PHOTO: George Clooney, Ed Reed talk Ravens-Bengals

It may have been the unlikeliest scene on the red carpet before the Oscars show Sunday night when George Clooney, an admitted Cincinnati Bengals fan, was confronted by a certain safety for the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.

Ed Reed, working the scene as an interviewer for “The Rich Eisen Podcast,” greeted Clooney, whose girlfriend, Stacy Keibler, is a former Ravens cheerleader.

“Clooney said to me, ‘Hey, Reed, you hurt me bad — I’m a Bengals fan,’” Reed told SI.com’s Richard Deitsch on Sunday night. “I told him, ‘Hey, man, they hurt themselves!’ But it’s awesome he’s a Bengals fan. I really enjoyed talking with him.”

New England’s notorious tight end Rob Gronkowski had been the early choice to stand outside the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and ask questions, but that fell through and Reed stepped up. Reed’s performance can be seen on “The Rich Eisen Combine Special” will be shown at 9:30 p.m. EST Wednesday on The NFL Network, with audio on NFL.com/iTunes on Wednesday afternoon.

“Usually I’m the guy not doing interviews,” said Reed, when asked by Deitsch to analyze his work. “I’m focusing on my job. So to do something different was fun. I think I did all right.”

He certainly looked fine in a stripey tux, purple bowtie and purple and black shoes. After his interviewing duties were over, he ended up backstage with the help of a security guard who is a Ravens fan and yapped with the stars. “I also shook hands with Halle Berry,” Reed said. “I wanted to take a picture with her, but she walked out so quick. Beautiful woman, man.”


(washingtonpost.com)