Posts Tagged ‘ESPN’
It’s Never too Early to go to Doucet
This morning while driving around, I heard Mike and Mike on ESPN radio dissecting the AZ Cardinals upcoming season. It was a mostly fair assessment, with both guys agreeing on a 8-8 record for the 2010-2011 season. I think that’s a reasonable conclusion, considering the amount of questions the Cardinals have going into this season. In fact, I could see as bad as 4-12. But I digress…
One thing that did stick in my craw was Golic’s assessment of WR Early Doucet. Doucet is expected fill in for Anquan Boldin as a tough receiver that goes across the middle. Golic doesn’t buy that — at least not yet. He said that Doucet’s 31 receptions his first two years in the league were not a good sign, considering that Boldin had 157 catches his first two years in the league. However, that is not a fair comparison.
Doucet, after his amazing reception for a touch down in the nutty playoff game against the Packers
When Boldin was drafted by Arizona in 2003, Arizona had the following WRs on its roster:
- Larry Foster
- Bryan Gilmore
- Bryant Johnson
- Kevin Kasper
- Jason McAddley
- Nate Poole
Recognize any of those names? Me neither. And I’ve been following the Cardinals since 1993.
In Boldin’s first game against Detroit, he had 187 yards receiving. That shocked the Cardinals and their fan base. It became pretty clear over the next few weeks that this guy was something special. So he became the focus of the passing attack, which is why he had 157 receptions in his first two years.
Now, when Doucet came aboard in 2008, Arizona had the following WRs on its roster:
- Larry Fitzgerald
- Anquan Boldin
- Steve Breaston
- Jerheme Urban
- Ed Gant
- Michael Ray Garvin
- Onrea Jones
- Lance Long
- Sean Morey
- Steve Sanders
You see the difference? Arizona had two of the best WRs in the league (and Fitzgerald might be one of the best ever), and Steve Breaston was no slouch either. This was the year that Arizona had three 1000+ yard WRs on its roster. In that kind of situation, a rookie WR won’t be anywhere near the ball (if memory serves, Doucet was 5th on the depth chart, just after Jerheme Urban). The year after, Doucet moved up, but Arizona still had Fitz, Boldin and Breaston catching the ball. It would be hard for anyone new to compete with those three.
It’s not a fair to Doucet to draw a conclusion about his abilities by comparing Boldin’s first two years to Doucet’s. The situation on the team was wildly different when Boldin came aboard to when Doucet did. Golic may still be right in his ultimate analysis (that Doucet will not be a suitable replacement for Boldin), but how he got there, I think, is wrong.
Lebron’s Decision
Word is Lebron has made a decision regarding what team to join. According to ESPN, he’ll be announcing his decision via a prime-time hour long special on ESPN tomorrow night.
I always dug this logo.
Excuse me while I barf.
Seriously, what’s with this cat’s ego? Yeah, he’s a good player — maybe even a great one — but he still has not won a championship. What gives him the stones to do this? MJ never did this*. Kobe never did this. Shaq never did this. It’s appalling that James and his media enablers are putting together a one hour show documenting the rising ego of an athlete. Other than disgusting egotism, what will this show ultimately be about. It’s about one man announcing to a country with a crippled economy who will have the pleasure of paying him 100 million dollars. Hubris, thy name is James.
At least he’s not profiting by it. Not directly anyway. ESPN is donating the proceeds to the Boy’s and Girl’s club. Which is cool, and I’m sure that organization needs more funding. But before we all start acting like James or ESPN are some kind of philanthropists, let’s remember that every time some half-wit talks or writes about this special, it increases the brand awareness of ESPN and Mr. James, which translates to more cash for both of these entities. And yeah, this group of half-wits includes me. So I’m going to stop.
* MJ has his own brand of hubris, but at least that guy can justify it with his performances on the court and off. Not sure his Hitler stash is justified though….
Ruminations, etc.. 