Craig James on big 12 expansion

[RednBlue11]

craig played right into the hands of hance at tt.
they used craig to get leach fired.
i've read leach's book. for the most part it is self congratulatory but he makes it clear that hance wanted him out and used craig to do it.

according to leach CJ was pals w/ hance so im sure how much manipulation was going on there as opposed to willful cooperation

[Nacho]

hance definitely wanted leach out. no question about that. he needed an excuse the public would buy. the adam james thing fell into his lap. it was a gift from heaven for him. he probably couldn't believe his good luck.
i don't think craig or adam wanted leach fired but hance sure did. that's the real story the general public doesn't get.

[Cash McMogulson]

Thought CJ was at the TAMU game. Regardless, he is a great advocate for SMU with a national stage. Only Texans have a grudge against him, and it is a result of the Mike Leach firing, which blows my mind. Who wouldn't stick up for their son after he was locked inside of a shed? If its a result of the DP, I don't understand that either because ED doesn't get the same wrath.

He's a national joke now regardless of what side you take on the Leach issue. If you think the hatred is limited to Texans, do a few google or twitter searches or go to just about any college football blog. There are internet memes for "fire craig james" and much much worse. Fans, bloggers and mainstream media outside of ESPN universally despise him. It has nothing to do with whether Leach was right and everything to do about journalistic integrity -- ESPN reported the issue much differently than all other media outlets, and people think he abused his "national stage" to make the firing happen. I have no idea what kind of person he really is, but if we think that his newfound advocacy of SMU is doing us any favors at this point in time, we're deluding ourselves even more than usual.

[DiamondM]

Thought CJ was at the TAMU game. Regardless, he is a great advocate for SMU with a national stage. Only Texans have a grudge against him, and it is a result of the Mike Leach firing, which blows my mind. Who wouldn't stick up for their son after he was locked inside of a shed? If its a result of the DP, I don't understand that either because ED doesn't get the same wrath.

He's a national joke now regardless of what side you take on the Leach issue. If you think the hatred is limited to Texans, do a few google or twitter searches or go to just about any college football blog. There are internet memes for "fire craig james" and much much worse. Fans, bloggers and mainstream media outside of ESPN universally despise him. It has nothing to do with whether Leach was right and everything to do about journalistic integrity -- ESPN reported the issue much differently than all other media outlets, and people think he abused his "national stage" to make the firing happen. I have no idea what kind of person he really is, but if we think that his newfound advocacy of SMU is doing us any favors at this point in time, we're deluding ourselves even more than usual.

Agreed. Craig James is viewed either as a buffoon or a manipulative helicopter dad with no integrity and compromising pictures of someone at ESPN. And his skills as a booth announcer have been virtually unanimously lampooned.

But we shouldn't disown him just because everyone else dislikes him. There are better reasons to do that, IMO. I personally am not a fan because of the years he spent using his seat in the booth not to promote his alma mater, or help be part of the solution, but to gratuitiously, and unprovoked tear SMU down on national television. While he may not have been alone among alumns in thinking SMU's program was a joke, he seemed to frequently go out of his way to use his position and his visibility to make sure everyone who wasn't even really paying attention also thought SMU was THE biggest joke. Now that he seems to have changed tune, it doesn't help because no one takes what he has to say seriously.

[ReedFrawg]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... index.html

See evidence of the hate for Craig James....check out this link.

[StallionsModelT]

I'm a commercial building appraiser and spent quite a bit of time in rural West Virginia back in April and let me tell you, its like taking a step back in time. You always hear stories about these places in America but I guess I never really thought it was to that extent. Having grown up in rural East TX it doesn't even compare. Very nice folks and some pretty country up there, but good lord....

[Stallion]

TCU fans are just butt-hurt because he didn't rate your team as high as you wanted. Teams in the running for Top 25 and BCS are always running down any National TV announcer who rates their school low or has a negative opinion. Herbstreit has the same problems in Ohio. At least they have opinions-wait until you get in the Big 12 andc have to listen to those homer call announcers like Gary Reasons on the Big 12 Network-hell every one of them is AWFUL. Boring. People actually tune into announcers that have strong opinions and aren't afraid to state it. Howard Cossell wasn't too popular either but people loved the games he announced.

[RednBlue11]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/richard_deitsch/08/22/collegefootball.television/index.html

See evidence of the hate for Craig James....check out this link.

not gonna lie they crush him on SI

[ericdickerson4life]

He's a national joke now regardless of what side you take on the Leach issue. If you think the hatred is limited to Texans, do a few google or twitter searches or go to just about any college football blog. There are internet memes for "fire craig james" and much much worse. Fans, bloggers and mainstream media outside of ESPN universally despise him. It has nothing to do with whether Leach was right and everything to do about journalistic integrity -- ESPN reported the issue much differently than all other media outlets, and people think he abused his "national stage" to make the firing happen. I have no idea what kind of person he really is, but if we think that his newfound advocacy of SMU is doing us any favors at this point in time, we're deluding ourselves even more than usual.

I'm guessing you watch ESPN. I'm also guessing you're smart enough to realize that ESPN does what it wants and controls a lot of sports, in this case specifically college football. College kids eat out of their hand with their highlights and hot reporters. Aspiring college athletes dream of the day they are shown on their network and talked about. So I whether or not you like CJ. Whether or not the perception is the world hates CJ. ESPN obviously doesn't. And ESPN has a lot of say in the conference realignment talks behind the scenes. Him saying anything positive about SMU is not going to hurt our chances.

[RednBlue11]

does anyone else like the top ten that TSN does better?

me too

[Oliver]

He's a national joke now regardless of what side you take on the Leach issue. If you think the hatred is limited to Texans, do a few google or twitter searches or go to just about any college football blog. There are internet memes for "fire craig james" and much much worse. Fans, bloggers and mainstream media outside of ESPN universally despise him. It has nothing to do with whether Leach was right and everything to do about journalistic integrity -- ESPN reported the issue much differently than all other media outlets, and people think he abused his "national stage" to make the firing happen. I have no idea what kind of person he really is, but if we think that his newfound advocacy of SMU is doing us any favors at this point in time, we're deluding ourselves even more than usual.

I'm not going to disagree with the fact that he's disliked, but I see any press as positive press for SMU, especially on a nationally televised game on ESPN. Any time our name is mentioned on the evil four letter network, I truthfully see it as a plus.

[DiamondM]

I frequent a very well-known, very active college football blog, and the readership of that blog HATE, and I mean that with all capitals, Craig James. In Every.Single.Comment.Thread, which often number into the thousands of posts, there is some (usually multiple) derogatory reference(s) to him. Their particular campaign, quite frankly, is silly, juvenile and getting beat like a dead horse. The worst thing about this is that you cannot mention anything else about SMU among what is generally a very informed, very passionate group of college football fans without it deteriorating into a big joke about James.

Is it fair? No.

But while I generally agree that any press is usually good press, there comes a point where the message either doesn't get through or becomes hopelessly discounted and devalued because of the messenger.

[ReedFrawg]

TCU fans are just butt-hurt because he didn't rate your team as high as you wanted. Teams in the running for Top 25 and BCS are always running down any National TV announcer who rates their school low or has a negative opinion. Herbstreit has the same problems in Ohio. At least they have opinions-wait until you get in the Big 12 andc have to listen to those homer call announcers like Gary Reasons on the Big 12 Network-hell every one of them is AWFUL. Boring. People actually tune into announcers that have strong opinions and aren't afraid to state it. Howard Cossell wasn't too popular either but people loved the games he announced.

Easy there - I just posted a link.

I personally think Craig James is terrible as a commentator - has nothing to do with SMU. He comes off as a very arrogant person. Of course I also don't like Rod Gilmore, Mark May or Dr. Lou.

[RGV Pony]

looks like I double posted.

so, the post after this one shall be what I originally intended to say here

[RGV Pony]

you'd rather he come across as a p#ss?