Be sure to pick up a copy of Score Atlanta (The Final edition of 2010) tomorrow. Also a quick programming note: GPB Sports Central XL, SA's The Official Visit and ScoreAtlanta Scoreboard will be on hiatus until after the New Year!
Skip Bayless is a professional rabble-rouser that is paid by ESPN to come up with the most absurd opinions possible in the desperate hope that it will draw attention to a show that about .004% of sports fans across America even think about watching. Recently on this show Bayless chose to ignore the fact that the Falcons sport the best record in the National Football League by saying that Atlanta’s NFL franchise was merely the tenth-best team this season. His logic: the Falcons did not sport a “signature” victory on the 2010 resume. WOW. I guess Bayless, along with Wilbon and several other NFL experts are still refusing to give the Falcons credit for beating the Green Bay Packers or the Baltimore Ravens or even the Cleveland Browns ON THE ROAD (ask New Orleans and New England about the Browns). Then, OH YEAH, there was that whole “win at New Orleans” thing a few weeks back too. That certainly wasn’t signature enough though I guess.
I realize that Bayless and ESPN are looking for ratings and his saying outlandish things like a team with a 10-2 (at the time) record is only the tenth-best team in the League, is a statement sure to get everybody from 790 The Zone to Score Atlanta to the AJC talking, but at some point, don’t you just come off like an idiot for making too crazy of a statement? I believe you do. Then again, if he says No. 5 or No. 6, I guess that could get swept under the rug and it wouldn’t stand out. He and his show needs all of the attention he can get. Therefore the crazy proclamation of No. 10.
Chris Domino brought up the statement to Falcons coach Mike Smith recently and Coach Smith was smart enough not to take the bait. He didn’t defend Bayless but just generalized by saying that the two teams that make Dallas should get respect and the world will see how good those two teams are when they play in the big game. Domino pressed Smith again, but Smith wouldn’t lower himself to Bayless’s level and kudos to him. Smith knows that if he keeps winning, no one will be able to say anything bad about his team.
Sadly two members of the Falcons did take the bait as Brent Grimes and Roddy White both tweeted about Bayless. This led to a Twitter war between the three parties. Despite a replay on the field, Bayless still tried to tell Grimes that he didn’t make an interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers then he acted like a two-year-old in several responses to Roddy White. I wish that Grimes and White had done what Smith did and just ignore this dope Bayless and let him go back to shouting at whoever is unlucky enough to sit across from him on First and Ten or First Take or Cold Pizza or whatever the show is called these days. In fact the best way to shut him up would be for Grimes and White to both make outstanding plays to win a Super Bowl Trophy and just let Bayless stew over it. Perhaps even appear on his show a few days afterwards and bring the tape with you.
Speaking of two-year-olds needing to get their way, the University of Florida Gators attempted to hijack the Heisman ceremony last Saturday by deciding to announce former Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp as its new head football coach hours before former Gator Cam Newton claimed the prize. I don’t know why Florida couldn’t let Newton have his day in the clouded sun by waiting until Sunday morning to announce the hire; the extra 12 hours wouldn’t have affected recruiting so the school shouldn’t try and use that excuse. The announcement of the hire came just days after Urban Meyer announced his retirement…in the same cycle as the college football awards. It just seems weird that these announcements typically happen when Florida is out of the spotlight and Meyer or Foley feel the need for the program to be recognized. I guess they were spoiled by CBS and ESPN fawning all over them when Tebow was there and the Gators were winning BCS titles. As the Greek poet Hesiod once said, “Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.” Florida cannot quite grasp that.
Back to the Heisman ceremony, where Auburn Quarterback and Atlanta-native Cam Newton claimed the Great Stiff-arm. Boy that speech was bad. He stumbled and muttered and rambled any sympathy I might have still been harboring for him right away, and it paled in comparison to last year’s winning speech from Mark Ingram. Newton KNEW he was going to win; he couldn’t have had someone help him write it? What was with the “my folks do so much behind the scenes,” line? We KNOW they do after reading the papers over the last month. 790 The Zone’s David Pollack defending the stammering, saying that when he did the awards circuit in 2004, he was just as nervous, but sorry David. You had competition that year and winning was a bit more unexpected than it was for Newton. He had it in the bag. He should have been coached up by somebody at Auburn. They don’t have a speech class he could have sat in on last week?
Finally, the GHSA football state championships were a success last weekend at the Georgia Dome. The five games were seen on GPB-TV as well as gpb.org/sports. The webcasts also featured an interactive chat, just as the Friday night broadcasts had leading up to the championships. At one point on the interactive chat Saturday night, a new web site traffic record was reached for most visitors at one time. Georgia Public Broadcasting was able to follow up its game broadcasts by snagging four of the championship coaches and GHSA Executive Director Dr. Ralph Swearngin for this past Wednesday’s Sports Central XL. If you missed the show, check it out on-demand on the gpb.org/sports site or follow the link on www.gaprepnews.com.
Can You Believe He Said That
All I can tell you is that we thought long and hard about what not to do. We thought harder about what to do.” That was Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany after he announced that the two divisions in the new-look Big Ten will be called The Leaders and The Legends. Huh? What? I guess North/South and East/West was taken, so you decided to listen to a drunken fan at an Iowa/Minnesota tailgate party? Dude, we’ve got so many legends. And what about our leaders?! Leaders and Legends, eh? OK. Whatever. When discussing Delany and his brain trust, I’ll go with Dumb and Dumber.
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