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Posts tagged ‘NFL’
Thoughts On NFL Week 4, 2008
Why Al Davis Is A Bad Owner
The firing of Lane Kiffin as head coach of the Oakland Raiders is hardly unexpected. But I really didn’t expect Al Davis, the owner, to hold that press conference, following the firing, to assassinate Kiffin’s character publicly.
A lot of people have criticisms of Davis, many of them valid; e.g., he’s running his franchise into the ground, he’s out of touch with the modern game, he’s old and ugly. Some claim Davis is unbalanced, but his press conference certainly should have dispelled that notion.
Davis is entirely lucid. Which makes what he did during that press conference all the worse. No matter how much you hate an employee, you don’t throw him under the bus. You sever ties and that’s it. Any time you say something negative about an employee or business partner in public, you’re making yourself look bad, not the other guy.
Thoughts On NFL Week 2, 2008
Tony Kornheiser Spouts The Worst Kind Of Slur: A Casual One
Perhaps it’s my complete disdain for him showing, but Tony Kornheiser’s glib remark on Monday Night Football, about picking up the dry cleaning, was clearly a slur, even if other bloggers don’t get it.
In fact, it was the worst kind of slur: A comment made in such an off-hand manner, in spite of all the indications that it shouldn’t be offered, speaks volumes about Kornheiser’s opinion of Hispanics.
For those of you who may have missed it, Monday Night Football dedicated a significant amount of attention to Hispanic Heritage Month. Virtually every commercial break included a promo spot for NFLatino.com and Mike Tirico mentioned something about either NFLatino.com or Hispanic Heritage Month shortly after each break.
It was during such a mention — when ESPN replayed Felix Jones’ 98-yard kick return touchdown, with the ESPN Deportes announcers’ audio — that Kornheiser dropped this gem:
I took high school Spanish, and that either means “no one is going to touch him” or “could you pick up my dry cleaning in the morning?”
A lot of people say the comment is innocuous, or they simply don’t get it. But if you change “Spanish” to “Hebrew” and “my dry cleaning” to “some matzo balls,” I bet it becomes a lot easier to figure out.
The “joke” is aimed at the fact that wealthy people employ Latinos as domestics. It’s offensive on its face, because it suggests that Kornheiser equates Spanish speakers with maids.
It’s especially offensive taken within the context of why ESPN was replaying the clip in the first place: It’s Hispanic Heritage Month! Kornheiser is going to drop a “maid” bomb in the middle of the NFL / ABC attempt to honor Latino culture and grow their audiences? What, exactly, is going through his head, that makes him think a smear is an appropriate riposte at that moment?
Most Enjoyable Monday Night Football In Years
No Tony Kornheiser on Monday Night Football, thanks to hernia surgery. Just Ron Jaworski and Mike Tirico, talking about the game itself, focusing on pertinent matters, providing actual insight and calling what, so far, has been a pretty good football game.
If only there was such a thing as season-ending hernia surgery for TV commentators.
Probably the best we can hope for is a nationwide outpouring of people, shouting with joy from the rooftops, that Tony Kornheiser = good football broadcast.
But if ESPN won’t respond to overwhelming criticism of Kornheiser, will it respond to overwhelming support of his booth partners when they are freed of his inanities?
I doubt it. But we can always hope.
Tony Kornheiser Is Still A Total Imbecile
Excerpts from tonight’s Cincinnatti Bengals / Green Bay Packers pre-season, pre-game comments by Tony Kornheiser, the worst color commentator working an NFL broadcast booth (and that includes the patently awful Randy Cross):
(Aaron) Rodgers is under more scrutiny and more pressure than any player in the NFL bar none, maybe ever.
Um … does Pacman Jones ring a bell? Or Michael Vick? Or, going back to a time perhaps more familiar to Kornheiser’s aging brain, Paul Hornung?
Kornheiser’s bluster is especially amusing because not 10 minutes before this dumb shit was said, Steve Young said the same year he was named league MVP (1994), San Fransisco 49ers fans were telling him he didn’t measure up to Joe Montana.
Not three years ago, many people were calling for Favre to quit, following the disastrous 4-12 2005 season. Had not 2006 ended up at .500, thanks to a season-ending, four-win streak that saw the Packers defeat their awful division opponents and the as-awful 49ers, we wouldn’t be having this discussion; Favre wouldn’t have been given an option to return.
Of course, since Kornheiser has exactly two years’ experience broadcasting NFL games, and apparently was paying attention during only one, I wouldn’t expect him to have much of a sense of history. Which makes his hyperbole especially sophomoric.
Unless he wins the Super Bowl, almost nothing (Rodgers) does will be good enough.
Packers fan is loyal. Packers fan loves No. 4. But Packers fan has no delusions about winning Super Bowls, with or without Favre.
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