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Stuart Crosby Columnist

Published Monday, November 03, 2008

Strategists and analysts are not confined to politics

My name is Stuart Crosby and I am approving today’s message, but I am not running for public office so you may continue reading and hopefully it will stick and you approve of the message regardless of content or quality of message.

Now we fade to black and . . .

The world of politics does not have an exclusive on talking heads, consultants and strategists (notice how many of those are around and seem relegated to Sunday morning shows) as our little world of sports is flooded with people in those same position.

I am uncertain about a specific number, but it seems that ESPN has a large stable of former athletes appearing on programs dealing with their sport of expertise.

One oddity in the analyst front is that former University of North Carolina and Cleveland Cavalier Brad Daugherty appears not only on college basketball programs or those of the NBA but on NASCAR Now.

Daugherty took a big interest in the racing world at a young age (guess where his number 43 came from) and has parlayed it into ownership of teams in the NASCAR conglomerate as well as his ESPN duties.

He does a remarkably good job and projects a solid presence when I recall his being very quiet in his college days and in the early portion of his NBA career.

Of all of the sports that exist, I think networks that broadcast NASCAR events seem to do an excellent job with their analysis which is not easy when you consider how fast those cars move.

As for the many, many talking heads on sports television, it is amazing how many are at not only ESPN, but with the NFL Network, CSTV (College Sports TV), many of the FOX cable networks and MLB.COM and the new MLB Network that debuts in January.

For their NFL packages, ESPN has Trent Dilfer, Chris Carter, Keyshawn Johnson, Mark Schleruth, Eric Allen among its “roster” of former players and there is former Oilers/Titans’ general manager Floyd Reese to make a trade or two.

While the aforementioned work in studio, there are the obligatory “experts” in the booth who played anywhere from one season to 15 and who possess either a high name recognition or the other end.

Not only are many former “jocks” heading to various outlets in droves, but many of these programs sometimes have a plethora of hosts.

There are some consistencies to this declaration such as Chris Berman and Tom Jackson who have done the NFL pregame show on ESPN for 20 years while James Brown was the “ringleader” on FOX NFL Sunday for years before returning to CBS to serve as the “head guard” of their pregame show.

Those gentlemen have made their niche in the studio and they have a clue of what they need to project to the fans.

Then we have those in the biz who seem to have a drifter mentality like Tim Brando who has worked for ESPN, Lincoln Financial, FOX, NBC and has been the studio host for the SEC football broadcasts on CBS.

I would hate to have been the person who updates his resume.

There are also the hosts who have too much of a “look at me and forget about the show” persona which can be annoying.

Stuart Scott used to be real bad about that, but he has mellowed some as he has gotten older and received more responsibility at ESPN, but one of his colleagues needs to chill out.

Mike Hill is energetic and has a good presence but he gets too caught up in the many phrases that today’s anchors use.

When he comes on the air, I turn the channel because the program isn’t going to be enjoyable and besides I would rather watch a strategist on the tube.

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