Cleveland Media Sends Little Person to Cover Marvin Lewis Press Conference

Two days after referring to Johnny Manziel as a "midget" during a Cincinnati sports radio interview, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis found himself face-to-face with an actual little person. 

In a story equal parts awkward and glorious, it would appear that the Fox 8 News station in Cleveland dispatched its shortest correspondent to Cincinnati to ask Lewis some questions of his own. 

Fox 8 News reports that its own "Lil" John Rinaldi, who's done prior work with the station, sat front and center at Lewis' Wednesday press conference to ask the Bengals head coach about the height disparity between Brian Hoyer (6'2") and Manziel (6'0").

WCPO Cincinnati's Mark Slaughter noted Rinaldi's presence in the Bengals' conference room:

While ostensibly there to serve as a less than subtle reminder for Lewis, Rinaldi kept his questions to sports—with a side of shade.

His first question was: "Hey coach, based on the height difference between Hoyer and Manziel, how has your defensive approach changed for Sunday's game?"

It's a similar inquiry to the one that elicited Lewis' "midget" remarks Monday. 

The Bengals head coach made the initial comment during an interview with WLW-AM in Cincinnati. Hosts asked if he would prepare differently for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns knowing Manziel would be starting at quarterback. Lewis responded by promptly shoving a foot in his mouth.

His answer, via Deadspin's Kevin Draper:

"

You'll get a little more movement if Manziel is the quarterback, cause the thing that they did against Buffalo, but other than that no, that doesn't impact you at all. You've got to go defend the offense, you don't defend the player. Particularly a midget. 

"

Lewis has since apologized, calling the remarks "offensive to people of short stature" and saying he "greatly" regrets his words. 

To his undying credit, Lewis managed to handle Rinaldi's question without disparaging anyone:

"

Uh well, I think the thing is. You know, in looking at the 130-some plays that Johnny had this preseason and the plays he had against the Bills this year, going back and looking at our time spent evaluating him in the draft and so forth, and the things that he did well in the offense there at A&M and so forth. So you know, we just go through and adjust the plan accordingly to the things that we feel could part of their offensive game plan this week against us.

"

Rinaldi followed up his first question with something similar, noting that Hoyer "likes to stand tall in the pocket." Lewis wasn't falling for it and maintained his professionalism. The Browns host the Bengals Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. Bring your popcorn and Sno-Caps.

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