I’ve taken the high road lately when it comes to twisting the tail of ESPN. I’m not sure why. I’ve probably just gotten bored with it.
Sure, we’ll point out the outlandish things ESPN analysts say, but in my own (possibly warped) mind that’s different from taking on the ESPN establishment.
Last night, I took a bit of a backhanded slap at the Monday Night Countdown quota-filling item from Adam Schefter regarding the contract of Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Schefter explained, with the sort of nearly breathless urgency that characterizes breaking news, that Fitzgerald can’t be subject to the franchise tag when his contract expires after the 2011 season.
Of course, anyone who follows PFT (or who watched the August 2 PFT Live interview with Cardinals G.M. Rod Graves) knows that it isn’t news. Indeed, as of August 2, it was an established fact. (The key clip from the August 2 interview appears below.)
In fact, I found in the PFT archives reference to a no-franchise, no-trade clause in Fitzgerald’s contract as early as October 8, 2010.
The current question isn’t whether the Cardinals can use the franchise tag on Fitzgerald, but whether they will be able to achieve their goal of extending his contract before the regular season begins.
But that isn’t news, either, since Graves said it two weeks ago.
I was going to let it all go, until I noticed on the ESPN crawl this morning the following item: “Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald’s contract includes clause that prevents team from using franchise tag on him next season, sources tell ESPN’s Adam Schefter.”
To borrow a quote (with full attribution) from some of the other talking heads on Monday Night Countdown, “C’mon man!”