According to a sports talk radio host, former #2 overall NFL draft pick Ryan Leaf confronted former San Diego Chargers team doctor in a “very aggressive” manner during Super Bowl radio row on Wednesday.
Scott Kaplan, host of Kaplan and Crew in San Diego, told his listeners that former Chargers QB Ryan Leaf confronted former Chargers team doctor and well-known internet personality Dr. David Chao, while the doc was awaiting his time to appear on Kaplan’s program.
Kaplan praised Chao for keeping his composure during the incident.
“I’m not making a big deal out of it,” said Chao.“I wish the best for Ryan. I’m not sure why — over the 10 years here at Radio Row, I’ve seen him dozens of times. This is the first time he’s ever said anything to me. This season, when Quentin Jammer was defending me when he was attacking me randomly, he said, ‘I’ve told him to his face.’ I’m like, ‘No. That was (the) first interaction I’ve had with Ryan since he left San Diego.’ I went to Ryan’s wedding. I wish him the best in his recovery and everything else. I’ve stayed out of the fray.”
For his part, Chao says he never felt threatened during the confrontation.
The beef between the two seems to stem from Leaf’s view of Chao’s role with the Seau family in the aftermath of Junior Seau’s suicide in 2012.
According to Chao, Leaf asked him if he had gone to the home of Gina Seau to convince her not to have Junior’s brain examined. Chao reportedly told Leaf that he had his facts mixed up.
“Gina and her oldest daughter came to my house the day after Junior died and asked me for advice on how to study the brain,” Chao explained, “and I got the brain studied at the NIH (National Institutes of Health). I said, ‘You got your facts wrong, you’re full of sh*t.’ Whatever, I’m not going to get there.”
Chao claims he offered Leaf a chance to appear on his podcast to discuss the issue, but he declined.
“I can’t figure out what’s wrong with him,” Kaplan said. “It’s a completely unprofessional thing to do … to walk into Radio Row, wearing a credential where you’re here to work for somebody or guest for people, to walk up to somebody and attack them verbally and then really physically get in their face.”
The friction between Leaf and Chao is not exclusive to the Seau situation.
Leaf played for the Chargers from 1998 to 2001, and Chao worked for the team from 1997 to 2013.
In 2002, Leaf filed a lawsuit against Chao over the doctor’s treatment of his injuries, but later dropped the suit. That wasn’t the end of Chao’s troubles; the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA) then filed a lawsuit seeking to have the doctor removed from his position as a team doctor.
A review from three independent doctors “totally exonerated” Chao in 2013.
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