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10 Truths: Keyshawn was fine
Jason Whitlock
FOXSports.com, Updated 18 hours ago STORY TOOLS:
OK, I'm heavy on NFL broadcaster talk and Chad Johnson early in this column. But I get to other stuff. Stick with me.
Here are your 10 NFL Truths for Week 8:
10. Let me tip my hat to ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson for his wonderful, tension-filled interview with Chad Johnson last weekend.
Keyshawn confronted Mr. Bojangles in a way that the majority of broadcasters and journalists wouldn't dare. Keyshawn is receiving some criticism for the interview because you could argue that Keyshawn — sans the elaborate TD celebrations — was a disruptive locker-room force during his playing career much like Chad Johnson. Remember, Keyshawn is the guy who jealously attacked Wayne Chrebet for no reason.
That bit of hypocrisy didn't bother me because Keyshawn is no longer a player. He's a member of the media, and he performed his job beautifully. That's all I can ask as a viewer.
Well, I do wish Keyshawn had pointed out to Chad that the Bengals haven't won a damn thing in Chad's era. In his one playoff game, Chad melted down at halftime with the Bengals holding a lead simply because he hadn't caught enough passes. Chad Johnson foolishly believes he's a "winner."
There's no evidence of that.
9. ESPN's version of "60 Minutes" — "E:60" — has a chance to be one of the most entertaining shows on TV, if it would stick to just airing the "pitch meetings."
Based on reporter/Around the Horn debater Michael Smith's pitch of a story on Chad Johnson, E:60 might be the most honest, unintentionally funny show on cable.
Let me say this off the top: I'm a Michael Smith fan. He's a young brother with talent and passion for the profession. But developing, nurturing and guiding talented young brothers and sisters is not ESPN's strength.
Overexposing them, putting them in positions they're not ready for and pushing them to be more like Stuart Scott is what ESPN does best. Stephen A. Smith was well on his way to being one of the most important sports journalists today until ESPN executives snatched him and put him in position to fail with a TV talk show.
Is Michael Smith next? If he's caught on camera one more time trying to explain to a group of grown folks why Chad Johnson's shucking, jiving and bojangling are "easily one of the most compelling moments in pro football today, if not all of sports for that matter ... Like, everybody is watching to see what he's going to do."
The look on Lisa Salters' face as Smith pitched this load of garbage was priceless. Watch the 11-minute pitch video. I can't do it justice. Seriously, at one point Salters' gasped in disgust and the room broke into nervous laughter when Smith tried to put a positive spin on Johnson having four kids by three different women.
Oh, this was raw, unvarnished truth that really needs to be aired in its entirety. The pitch meeting was far more enlightening, entertaining and honest than the actual package on Johnson. You got a real look at how the media operate and why we broadcast and publish so many fairytales.
When Smith tried to convince his colleagues that there was something terribly unique about a black man playing the clown to the delight of mainstream, corporate America, all I could think about is that "Roots" needs to be re-aired in primetime. It's like we forgot Fiddler, the original Chad Johnson.
8. Anyone else noticing that former-NFL quarterbacks-turned-broadcasters (Steve Young, Ron Jaworski and Phil Simms) are staging an effective, subtle protest about the way games are broadcast and hyped?
Young pretty much refused to talk about the upcoming Patriots-Colts game on Monday Night Countdown. Jaworski tried his best to politely sidestep Tony Kornheiser's constant questions about Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Simms blasted a couple of radio talk-show hosts for asking him to explain who is better, Brady or Manning.
And this week Peyton Manning said he watches Monday Night Football on mute. Hardcore football people have a problem with ESPN. I'll have more to say on this as this story line develops.
7. Given the struggles of Andy Reid's kid (drugs) and the Eagles on-field struggles, it makes perfect sense for Reid to step away from football for a year or two at the conclusion of this season.
Reid has made a ton of money and built a great reputation; he could step down and have his pick of NFL jobs in two years. Coaching at any level can be very hard on families. The best thing about coaching in the NFL is that it buys you the financial freedom to step away and recharge.
6. The biggest non-controversy this week was the Patriots allegedly running up the score on the Miami Dolphins.
In the NFL, it is impossible to run up the score. A coach is obligated to score as many points as he possibly can. Heck, yes, the Patriots should've been in their two-minute offense and trying to score just before halftime. And Belichick had every right to re-insert Tom Brady into the game after Jason Taylor's pick-6 cut the lead to 21 points in the fourth quarter.
The Dolphins collect million-dollar checks just like the Patriots. New England isn't in a BCS conference and Miami isn't a mid-major program. I don't even know how this became a debate.
5. Has anyone asked Roger Goodell what precautions he'll take to ensure that the Pro Bowl — if moved to the mainland — won't turn into NBA All-Star Weekend?
Goodell is allegedly considering taking the Pro Bowl away from Honolulu, moving it to the week before the Super Bowl and playing the game close to the Super Bowl location. This is stupid.
The NFL's all-star game is the most non-competitive game of all the all-star contests. It might as well be two-hand touch. You don't want to bring more media attention to this non-event. The players will get ripped for not trying, just like the NBA's game.
Plus, you risk having every hip hop entertainer hooking up with their favorite hip hop football player and throwing a party, which will invite every hip hop wannabe gangsta to descend on the host city and loiter.
The beauty of the Pro Bowl in Honolulu is that most football fans can't pile into a car and drive to the game. The Pro Bowl is exclusive. About a dozen media members, a select group of retired players and groupies with actual jobs regularly attend the Pro Bowl. The players stay in a secluded resort. The setup is perfect. Goodell should think long and hard before making this move. He's going to create a major headache.
4. Thank you, Roger Goodell, for trimming five minutes off first-round draft picks.
The length of the first round of the draft damn near makes the event unwatchable. The teams don't need 15 minutes between picks, and the broadcasters sure as hell don't have 15 minutes worth of good material on each pick.
3. Ray Lewis owes Brian Billick more loyalty than what he's giving his embattled coach.
Hey, Billick should be fired at the conclusion of this season. He should've been canned two years ago. But Ray Lewis has no business publicly questioning Billick's play-calling, as he did this week after the Ravens lost to the Bills.
Billick stood by Ray Ray when he faced murder chargers. If that doesn't buy you a lifetime of unconditional loyalty, I don't know what does. Lewis should be ashamed of himself.
2. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville is an absolute coward and fraud for not suspending the freshman lineman who chop-blocked LSU's Glenn Dorsey in the back of the knees.
I've watched the highlight over and over and what transpired is completely unjustifiable. Tuberville claims all the linemen were supposed to cut block. You don't cut block a defensive linemen moving toward you on the back of his knees.
Not only was the block illegal, but it was as immoral as LSU coach Les Miles claimed. Plus, it's damaging to college football. Dorsey returned to LSU for his senior season. He could've turned pro after last season. Now every NFL agent is going to show every third-year defensive lineman the tape of the block that could've cost Dorsey millions of dollars.
The NCAA needs to step in here and suspend the freshman guard. No one is saying the kid is a bad kid. But the sport needs to send a strong message that those type plays will not be tolerated, even accidentally.
1. Making Adrian Peterson play without the benefit of a semi-professional quarterback is absolutely criminal.
Vikings coach Brad Childress is justifiably taking heat for failing to give the ball to the best rookie running back since L.T. entered the league. In Minnesota's loss to the Cowboys, the Vikings' only weapon carried the ball just 12 times.
But more troubling than the way the Vikings use Peterson is the fact that they send him out on the field with zero threat of a passing game. Peterson is destroying NFL defenses despite the fact safeties do not have to fear the pass. The Vikings should call my boy Jeff George pronto.
LINK
Jason Whitlock
FOXSports.com, Updated 18 hours ago STORY TOOLS:
OK, I'm heavy on NFL broadcaster talk and Chad Johnson early in this column. But I get to other stuff. Stick with me.
Here are your 10 NFL Truths for Week 8:
10. Let me tip my hat to ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson for his wonderful, tension-filled interview with Chad Johnson last weekend.
Keyshawn confronted Mr. Bojangles in a way that the majority of broadcasters and journalists wouldn't dare. Keyshawn is receiving some criticism for the interview because you could argue that Keyshawn — sans the elaborate TD celebrations — was a disruptive locker-room force during his playing career much like Chad Johnson. Remember, Keyshawn is the guy who jealously attacked Wayne Chrebet for no reason.
That bit of hypocrisy didn't bother me because Keyshawn is no longer a player. He's a member of the media, and he performed his job beautifully. That's all I can ask as a viewer.
Well, I do wish Keyshawn had pointed out to Chad that the Bengals haven't won a damn thing in Chad's era. In his one playoff game, Chad melted down at halftime with the Bengals holding a lead simply because he hadn't caught enough passes. Chad Johnson foolishly believes he's a "winner."
There's no evidence of that.
9. ESPN's version of "60 Minutes" — "E:60" — has a chance to be one of the most entertaining shows on TV, if it would stick to just airing the "pitch meetings."
Based on reporter/Around the Horn debater Michael Smith's pitch of a story on Chad Johnson, E:60 might be the most honest, unintentionally funny show on cable.
Let me say this off the top: I'm a Michael Smith fan. He's a young brother with talent and passion for the profession. But developing, nurturing and guiding talented young brothers and sisters is not ESPN's strength.
Overexposing them, putting them in positions they're not ready for and pushing them to be more like Stuart Scott is what ESPN does best. Stephen A. Smith was well on his way to being one of the most important sports journalists today until ESPN executives snatched him and put him in position to fail with a TV talk show.
Is Michael Smith next? If he's caught on camera one more time trying to explain to a group of grown folks why Chad Johnson's shucking, jiving and bojangling are "easily one of the most compelling moments in pro football today, if not all of sports for that matter ... Like, everybody is watching to see what he's going to do."
The look on Lisa Salters' face as Smith pitched this load of garbage was priceless. Watch the 11-minute pitch video. I can't do it justice. Seriously, at one point Salters' gasped in disgust and the room broke into nervous laughter when Smith tried to put a positive spin on Johnson having four kids by three different women.
Oh, this was raw, unvarnished truth that really needs to be aired in its entirety. The pitch meeting was far more enlightening, entertaining and honest than the actual package on Johnson. You got a real look at how the media operate and why we broadcast and publish so many fairytales.
When Smith tried to convince his colleagues that there was something terribly unique about a black man playing the clown to the delight of mainstream, corporate America, all I could think about is that "Roots" needs to be re-aired in primetime. It's like we forgot Fiddler, the original Chad Johnson.
8. Anyone else noticing that former-NFL quarterbacks-turned-broadcasters (Steve Young, Ron Jaworski and Phil Simms) are staging an effective, subtle protest about the way games are broadcast and hyped?
Young pretty much refused to talk about the upcoming Patriots-Colts game on Monday Night Countdown. Jaworski tried his best to politely sidestep Tony Kornheiser's constant questions about Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Simms blasted a couple of radio talk-show hosts for asking him to explain who is better, Brady or Manning.
And this week Peyton Manning said he watches Monday Night Football on mute. Hardcore football people have a problem with ESPN. I'll have more to say on this as this story line develops.
7. Given the struggles of Andy Reid's kid (drugs) and the Eagles on-field struggles, it makes perfect sense for Reid to step away from football for a year or two at the conclusion of this season.
Reid has made a ton of money and built a great reputation; he could step down and have his pick of NFL jobs in two years. Coaching at any level can be very hard on families. The best thing about coaching in the NFL is that it buys you the financial freedom to step away and recharge.
6. The biggest non-controversy this week was the Patriots allegedly running up the score on the Miami Dolphins.
In the NFL, it is impossible to run up the score. A coach is obligated to score as many points as he possibly can. Heck, yes, the Patriots should've been in their two-minute offense and trying to score just before halftime. And Belichick had every right to re-insert Tom Brady into the game after Jason Taylor's pick-6 cut the lead to 21 points in the fourth quarter.
The Dolphins collect million-dollar checks just like the Patriots. New England isn't in a BCS conference and Miami isn't a mid-major program. I don't even know how this became a debate.
5. Has anyone asked Roger Goodell what precautions he'll take to ensure that the Pro Bowl — if moved to the mainland — won't turn into NBA All-Star Weekend?
Goodell is allegedly considering taking the Pro Bowl away from Honolulu, moving it to the week before the Super Bowl and playing the game close to the Super Bowl location. This is stupid.
The NFL's all-star game is the most non-competitive game of all the all-star contests. It might as well be two-hand touch. You don't want to bring more media attention to this non-event. The players will get ripped for not trying, just like the NBA's game.
Plus, you risk having every hip hop entertainer hooking up with their favorite hip hop football player and throwing a party, which will invite every hip hop wannabe gangsta to descend on the host city and loiter.
The beauty of the Pro Bowl in Honolulu is that most football fans can't pile into a car and drive to the game. The Pro Bowl is exclusive. About a dozen media members, a select group of retired players and groupies with actual jobs regularly attend the Pro Bowl. The players stay in a secluded resort. The setup is perfect. Goodell should think long and hard before making this move. He's going to create a major headache.
4. Thank you, Roger Goodell, for trimming five minutes off first-round draft picks.
The length of the first round of the draft damn near makes the event unwatchable. The teams don't need 15 minutes between picks, and the broadcasters sure as hell don't have 15 minutes worth of good material on each pick.
3. Ray Lewis owes Brian Billick more loyalty than what he's giving his embattled coach.
Hey, Billick should be fired at the conclusion of this season. He should've been canned two years ago. But Ray Lewis has no business publicly questioning Billick's play-calling, as he did this week after the Ravens lost to the Bills.
Billick stood by Ray Ray when he faced murder chargers. If that doesn't buy you a lifetime of unconditional loyalty, I don't know what does. Lewis should be ashamed of himself.
2. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville is an absolute coward and fraud for not suspending the freshman lineman who chop-blocked LSU's Glenn Dorsey in the back of the knees.
I've watched the highlight over and over and what transpired is completely unjustifiable. Tuberville claims all the linemen were supposed to cut block. You don't cut block a defensive linemen moving toward you on the back of his knees.
Not only was the block illegal, but it was as immoral as LSU coach Les Miles claimed. Plus, it's damaging to college football. Dorsey returned to LSU for his senior season. He could've turned pro after last season. Now every NFL agent is going to show every third-year defensive lineman the tape of the block that could've cost Dorsey millions of dollars.
The NCAA needs to step in here and suspend the freshman guard. No one is saying the kid is a bad kid. But the sport needs to send a strong message that those type plays will not be tolerated, even accidentally.
1. Making Adrian Peterson play without the benefit of a semi-professional quarterback is absolutely criminal.
Vikings coach Brad Childress is justifiably taking heat for failing to give the ball to the best rookie running back since L.T. entered the league. In Minnesota's loss to the Cowboys, the Vikings' only weapon carried the ball just 12 times.
But more troubling than the way the Vikings use Peterson is the fact that they send him out on the field with zero threat of a passing game. Peterson is destroying NFL defenses despite the fact safeties do not have to fear the pass. The Vikings should call my boy Jeff George pronto.
LINK
