Category Archives: NFL

Ditka calls Martin ‘a baby’; Where was the follow-up?

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As usual, Mike Ditka offered a candid, if not politically correct, assessment of the situation on ESPN’s NFL Countdown.

“I want to say one thing,” Ditka said.  “If I was the coach, I wouldn’t have either Incognito, the bully, or the baby, Martin, on my team.  That’s me.  [Does] that make me right?  No.  That makes me me.  And I would stand up to that, because you don’t do what Martin did and you don’t do want Incognito did.  Period.”

I didn’t see Ditka’s statement or what followed, but Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk did. He found it curious that nobody on the panel followed up on what the former Bears’ coach said.

Ditka remained quiet after sharing his own view that Martin is a baby.  While none of the other guys specifically directed their comments at Ditka or openly disagreed with him, the tension was palpable — and it was hard not to believe that Ditka was told to watch what he said.

As to what Ditka did say, ESPN had no comment.  While far more irresponsible things have been said on ESPN’s airwaves, Ditka’s insistence that Martin, who may be suffering from a real mental illness, is a “baby” represents the kind of comment that could get folks with lesser star power than Ditka removed from ESPN’s airwaves.

Indeed, without knowing the complete story, it is extreme to label Martin “a baby,” especially if he is battling mental illness. Obviously, it speaks to Ditka’s “old school” philosophy on football.

However, as Florio notes, what seems to be missing here is that nobody on the panel called Ditka on his statement. There should have been on a conversation and/or a debate. Ditka clearly isn’t alone with his sentiment.

Why didn’t it happen? Was it a missed opportunity for Chris Berman and the rest of the Countdown crew, or did the panel not want to go where Ditka went?

 

 

 

 

No denying Glazer’s ties to Incognito; Does it matter in today’s media age?; Critiques of interview

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In the interest of journalism, it would have been great to see someone like Scott Pelley, Brian Williams, Diane Sawyer conduct the Richie Incognito interview Sunday. However, there was zero chance that the disgraced Miami offensive lineman would ever sit down with one of them.

Instead, Incognito did the big chat with his pal, Jay Glazer. At the top, Glazer revealed he had done MMA training with Incognito, as he does with a number of NFL players.

A conflict of interest? To be sure.

But does it matter in today’s media age? Probably not.

The bottom line: Glazer got the interview everyone wanted. Fox NFL Sunday likely did a big rating because of the interview. Throughout Sunday and now today, the interview remains a prime topic of discussion, especially on the competition, ESPN.

In another person’s hands, the interview probably would have been handled differently. Glazer is one of these Buddy-Buddy guys. To expect him to become Mike Wallace on Incognito wouldn’t be realistic.

Glazer wasn’t capable of truly pressing Incognito. He gave him an out with this question: “There’s so many subplots in this. How much has come out, where you looked at it and said … ‘That’s not even close’?”

Translated, you’re not really that bad of a guy, are you?

Dave Zirin of The Nation pounded on Glazer:

To say that this interview was a cheap exercise in public relations would be to insult the people who do very good work in the world of public relations. The interview was edited with the subtlety of a Breitbart video and Jay Glazer threw more softballs than the cumulative careers of Lisa Fernandez and Jennie Finch.

I viewed the interview through the prism of knowing Glazer had a relationship with Incognito that went beyond journalist-player. Yet how many viewers, who don’t have a journalist’s eye, watched it the same way?

They wanted to hear from Incognito, and Glazer delivered him on Sunday morning with your bagels and coffee. In the eyes of Fox, so what if it is less than ideal?

Glazer and Fox NFL Sunday landed the big interview. That’s what matters in today’s media age.

Your turn, Jonathan Martin. However, Glazer won’t be getting that interview.

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Here are more critiques to the interview.

Tom Ley, Deadspin: The interview was a fucking joke.The segment was more theater than journalism, with Glazer lobbing obviously pre-determined questions at Incognito, allowing him to reel off as many face-saving platitudes as possible.

Richard Deitsch, SI.com: Prior to the interview, Glazer said he “held nothing back” and asked Incognito “everything.” Did he fulfill that charter? I’d say not entirely given this viewer wanted to hear Incognito address the allegations that he harassed a women on a golf course in 2012 during a team charity golf tournament, how often Incognito had been called into the NFL offices over the last couple of years, as well as an on-camera denial from Incognito refusing to answer questions about the role of Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland and coach Joe Philbin.

Jarrett Bell, USA Today: Incognito, the suspended Miami Dolphins guard and face of the alleged workplace harassment that prompted second-year tackle Jonathan Martin to bolt from the team and seek counseling, was rather pathetic as he tried to explain himself amid the “friendly fire” interview with Glazer, his pal who trains him in MMA tactics.

Tom Jones, Tampa Bay Times: For the most part, Glazer handled the interview well. He asked Incognito about using the n-word on Martin’s voice mail. He questioned whether Incognito is a racist and a bully and a bad guy. He asked about the details in his dealings with Martin. And he even questioned Incognito’s “checkered past,” which included problems in college and a recent allegation of inappropriate contact with a woman at a charity golf tournament.

I would have liked to have seen Glazer press Incognito on the details of that golf incident, but it’s my guess that Incognito’s representatives made that off-limits. If so, Glazer should have said that. And if there were no off-limit topics, Glazer should have reported that, too. Still, overall, Glazer did a respectable job.

10 years later: Home of growing NFL Network, but still no team for Los Angeles

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Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes the irony of the NFL Network originating out of Los Angeles, which remarkably still doesn’t have a home team.

Hoffarth writes:

It’s 10 years after the fact, and the NFL Network’s now-sprawling Culver City compound continues to remain the only tangible evidence the league has any sort of interest in being part of Los Angeles.

As an entertainment platform, for sure.

As a franchise homestead? From one righteously profitable move does not another logically follow.

Months before the NFL Network officially launched Nov. 4, 2003, league officials scouted locations in Burbank, Hollywood and Manhattan Beach before deciding to plop down on a commercial lot and use about 28,000 square feet of combined space for Studio A and Suite 100 on an eclectic stretch of Washington Boulevard, next to an Islamic mosque, across the street from an elementary school and just a few blocks from the famed Sony Pictures lot where decades earlier “The Wizard of Oz” was made.

Sure, if the NFL only had a heart, a brain and the nerve a franchise would be back here by now. But what’s to say the NFL Network’s presence isn’t the gift that just keeps on regifting for this region of interest?

“Did I think we’d have a team here by now?” said NFL Network executive producer Eric Weinberger, one of a handful of employees part with this operation from the start. “Sure, but that was never part of the idea of having the network here.

“At the time, the plan was to have the signature show here — ‘NFL Total Access’ — and get celebrities to come in. This was an entertainment-meets-football kind of shop. We fell in love with the sound stages and also with the fact that we were very close to the (LAX) airport so it was very efficient for everyone. It’s just kept growing and we haven’t looked back.”

Later in the story, Hoffarth writes:

So how and where will this network stretch further into the next decade?

During a network 10th anniversary special Wednesday, Eisen put that question to a panel of Willie McGinest, Michael Irvin and Steve Mariucci.

“We work here in L.A. — Culver City — I want to see a team here,” Mariucci said. “I used to coach for the Rams down when we were in Anaheim. Rich, we gotta have a team here. That’s gotta happen here soon.”

Save that piece of video for the network’s 20th anniversary special. It could be a collector’s item.

Yes, by 2023, the NFL probably will have two teams in London, but no teams in the nation’s second largest market.

NFL Network at 10: How much bigger will it get?

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The NFL Network put out this nice infographic to note its 10th anniversary.

Indeed, the network has come a long way, and it still has plenty of room for more growth with the NFL still exploding on TV. The big question is: How many more games will it put on NFL Network? We should find out sooner than later.

Author Q/A with Rich Cohen on ’85 Bears: Believes ‘big book’ on fabled team hadn’t been written

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Mike Ditka had the same question for Rich Cohen that I had: Why write another book on the ’85 Bears?

When Cohen met with Ditka, the coach, as only he can, gruffly said, “Do you know how many people have written about this team?”

Cohen was up to the challenge. “I told him, ‘Why did you run the same offense all those years? Because you believed you could win with it and do it better than anyone else.”

“Good answer,” Ditka said.

I covered the ’85 Bears as a young, somewhat naive reporter for the Chicago Tribune. I always say if I could go back to one year in my life, it probably would be 1985. It was a 24/7 thrill ride from the first day of training camp through the Super Bowl.

Yet even I had some ’85 Bears overdose in recent years. When I heard there was another book coming out on the team, I can’t say I was overly excited.

Well, Cohen’s Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and The Wild Heart of Football isn’t just another book on the fabled team. It is a skillfully written portrait of not only that group of highly compelling and wacky players and coaches, but also of the Bears as a franchise and the impact that team had and still has on Chicago. Cohen devotes many pages on George Halas, who laid the foundation for ’85 by hiring Ditka as his last act.

Cohen, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs, weaves in his perspective as a 17-year old fan who somehow managed to snag a ticket to the big game in New Orleans. Then more than 25 years later, he connects with the players he worshiped, including a memorable encounter with his hero, Jim McMahon.

I recently met with Cohen. Not sure it was my best interview, as I tended to dominate the conversation with my stories about that year. Guess being around the ’85 Bears will do that to you. Thankfully, Cohen didn’t seem to mind.

Here’s my Q/A:

How did this book come about?

It happened in a roundabout way. I owed Harper’s a story about my father. I realized I can’t write about my father. The editor said, ‘Why don’t you write about the Knicks?’ I hate the Knicks. She said, ‘Has there ever been a team you really loved?’ I said, ‘The ’85 Bears.’

I talked to Doug Plank, who wasn’t even on that team but was the spirit for 46 defense. He had been coaching with the Jets. We talked for four hours. He was so smart and funny. I thought maybe enough time had gone by, where they might be reflective and tell you what really went on.

Were you concerned that the ’85 Bears already had been covered extensively in books and documentaries?

I spent a lot of my life trying to find stories nobody had written about. I realized it was a mistake. You should write about stories you care about. There’s a reason why these stories keep getting written.

I’m a different kind of writer. I would give it a different kind of treatment. If you do it well, it wouldn’t matter how many books had been written, because this would be unlike any other book.

What was your approach?

I just don’t think the big book of the ’85 Bears had been written. It almost took someone a little younger from a different generation who was a little bit removed. I didn’t have experiences with McMahon or Ditka. I came in clean.

It’s a coming of age story about me, but it’s really not about me. It’s about the role a great team plays in your life as you get older. These guys get older too.

I love writing sports. I love all the Shakespearean stuff. The patriarch angle in this story. Halas and Ditka. Halas and his grandsons. Ditka and McMahon. I mean that stuff is out of The Godfather.

My father’s favorite book was The Boys of Summer. I thought maybe I could do the same kind of book where you try to capture the team and the era.

What stood out for you?

It’s an intellectual history of the game, and the Bears were at the center of it. You see this big arc of the 46 defense. Halas was Bill Walsh. He created the modern NFL offense. With the T-Formation, Halas made the quarterback the coach on the field. Then Buddy Ryan, a defensive coach, realizes the importance of the quarterback. He believes, rather than cover 10 guys, let’s just kill one. Plank said, ‘Our game plan was, we’re going to get to know your second-string quarterback today.’

It’s ideological look at Bears history. I didn’t know anything about that as a kid.

What was it like meeting McMahon? Was meeting him your reason for writing the book?

He was my favorite athlete. It was unreal to meet him.

Brian McCaskey helped me get an interview. McMahon emailed me and said, ‘Sure, c’mon out (to Arizona).’ He wrote me a lot of funny emails.

I spent a bunch of time with him. I heard what kind of a mess he was. When I saw him, he was all there. He recalled things from specific games. We sat in his office. He chewed tobacco, spit in a cup and answered questions. It was great.

What was it like meeting Ditka?

The day before I met him, I had lunch with (former Bears linebacker Jim Morrissey). He said, ‘Ditka is going to give you a hard time.’

I said, ‘Yeah, he’s tough guy, but with a heart of gold.’

Morrissey said, ‘No heart of gold.’

He’s intimidating, intentionally intimidating.

I talked to him a lot about the ’63 team. He wanted to talk about ’63. He said, ‘Why does everyone always want to talk about the ’85 Bears?’

What about the rest of the Bears?

Plank was a great guy. I kept going back to him to check stuff. He drew me the 46 defense. I’ve got the 46 defense drawn by 46.

Brian Baschnagel was great. Emery Moorehead was terrific. Otis Wilson was very forthcoming. Kurt Becker. There were a lot of great guys to talk to.

I also talked to guys on other teams: Danny White, Joe Theismann, Cris Collinsworth. They all said the ’85 defense was the best they’ve ever seen.

Was there anybody you wanted who you didn’t get?

I couldn’t get Dan Hampton. Jeff Pearlman’s (biography on Walter Payton) made it hard for me. Hampton was upset with the way it came out.

Steve McMichael also was upset about the (Payton) book. He wouldn’t sit down with me, but I talked to him a lot.

What is the legacy of that team?

Think about the league now and there’s no defense anymore. You used to want the defense to come on first. The defense scored. The defense did crazy things. Every play, you didn’t know what was going to happen.

That excitement when you saw Joe Theismann look up and it seemed like the Bears had 40 guys in his face.

They transcended the sport. I tried to capture that in the book, but even still I don’t understand it exactly…There are great teams, but they don’t exactly go with the city. That team somehow expressed something about Chicago. The way people think about themselves in Chicago.The music, the people, and the comedy. It doesn’t happen very often.

Also, it always seemed like they were having so much fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reactions to Incognito: Gannon recalls culture in Oakland locker room ‘made me sick’

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Somehow, I suspect that when next year’s Hard Knocks goes to air, there won’t be a funny, ha-ha clip of an innocent rookie being taped to his locker.

And what of the annual rookie ritual of getting up in front of the entire team to sing the old college fight song? Perhaps that stays in, but you can be sure there also will be footage of the head coach telling the players that he expects a certain code of conduct in the locker room. In other words, no Richie Incognitos.

There was plenty of reaction to the story yesterday. As you would expect, Keith Olbermann came down hard on Incognito.

The discussion on NFL Monday QB on CBS Sports Network was extremely telling. It confirms my suspicions that there have been many Richie Incognitos through the years.

Read what Rich Gannon had to say:

I have absolutely no tolerance for this type of behavior. I’ve seen firsthand how this can divide and really destroy a locker room, a team and quite frankly, an entire organization… Early in my career at Minnesota, I remember the older players, there was a culture that existed where they were worried about their jobs. They didn’t reach out and help younger players. I also went to places like Kansas City where Marty Schottenheimer created a culture and environment where none of this existed. Older players reached out to younger players and welcomed them to the organization and were very supportive.

Then I went to an organization in Oakland, which quite frankly made me sick. This culture and environment existed out there with older players bullying younger players. At one point, I remember coming into the locker room my very first year there, and I saw a group of defensive lineman had our young tight end tied up with tape. They were punching him. They were putting icy-hot and baby powder with water on this guy. They were trying to demoralize the player.

I freaked out. I said, ‘I need this guy on Sunday.’ I really thought that I helped to change the culture and the environment in that building… If this exists in your locker room, you have no chance of being successful. Unfortunately, it still exists in certain locker rooms.

Phil Simms: You have to have a pulse on your football team. (When I played for the Giants), I’m not going to say our atmosphere was the best in the NFL. But our head coach Bill Parcells, he had guys in the locker room – that was kind of their job. To watch and see what was going on and if there was a problem, to let him know. They weren’t snitches. We know who those guys were on the football team. In fact, we looked up to them because we knew their job was really important for the whole culture of the team. So when you hear what went on with the Dolphins, I just can’t believe other players and coaches and people didn’t do something about it. You have to put the blame, no matter what comes out of this, on everybody. It’s a rough situation.

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Meanwhile, ESPN’s Tom Jackson didn’t mince words about Incognito.

I think Richie Incognito is a racist. I think he bigoted. I think he’s a bully. I think it’s wrapped all into one package. I don’t want people to be under the perception that conduct in an NFL locker room, that somehow we are not aware of what is . . . OK and not OK. I’ve heard a lot of that today, well the locker room is a place where people are very different. They’re not this different.

 

 

 

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Candid MikeTirico: ‘Not a lot of good football being played right now’; weary MNF hoping for upgrade with Bears-Packers

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Give credit to Mike Tirico for being blunt.

“”There’s just not a lot of good football being played right now,” he said.

Tirico and Jon Gruden hope they get a significant upgrade tonight with Chicago at Green Bay on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Aaron Rodgers should be solid, but it’s no sure thing for the Bears with journeyman Josh McCown making his first start of the season at quarterback.

Anything, though, should be better than the last couple of weeks for MNF crew. Last week, you almost could feel Russell Wilson’s pain through Gruden, as the quarterback barely got out of St. Louis in one piece. The week before, Minnesota-New York Giants went to new levels of ineptitude.

During the third quarter, Tirico flat out said the play was “terrible.” Howard Cosell would have been proud.

“I don’t want to try to deceive the fans,”Tirico said. “If the game is bad, it’s bad. I’m not trying to embarrass people, but you have to say it.”

Why has the play been so ragged, especially on Monday night? Part of it has to do with the match-ups, Tirico said.

“In NFL, scheduling is more challenging than ever,” Tirico said. “You can’t forecast from year to year. Look at the Giants and Steelers. They’re scheduled for prime time a bunch. St. Louis was 7-8-1 last year. They have Jeff Fisher, who has coached in a Super Bowl. They looked like they were building. The reality is they lost their QB and they only have one running back and receiver who has been in the league more than two years.

“Meanwhile, you have Kansas City (at 9-0); they were 2-14 last year. I don’t think NBC was counting on Houston being 2-5 for Sunday’s game.”

Next week, Tirico and MNF face another huge keep-’em-interested challenge with Miami at 0-9 Tampa Bay.

“Yeah, you thought Greg Schiano had Tampa on the right track,” Tirico said. “It’s hard to forecast more and more. You take what you’ve got and try to be honest with the viewers.”

So what are some of the factors involved with all this inconsistent play?

“Football is feeling the effects of the new CBA,” Tirico said. “There’s less padded practice, less time for work during the off-season. Teams are tinkering with the read-option offense. And then you have injuries on top of that. Seattle was missing their two offensive tackles. When you go up against a good pass rushing team like St. Louis, you’re going to be exposed.

“One of the things I look at when I do a game is the number of first-year players. More often than not, you’ve got 16-18, even 20 players. There’s a very transient nature of the NFL. You multiply that by the complexity of the game and what defenses are doing, and it results in seeing not as much cohesive football.”

The scheduling flex option isn’t in place for MNF, so they are stuck with they’ve got. Fortunately for them, it does improve after Miami-Tampa Bay.

Nov. 18: New England at Carolina now looks like a strong match-up thanks to the resurgent Panthers.

Nov. 25: San Francisco at Washington.  RGIII might be finally hitting his stride.

Dec. 2: New Orleans at Seattle. Big game with home field advantage riding in playoffs.

Dec. 9: Dallas at Chicago. Match-up with possible playoff implications.

Dec. 16: Baltimore at Detroit: A chance to showcase Megatron.

Dec. 23: Atlanta at San Franciso: Looked like a solid game at beginning of season. Not anymore.

Regardless of the match-up and the quality of the game, Tirico, Gruden and the rest of the MNF crew will be there. Usually, most of the viewers remain on board, even if the ride is bad.

“Whether it’s fantasy football or the gambling nature of the game that appeals to people, the popularity of football is strong,” Tirico said. “People still like to watch the game. We only can control what we can control. We do our best to cover it and it’s a privilege to be a part of it.”

 

 

Concern for baseball: Bad NFL game still does higher ratings than Game 5 in key male demo

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Yes, Game 5 of the World Series did a higher overall rating than the football game Monday night. Baseball pulled an 8.9 rating with 14.4 million viewers on Fox, while Seattle-St. Louis did a 6.7 rating with 10.8 million viewers.

But here’s the rest of story, and how it should concern Major League Baseball.

In men 18-49, the key demographic for advertisers, football ruled with a 6.1 rating compared to 5.2 for baseball.

Traditionally, football does skew to younger viewers. However, the Monday night game was so bad, at least from an offensive standpoint, Jon Gruden was begging for mercy. Also, it was MNF’s lowest-rated game of the year.

Yet among young, and not so young, males, it still beat a pivotal and compelling Game 5 of the World Series. Imagine the numbers if MNF had a Denver and Peyton Manning vs. anybody match-up.

Obviously, this is an indicator that baseball attracts an older audience. The 50-and-over crowd gave the World Series the overall victory in the ratings.

But what happens when that sector fades off into the sunset? It definitely suggests that the erosion in World Series ratings only will get worse in the future.

*****

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Next media wave: Bears to explore possibility of launching team owned radio station via HD Radio

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In my latest Chicago Tribune column, I report that the Bears are looking into starting their own radio station via HD Radio. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Dallas Cowboys, and Philadelphia Phillies already have their stations, and more franchises are expected to jump on board before 2020 with the new technology.

You also can access the column via my Twitter feed at Sherman_Report.

Here’s an excerpt of the column.

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The Bears already have two de facto sports talk stations in town. The daily dissections, not to mention overreactions, drive WSCR-AM 670 and WMVP-AM 1000 during the football season.

Now there’s the prospect of another station. And it will be wall-to-wall Bears because it will be run by the Bears.

Bears President Ted Phillips said the team will explore the possibility of launching its own station via HD Radio. He said it could happen next season, but more likely in 2015.

HD Radio is an emerging technology that is expected to have a dramatic impact on the radio landscape. In essence, participating stations have substations within their frequencies that are broadcast in high definition.

In its deal with WBBM-AM 780 and WCFS-FM 105.9, the team has the rights to use 105.9 HD3 as its own exclusive radio outlet.

“How cool is that?” Phillips said. “I can’t say we will do it next year, but the brainstorming will begin next year. In my mind, we’re probably looking at 2015.”

Currently, the Penguins, Phillies and Cowboys have HD Radio stations. More pro franchises, though, are looking at the option as HD Radio is expected to have greater distribution with manufacturers now making them available in new cars. The technology also allows access via smart phones apps and through the Internet.

The Penguins, who launched first in 2009, have Monday through Friday shows airing from 2-6 p.m. Additional programming includes games from the Penguins’ minor league affiliate; college hockey and flashbacks from classic games. It’s all Penguins, all the time, as the team looks to super serve its core fans.

The Bears would have a similar programming lineup for their HD station. They now are positioned to make a move thanks to the opening of a new multimedia facility at Halas Hall, the most advanced in the NFL. Part of a 40,000-square foot addition, it includes fully operational TV and radio studios.

The Bears already produce several shows for television. An HD station is a natural next step in their bid to generate more original content to satisfy a fan base that can’t get enough football. The question is when, Phillips said.

“The HD penetration still is not that high,” Phillips said. “It’s very labor intensive. We have to make sure it is worth it.”

*****

For the latest in sports media and more, please follow me at Sherman_Report.

 

 

 

 

Overnight ratings: Compelling Series game barely beats one-sided NFL game

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Commissioner Bud Selig should send a thank you to the Minnesota Vikings for being so terrible.

In overnight ratings of major markets, Game 3 pulled a 10.5 rating on Fox. Meanwhile, the Green Bay-Minnesota game did a 10.3 on NBC. Full ratings will be out later today.

Fox got lucky, or NBC was unlucky, when the Packers pulled away in the second half, seemingly toying with the hapless Vikings. Really, what did football fans do to merit getting  two helpings of Minnesota in primetime in six days?

If the NFL game was good, it likely beats baseball. The Denver-Indianapolis game on Oct. 20 pulled a 17.3 overnight rating.

Selig also should thank the NFL schedule-maker for not placing that game up against the World Series.

More to come.