LeBron’s Free Agency, Love’s Injury, and IT’s Issues: Weekly Wine and Gold
February 1, 2018WFNY is 10 next week: While We’re Waiting…
February 2, 2018On the latest edition of the WFNY TV Podcast Clip show, I’ve got some hot takes and some “Hawk takes” that don’t really seem all that scorching hot.
First, we go to the Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima. They talked to their own Browns beat reporter Daryl Ruiter who found occasion to talk about Kenny Britt and his time with the Browns. It’s believable, but also kind of unbelievable that Kenny Britt is the worst, most disrespectful athlete that he and Ken Carman have covered in their time with the Browns. That’s saying something with the names and faces that have passed through Berea over the years.
Second, we’re checking in on Joe Thomas and Andrew Hawkins from the ThomaHawk podcast. Their latest episode was chock-full of interesting stuff, but listening to Andrew Hawkins break down the Redskins’ trade for Alex Smith and seemingly moving on from Kirk Cousins was fascinating. He called them stupid, but it’s more than just that.
Finally, we’re checking in with the gents from Pardon My Take, who accepted RG3’s Twitter challenge to somehow take all the blame. As a Cleveland fan that was subject to at least one small part of the overall RG3 experience, it made me laugh.
3 Comments
Maybe nice guys are too emboldened by the Chief Wahoo thing, but i get uneasy about negative personal characterizations of professional athletes. Yeah, signing Britt was not a good move, and the pro-Pryor sentiment made the frustration more acute. The move could have justifiably been part of the basis for letting Sashi go, and I am happy to forget about it or analyze how the team could have failed to foresee the outcome. But calling a person “the worst” because he disappointed our expectations for his professional performance just makes me uncomfortable. He’s someone’s kid, someone’s friend, someone’s dad, and he’s a human being with attributes and frailties like all of us. Granted, you could make most of those arguments about the statement “he hasn’t played well” and I’m not sure where the line is. For me personally, “he is the worst” is beyond it.
(Goes without saying this is a statement about online sports commentary generally, not about Craig, who always provides passionate, intelligent commentary.)
But listen to the cut Craig chose from the pod – it wasn’t Britt’s performance as a football player. It was Britt as a locker room cancer, a bad teammate, a bad dude. Lima says he was the most disrespectful, unprofessional athletes he’s ever covered, and the team attitude improved as soon as he was cut. There exist certain spoiled athletes who take the money and when asked to be role models instead give little effort, subvert coaches, mislead young teammates … and then leave and badmouth those who publicly defended them. If virtually all the reports are true, I have no prob with this headline.