CLEVELAND — After serving as broadcast partners since the 2007 season, Matt Underwood and Rick Manning have developed a close friendship despite what their on-air chemistry might suggest.

But after Manning pretended not to know Underwood at a recent coincidental encounter at the mall, tension has trickled in.

Multiple reports from last weekend claimed that Manning, who was hanging out at SouthPark Mall in Strongsville with three of his teammates from the late ‘70s, pretended not to hear Underwood when the play-by-play announcer came over to greet him.

Things escalated from there when Manning, whose buddies were staring at him puzzlingly both for pretending not to hear Underwood and for associating with someone so uncool, had no choice but to call Underwood a “nerd” and push him away.

Underwood, who reportedly left the scene in tears, could not be reached for comment. Manning, though he appeared forlorn after his bullying, chose not to run after Underwood to apologize and instead followed his friends into their showing of “Transformers: The Last Knight,” which they later called the best movie of the year.