SIMMS ON THE RISE
Chris not talking draft just for shock value
Chris Simms might have had the following nightmare: He’s walking on a tight rope suspended high in the air. On the other end there is a crowd of doubters shaking the wire. He stumbles and is losing his balance. There is no net beneath him ... and, and ...
On Wednesday’s edition of Pro Football Talk Live, Simms took another kind of plunge when he stunned the Free World saying he would take BYU quarterback Zach Wilson over Clemson’s (Can’t Miss) Trevor Lawrence. Non-believers immediately found ulterior motives; like Simms making an outrageous pick for the sake of bringing attention to himself and enhancing his own brand.
“It really doesn’t faze me what is said on social media or sports talk radio because I’m the one watching hours of film,” Simms said. “And I’m the one who spends every waking moment of the day discussing football and analyzing football players. Most important, it’s my eyes which lead me to my conclusion on a particular player.”
Those are the eyes of a former NFL quarterback. They have taken him out-of-the box, away from the “experts” consensus leading up to previous NFL Drafts. He went gaga over Patrick Mahomes in 2017. Simms was high on Lamar Jackson in 2018, until he shifted him just below Josh Allen. In 2019, Simms rated both Justin Herbert and Jordan Love in front of Tua Tagovailoa but behind Joe Burrow. Also, in 2018 he said Sam Darnold was not worthy of being a Top 5 pick.
Yet in today’s second-by-second media snark cycle, even recent history is mostly ignored. It’s more convenient to define Simms’ high regard for Wilson as a look-at-me moment than to sift through his history of solid work on PFTL, NBC Sports, Bleacher Report, and other outlets since leaving the game in 2010 and embarking on a media career in 2013. Even with that vast experience, working in a world of short memories still takes getting used to.
“You don’t have to agree with me, but respect that what I say is not off the cuff, or for shock affect,” Simms, whose father Phil is a former quarterback and current media member, said. “It’s the product of hours of football analysis.”
And yet while his aim is true and his pick of Wilson is based on studying the players, his own conviction and experience, there is no doubt it still provided a break-through moment. The well-known draft analysts, like Mel Kiper (ESPN), Todd McShay (ESPN) and Daniel Jeremiah (NFLN), are not only fueled by their own credibility, but publicity machines and platforms designed to get the word out.
Simms may not have that kind of machinery behind him but now, but approaching a decade in the business, he is rising in the ranks of professional draft devotees. No matter what it was based on, no matter what anyone thinks, picking Wilson over Lawrence is no cookie cutter selection. And that’s a good thing.
For moving forward even more curious parties are going to ask, wonder, and pay attention to what Chris Simms has to say.
LEVINE’S SILENCE
Sid Rosenberg’s revived WABC-AM Sunday sports show got out of the blocks smoking, providing a truly bizarre radio moment.
His first guest was Yankees prez Randy Levine. After exchanging greetings, Rosenberg said he had a special message to send Levine from former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Recorded earlier last Sunday morning, Giuliani, a life-long Yankees fan and longtime Levine ally, went into a sad soliloquy about regretting his decision to part company with the team and the organization. He voluntarily and boisterously gave up his pinstriped fandom, after Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks took a knee during the playing of the national anthem last July in Washington.
Giuliani now says he realizes he has to separate politics from Yankees baseball, adding he can dislike what the artist stands for but still like the art. Giuliani bellowed on and on, saying he could not give up on the Yankees.
“So, Randy, I’m back. I’m back,” he said.
Giuliani’s audio was over and there was nothing but silence.
Rosenberg: “Randy… Randy... are you there?”
Levine: “I’m still here.” Rosenberg did not ask Levine to comment on what Giuliani had to say. Good move.
Levine’s silence spoke volumes.
MORE AFFORDABLE TV
While SNY boss Steve Raab decided to pull the trigger on doing a two-hour simulcast featuring WFAN’s Craig Carton/Evan Roberts, it certainly wasn’t the first time SNY was approached to do the radio-on-TV thing.
Mike Francesa/FAN came close to doing something but a couple of reasons precluded the hook-up. SNY produced its own late afternoon programming and the cost involved in producing a lengthy simulcast was prohibitive. Now, SNY has no late afternoon original shows.
Also, because regional sports networks, and radio stations, including SNY and FAN, lost bigtime moolah during the pandemic (the radio biz was in the toilet long before COVID) chances are a more equitable (i.e. cheaper) deal was easier to reach than it would have been five years ago.
Of course, there would be no deal if Raab didn’t like the stylings of Carton/Roberts. Raab already showed he was a proponent of semi-sports shows when he hired the quirky Covino & Rich in 2013.
HBO SPORTS’ ALMOST
With the iconic “Inside the NFL” moving to Paramount+ some unknown tales are surfacing. Like the time HBO thought it had a deal with John Madden to host the show.
Way back in 1978, then-HBO Sports boss (Sir) Seth Abraham got a tip Madden was going to retire from coaching the Raiders. He wanted to get into TV. Abraham and Madden arranged to meet in San Francisco at a hotel restaurant.
It was supposed to be just a breakfast meeting but Madden, a huge boxing fan, spent two hours talking about the sweet science. By the time they got to talking “Inside the NFL,” Madden was hesitant. He didn’t want to replace his friend Len Dawson, who was co-hosting “ITNFL” with Jets radio voice Merle Harmon. Abraham placed a call to the show’s producer Tim Braine who assured Abraham that Madden, who refused to fly, could do the show from Oakland while Dawson would be in Kansas City. Harmon would be gonzo. The conversation went on through lunch and dinner. After much food & gabbing, the two men settled, and shook hands, on a two-year deal. Abraham returned to New York a happy man until his phone rang.
“It was John’s agent, Barry Frank,” Abraham said. “He said, ‘you don’t think a handshake deal is going to stick. I’ve got a signed five-year deal for John at CBS.’
“And that was the start of John’s illustrious career,” Abraham said. “I guess I can always say I almost got him.”