I’ve been to five college football media days thus far and I’m so nauseated that I will not be attending the sixth one that I had planned.
You know the kinds of phrases:
“focused on our execution”
“got to stay focused”
“working hard”
“we’re excited about…..”
“comes down to making plays”
“trying to get better everyday”
“improving any way I can to help the team”
I’ll stop there. Before you start vomiting as violently and incessantly as I have been this month. (not literally, just a figure of speech)
Big Ten Media Day was a “slow news day” this year. You’ve probably noticed that given the lack of interesting articles and segments that emerged from that day in Chicago at the end of last month. If I didn’t ask Bo Pelini about his cat, I’m not sure any of us would have had much to say at all. In six hours of stump speeches, and a sprinkle of Q&A, nothing Earth shattering was unveiled.
Jim Delaney and Urban Meyer, the most powerful and polarizing figures in the league, were probably the least interesting of all. The lack of compelling narratives from that day long affair left the only new addition to the Michigan secondary, Jabrill Peppers, as one of the top headlines of the day.
Yes, a freshman DB that no one, outside of hard core college football recruiting geeks, and the most devoted in #GoBlue Nation, had heard of, was one of the best topics of discussion.
So I apologize if there wasn’t anything more insightful than this snippet from Kirk Ferentz during his stump speech at the podium:
“I’ve read a couple articles over the past couple of weeks kind of poking fun at coaches that said they’re excited to get started, so I’m going to try to avoid that mistake and move on to something else.
Truth is most of us I think really enjoy doing more than talking, and this is the talking time of year.”
Exactly. That’s all you really need to know how about these football media days….these are men paid to coach not to be talk show guests. The players are “compensated” or whatever to play football, not to be talk show hosts. Kirk Ferentz nailed it! Nailed it. And he threw in a self-effacing one-liner to boot.
It’s just a shame that more people didn’t realize this and make a bigger deal out of it. Just like it’s an absolute crime that every year Kirk Ferentz goes to the podium for Big Ten Media Day, his session has plenty of awkward silence. And his allotted time always ends early. I don’t know why that is. Ferentz is now the dean of Big Ten coaches, Iowa is a very solid program with a very passionate fan base. I guess their media doesn’t
a.) travel to Chicago or
b.) is very shy on that day every year when they get there.
The rest of the Big Ten media, including myself needs to give Kirk Ferentz his due.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)