Speaking on Sports (on TV)

ITEM: I watch ESPN "30 for 30" episode on the remarkable story of college great Marcus Dupree.
--This is a fine entry in the excellent documentary series, but it maybe could have been an hour instead of a two-hour program. Still, Jonathan Hock's film is a revealing look at Dupree, who showed immense talent and skill as a running back at Oklahoma before leaving the school--I mean, boarding a plane during the middle of the season immediately after a big game and flying back home--then jumping to the USFL before tearing up his knee.

Think how many parts of that sentence make little sense today, some 25-plus years later: leaving a school like that in season, the USFL, and ending your career with "just" a knee injury. This story is a great time capsule of early 80s football, but it also says things about the player/coach relationship, the crooked world of recruiting, and, yes, race (Dupree hails from infamous Philadelphia, Mississippi) that are relevant today.

When watching then-coach of OU Barry Switzer discuss Dupree, even my wife said he sounded like Switzer treated him poorly. I kind of chuckled and thought, "Yeah, figures--it's Switzer." Then I paused and figured, well, Dupree DID walk out on Oklahoma, and it's no wonder his coach was ticked. Then I paused again and realized, "Nah, it's just Switzer."

ITEM: ESPN fires NCAA football announcer Ron Franklin for making offensive comments to a female colleague during production meeting for Fiesta Bowl.
--I'll accept some blame for this, not because I was anywhere near there, nor do I condone his actions, but I may have jinxed him. While watching a game last week, I somehow got the urge to blurt out something offensive during a play--well, actually, I got the urge to hear an announcer say something offensive during a play--and I pondered who would be the funniest ESPN football announcer to hear say something like that. Guess who I pictured?

I don't know, maybe I had Franklin's history, including a chauvinist-sounding exchange with another female sideline reporter a few years back in my subconscious, but I just thought it would be funny to hear Franklin say something incongruous, silly, and possibly profane out of the blue during a telecast. Unfortunately, he decided to say something stupid at work, and we didn't even get to him hear him make an ass of himself on live TV, so really, nothing good came out of it at all.

ITEM: NFL Network "Top 10" episode counts down greatest Pittsburgh Steelers of all time.
--I enjoyed this on Christmas Eve, but the presentation of the countdown baffled me. Most of the individual segments on the featured players devoted much of the allotted time to showing talking heads griping about the player's placement. I guess NFL Network is trying to "get people talking" and "be edgy" and all that crap. I'd rather the show just put together a list, defend it, and maybe have a segment with people making arguments about the overall list. But why waste time in the rankings with the likes of Mark Madden saying, "There's no way Hines Ward should be on this list," or whatever? Love the idea of a Steelers program on Christmas Eve, NFL Net, but the execution was a little off.