There’s a difference between being a player and a part of the media. It’s no surprise that many athletes plan on taking to the booth when they are done playing the game. Look at any of the major networks, and you’ll see guys like Trent Dilfer, Andy Roddick, John Lynch, Barry Larkin and even the insufferable Ray Lewis analyzing or calling games regularly.
That’s all fine and good. However, if you’re still playing the game, should you really be auditioning for your post-athletic career?
Ryan Clark, I’m looking at you, kid.
And this is not to rip Clark. He’s a great but, it’s no secret that Clark has expressed his desire to go to ESPN after he retires from the NFL. Clark has appeared on the ESPN program “First Take” multiple times over the course of his career, and has his own show on 93.7 The Fan. That’s fine. But during the Steelers bye week, he was in Bristol Ct. at the ESPN headquarters, serving as a guest analyst.
Now, athletes need a break from football, I get it. Nothing bothers me more than when fans say athletes need to focus on their sport 24/7/365. But should Clark really have been at ESPN during the bye week dissecting games? I’ll leave that up to you.
What’s more, Clark continues to rip the media members for “twisting his words.” It’s happened throughout his tenure in Pittsburgh. In 2009, Clark called all of the media members turds. Yes, turds. Then recently, Clark called out quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s style of play.
“You have to protect Ben against Ben,” Clark said. “Right now we have to tone Ben down in a sense and say, ‘Hey, right now we’re not a good enough football team for you to try to extend plays, for us to take sacks, for us to have turnovers.'”
Then, Clark retracted his statement saying that the media was making a story where there wasn’t one.
“I think it’s funny how y’all find a way to make it a clash or make it a situation to where I said he played bad. I never said he played bad,” Clark said of Roethlisberger. “I said in order for us to win we have to help him feel like he doesn’t have to do too much because of a quote he had. He said that he had to guard against doing too much. I said we have to help him feel like he doesn’t have to do too much.”
He continued, “I realize through doing media and certain things and being around certain people that you have make a story, that you have to figure out a way to twist a word, find a way to make something controversial,” Clark said. “It’s saddening because I do feel like I’m as intelligent as most of you guys and I feel like I say things in a way where you don’t have to infer, you don’t have to add an opinion, you don’t have to figure out what I’m talking about.”
Don’t rip your own kind, Clark. And hey, who do you have to blame besides yourself for surrounding yourself with the worldwide leader of sports while you’re still playing the game?
