Sometimes athletes get exasperated with the media. Sometimes it's an overreaction. Other times the athlete has a right to gripe. And then there are the other times.

On the second day of training camp in Macomb, Ill., I was standing with a few reporters as we interviewed former Raven and new Ram safety Kim Herring. Herring was asked about the differences between playing for Marvin Lewis and Lovie Smith, his former and current defensive coordinators. Herring essentially said the two men and the defenses they run have pros and cons but both have merits. He also kiddingly intimated that he could take all day to answer the question. In his response he used the word "genre."

Now, as words go, "genre" is not really a head-scratcher. No red flags come up when you hear it. But this one guy in front of me repeated the word back to Herring in a quizzical tone as he scribbled it in his notebook. I don't know if he himself was puzzled by the word or if he was just surprised to hear it from a football player and couldn't stop himself. But Herring heard him and paused.

He said, "Yeah. Genre. Man, give me a break. I went to Penn State." And then he smiled and laughed and completely dispelled the three seconds of tension that had built up. Instead of walking away from the guy, Herring let whatever might have happened slip away with a friendly joust right back.

The whole scene went by in a flash. I walked away and watched Herring stroll over to the fence to sign some autographs with a smile on his face -- a smile that gave no indication that his intelligence has just been questioned while he was spending extra time with some media guys after practice. And he kept his cool, never missed a beat. Didn't let it change his day.

There's no name for it, but that's a pretty good play.

John Hassan is covering NFL training camps for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail john.hassan@espnmag.com.