The Delusions of Grandeur tour continues for former ESPN 980 mouthpiece Brian Mitchell. For anyone who will listen, Mitchell has been espousing the ills of 980, and their effort to control the message that Washington football sucks.
The Washington Times is now in on the fun, recounting a conversation Mitchell had here in Baltimore with Jerry Coleman. Among the choicest of the sour-grapes:
* On having to change his style to remain on 980: “If I can’t be me, I don’t want to be there anyway.”
* On the behind-the-scenes decision making: “I know a lot of things that went down prior to [his firing] that proves it had nothing to do with the economy.”
* On the Redskins under Dan Snyder: “What have they really done in the playoffs to make people believe they’ve gotten better? Nothing.”
* On Redskins fans: “Fans believed more what I said than they believed the message of the people they put in place to give the message out.”
* On who’s the better GM – Ozzie Newsome or Vinny Cerrato: “Ozzie Newsome, hands down. He knows football. He doesn’t look at football as being fantasy football.”
Here are a few critical things to remember about this situation; primarily, that Brian Mitchell is a hostile guy with bitterness against a team that cut him years ago. Interestingly, it’s the same team with an ownership that owns 980, which has the right to eject an ignorant former player with anger issues should it see fit.
The most important thing? Can you imagine another station employing the service of Brian Mitchell?It certainly wasn’t perspective that made him a draw on 980; it was his status as a former player, and his tough guy persona. I revile Washington football, and even I thought he was often too tough on his former squad.
Locally, who would take a chance on a guy with a history of bickering with current players on air, and bashing his former employer? Maybe JFK, as they are siphoning off local media types left and right these days.
B-Mitch’s bad attitude is growing old, rather quickly. Even though it has been a pleasure to listen to criticism of the Daniel Snyder subsidiary, the bitter tangents that made him appealing as an analyst now make him worthless as a bitter outsider.
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