Ryan Clark Beefs With Stephen A. Smith (Hairline)
Ever since First Take was revised to all Skip Bayless all the time, the show has taken a turn for the worse. Interestin interviews was replaced by over 60 Minutes of Skip Bayless talking about Tim Tebow talk back during the football season.
Now its like WWE, where athletes Kevin Durant, Jalen Rose and now Ryan Clark are taking issue to Skip Bayless and other commentators for being over critical of athletes.
I'm going to take Bayless' side for a second.
When the show had their 5-10 debates with Skip Bayless vs. Stephen A Smith, Rob Parker, etc. it was cool.
But now with the full emphasis on the debates, Bayless and others who talk a lot anyway are giving more rope to hang themselves and I do think that even Bayless might refrain from going overboard, but even if you are careful what you say, you up end saying something that will annoy someone.
I get that Ryan Clark is upset by Bayless comments that Clark is a slow safety, but to be honest Clark can be a bit slow on the field. But why should Clark care? He's a making millons, he has a championship ring, who care what Skip Bayless and others think.
As tough as athletes are, far too many of them care too much what a reporter writes or say on radio or TV.
I will say that sports radio jocks are far worse than Skip Bayless' of the world.
At least with Bayless, I know he spent years as a report and a columnist.
There are too many guys on sports radio who act like they no a lot about sports and many of them lack years of sports journalism knowledge. Plus too many of them berate callers who nor only drive their ratings, but whom are just expressing their opinion, just like this sports radio hosts whose opinions are quite laughable many times.
Another issue I take with Ryan Clark is his view of journalists.
He told Skip that he will never experience what NFL players do, yet NFL players can do the same type of journalism Bayless does on TV.
Yes and no.
Sure, most journalist never played professional sports, but most had to write for years to get a shot on ESPN, (unless you are a snow bunny like Erin Andrews whose looks, average reporting and whiny voice led her to her gig on Worldwide Leader in no-time.)
Clark is right that when he retires he will probably have a job commenting about the NFL when he retires, because he is quite knowledable about sports and comes off well on TV.
However why should he just step off the field into a cushy gig on ESPN?
Once Ryan Clark retires from the NFL, he should spend time covering sports in Maine, North Dakota or Mississippi, then work his way to Cleveland and Sacramento and then he can get a shot with ESPN, FOX, etc.
Why should athletes have the ability to skip the path journalists have to go through for years for a million to one chance to work for a major media operation? I'm sure they are very knowledgeable sports winning journalists in a small-medium market who could add more commentary than Warren Sapp did when he joined the NFL Newtork after he retired (...and maybe they might have shot after his recent personal and professional woes.)
For most athletes when they go from the field to the booth, it is on the job training and the viewers are forced to sit and painfully watch and/or listen to jocks turned commentators display flawed analysis, poor speaking skills or be too soft on their fellow professional athletes.
For every Charles Barkley, Chris Webber, John Mcenroe and John Madden who made a seamless transition to major TV gigs, there are others like Joe Montana, Tim Hardway, Emmit Smith and now the fun, but still mumbling Shaq whom should have worked their way up sports journalism pipeline like Bayless.
But back to ESPN's First Take.
The soul of the is at a crossroads.
If I was running it, I would bring back more interviews and bring back the First and Ten model they used before; If you have any hour of interviews and hour of First and Ten, Skip Bayless and the other debaters will still have a lot of time to talk, but not the extent that they are forced to apologize for things that were said just fill up two hours.
What do you think of the media vs athletes debate?
1 comment:
Well, you and I both know that pro athletes who get tv gigs mainly because the execs feel like they can lend quality analysis based on their playing experience. Its hit or miss because as you have mentioned, many of these former athletes were not journalism majors or did not study television/radio. However, considering their role I do not think they have to be. They should be fairly articulate though and present well on tv since its a visual medium.
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