lot of you want me to say more about this. But I don’t intend to comment on this any further and hopefully you understand.

My main question is, if he’s truly sorry, why did it take him so long to publicly say so? It doesn’t take nearly a month for a good lawyer and a good publicist to script out a half-assed apology like that.

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