Aaron Craft vs. Rick Reilly in a battle of who’s more annoying? I’ll go with the untalented ESPN pundit. Rick Reilly is just about as entertaining and interesting as a mosquito bite.
Aaron Craft, the 2013 Big Ten Tournament MVP, is the new Ohio State Buckeyes most polarizing player. Big Ten fans don’t like him too much. If THE Ohio State University goes far in the NCAA tourney, he’ll be as disliked as some Duke Blue Devils players.
There was a “pot calling the kettle black” at NCAA Tournament media day between Reilly and Aaron Craft. Reilly truly looked the fool; a role he’s quite used to. And the Q&A that follows means will soon be subjected to more of his crappy pablum; this time with an “Aaron Craft is annoying” twist.
transcript courtesy of Eleven Warriors
Rick Reilly: Do you find – could you see how someone might see you as annoying.
Aaron Craft: I think he’s asking you, Deshaun.
That was a clever retort, but Reilly presses on
Rick Reilly: I mean, not just basketball, but any time. Can you see how in basketball you might be annoying or in real life? Anything like that?
Aaron Craft: I know there’s probably a couple of people you could talk to back home that would say I’m pretty annoying outside of the basketball floor. The way I play, I hope that’s the way I’m kind of viewed. That’s what I try to do to other people and I know in practice when Shannon does it to me, I think he’s annoying as well. It helps – anything I can do to make them think about other things than their game plan or anything like that. They can think as badly as they want about me as long as they’re not thinking about what they should be doing.
“In real life?” WTF Reilly? You suck at life. Aaron Craft doesn’t stuff the stat sheet or anything, but he’s such a pesky defender, and he’s better than he looks like he should be. And also he’s reminiscent of a Dukie. Maybe because he’s highly intelligent (high school valedictorian) and a good interview sometimes. What is annoying is Ohio State dominating the Big Ten Tournament every year. It’s annoying because even though Ohio State is a really, really good basketball program, their fans just don’t care enough. At least not online. OSU fans don’t search for their college basketball team and don’t read about them on the internet. They seem to be much more concerned with spring football I guess. Now that gets the page views! I find it annoying that OSU fans don’t “deserve” the hoops team they have.
Although it’s still nowhere near as bad as the annoyance of football-school-with-solid-hoops-program-but-basketball apathy that is Notre Dame.
Back to Aaron Craft. He was choosen in Grantland’s most hated college basketball players bracket, but didn’t advance past the first round.
Is Rick Reilly aware of just how annoying and irritating he himself is? Why did he persist with that horrible narrative? And then he becomes desperate and dumb (even by his standards) trying to get Aaron Craft to compare himself to Michael Jordan.
Reilly: The jumper you made against Iowa State and the way you finished it – was that homage to Michael Jordan?
Craft: I don’t think I’m nearly close enough to be put in the same category as him. I know that if I wouldn’t have made it, Deshaun would have been angry at me for not throwing him the ball, so it gave it that extra oomph to go in.
And congratulations Rick Reilly, you just made Aaron Craft a helluva lot more likable; especially when compared to you. For the full transcript go to Eleven Warriors.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an author and regular contributor to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker.
Banks has appeared on Comcast SportsNet and the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks)