Think of it as a textbook case of one man’s trash being another man’s treasure…
Virtually the entire Kansas City sports media hasn’t stopped kissing Chiefs owner Clark Hunt‘s butt since he hired newly fired Philly coach Andy Reid last week. Worse yet, the nonstop praise has been accompanied by little to no critical examination of Reid.
With the exception of former Kansas City Star scribe Jason Whitlock.
That’s right. For all his many flaws, Big Sexy was Johnny-on-the-spot with a critical look at Reid’s less than stellar past two years during which Philadelphia attained a 9-23 win-loss record, identical to that of the lowly Chiefs.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Whitlock’s thesis: “Andy Reid pulled off the greatest hustle I’ve ever witnessed.”
“The stench of Reid’s last two years in Philly is still smothering football fans in the City of Brotherly Love…” Whitlock writes.
“I can’t positively say I’m against this hiring,” Whitlock adds. “What I can say is that I’m absolutely amazed by its urgency and swiftness. The Chiefs, Chargers and Cardinals chased after Reid like he was one of the Kardashians with a clean bill of health from Planned Parenthood and a fresh tummy tuck from a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon.”
Vintage Whitlock.
But unlike the innumerable Whitlock columns where he punks just to be punking, his Reid column drives home the point that the Star is a one sports columnist rag at this point, sans the balance of having a bad cop to go with Sam Mellinger‘s good one.
“There are (many) fish (in the sea) with fewer miles on their odometer,” Whitlock says of Reid, “fish without indisputable video evidence of their sideline freakiness and questionable decision-making.
“Because we’re in the ‘information age,’ few people in the national media are focusing on Reid’s bizarre and troubling final two years in Philadelphia. Everyone wants to be first to provide the information about where Reid is going and who he is bringing with him and who is leaving because of his arrival. You can’t get that information from Reid, his handlers and his associates if you are publicly reminding Clark Hunt and Chiefs fans just how awful Reid was in Philadelphia in 2011 and 2012.”
There’s more.
“A high percentage of Eagles fans believes Reid hasn’t been right since his defensive coordinator Jim Johnson died of cancer in 2009,” Whitlock writes. “Reid hasn’t won a playoff game since Johnson passed.
“My issue is the last two years. The Eagles were the ‘dream team’ in 2011 and Super Bowl favorite. They went 8-8. They had to win their final four games to reach 8-8. To the utter shock and surprise of no one not named Andy Reid, the decision to promote longtime offensive-line coach Juan Castillo to DEFENSIVE coordinator blew up in Reid’s face. In their eight losses, the Eagles surrendered an average of 29.8 points.
“The Eagles spent millions of dollars building a dream team, and Reid turned his defense over to an offensive-line coach on a whim. This is like getting a date with Beyonce and consulting with Ike Turner on how to romance her.”
I’m no expert but does this sound like the kind of coach and record Kansas Citians should be dancing in the streets over?
“Reid allegedly had a nine-hour interview with Clark Hunt and his entourage on Wednesday,” Whitlock continues. “I hope someone asked Reid to write a short essay about Juan Castillo. Did anyone have the nerve to ask Reid about his son overdosing and dying at Philly’s training camp this summer? The kid had steroids on him, too”
Whitlock’s bottom line: “Reid left a mess in Philly.”
“This is simply a remarkable job of failing forward by Andy Reid,” Whitlock summarizes. “He found the perfect NFL owner and fan base desperate to get over the pain of a 2-14 season and an overmatched general manager…I realize no one wants to talk about it now, while we’re all pretending Reid is Don Shula coming off the ’72 season, but there’s plenty of proof Reid went crazy in Philly.”
Please wake me up if Big Sexy ever becomes truly relevant. Or any of the talk jocks (and that includes sports writers) for that matter.
So much baggage with this one, at least if they went with a fresh-faced college coach they could blame the losses on the old “not ready for the NFL” and try, try again.
This choice seems doomed from the start.
NOTHING original in JW’s post. Looks like he read what everybody else had to say and then assembled his piece in true “buffet style”. That, is vintage Whitlock and one might also say…..hmmmm Jason Blair and maybe…..uhhh uhhhh Steve Penn….Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Jason’s sister Linda Blair thinks Whitlock puked on his shoes.
Who was that guy that predicted a 16 and 0 season?
Help me out here.
Jason Peters is what you need to know about the Eagles. Remember when Willie Roaf quit? Carl Peterson would have sold his soul to Al Davis for one more year with Roaf.
If Whitlock spent a little more time on football research and less time listening to Tech 9 and getting ready for Shawty Lo and “All My Babies Mommas” he would wrtie articles like this.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1397995-how-jason-peters-injury-ruined-the-philadelphia-eagles-season
Whitlock’s relevance is now and has been, that of an ever diminishing modestly qualified sports writer, now assigned to cover tertiary events as a small fish in a big pond.
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. ” George Moore.
Unless he has burnt too many bridges.
I wasn’t a big fan of Whitlock. Greg Hall was, until their falling out anyway.
But the entire sports staff at the Star has spent practically a week in rapture about this hire with only token hedging of the big bet my Sam Mellinger.
It’s nice that somebody called the Chiefs out. Guess we’ll see.
Yep.
🙂
Did you lose a bet to Whitlock or something?
Jason who?….
Hearne…you’re late to this story. Greg Hall had it posted days ago.
Dream on. I can’t find any Greg Hall Whitlock stories outside of the silly one about Steven St. John posing for a pic with the new Chiefs coach.
Yaaaaaaaawn. Whitlock doesn’t write, he does his schtick. Every article is the same with the names changed. It’s not “edgy” if all you do is write the exact same thing as everyone else. Many, many people have questioned Reid’s hire for ALL the same reasons. Fine. It doesn’t make it any more or any less likely just because Whitlock chimed in. The dude is an afterthought in the sports world and even more so in the KC area.
Hearne just cribbed Whitlock’s entire column. I mean, he put it in quotes and attributed the quotes to Whitlock, but it is just lazy.
hearne can write some good stories…this one he “packeditin”…
if hearne got some fresh writers…young guys like lefty with talent..
upgraded his writers with some people like keroac and others..
this site would take off…
maybe a comedian (not glaze) to write some funny stuff ….heck maybe
he could hire me and i would lght this site up to drudge report numbers…
come on hearne…lets make 2013 huge……………………………..
For the love of me, please STFU! I’m long suffering, I have the patience of Job, but I just can’t take it any more. I’ve got a spare lighting bolt with your name on it, do not make me use it. I know where you are. All the time. You do get that, dont you?
The day Hearne hires you is the day, well, hell freezes over. And I can tell you, coming from me, thats not going to happen.
jesus….save me from the bolts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we are one and the same…we are m.o.t.’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes hell will freeze over before hearne hires me…
but boy can i get the comment section to light up!!!!!!
I shudder at the thought of calling your bluff, but why don’t you email me at hearne@kcconfidential.com if you want to talk
Other than Jeff George, does Whitlock ever see the positive side of anything? He knows that being controversial gets attention to what he writes and makes him money in the process.
Good point, but I’m pretty sure Jeff George was merely a tool for Whitlock to pimp readers