Pittsburgh Steelers Ryan Clark Continues To Pave Way For 2015 Induction Into ESPN
Look at me. I’m so pretty.
It’s the middle of the week, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are reeling from a pretty bad loss suffered in Oakland last Sunday. Questions surround the team from the coaches all the way down to whether the trainer is any good anymore. (Ok, so maybe that last part might not be true, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin make the training staff the next scapegoat for why this team is so terrible.) One would expect that the players would be focused on the next week and worry about nothing except for game film, practice, and getting ready for the Patriots. That is, unless your name is Ryan Clark.
Ryan Clark would much rather spend his time flashing his smile and saying really dumb things at the camera for his new BFF, ESPN. Clark is on that network practically every single week, and gladly pontificates what’s really going down throughout the NFL. It’s becoming so absurd that he must think one becomes an ESPN analyst much in the same way political candidates get into office – show your face, flash your smile, say a bunch of dumb things, sign some autographs, and tell your constituents how much you love them. My guess is that next week, Clark will be seen kissing babies instead of handing out autographs.
Clark appeared on ESPN on Wednesday and was asked to comment on the Dez Bryant tirade that occurred during the Cowboy v. Lion game last Sunday. Clark actually defended Bryant’s actions and attempted to use Tom Brady as the contrast – this would be an example of say a bunch of dumb things.
"I’ve seen Tom Brady cuss and scream and do all kind of things but nobody looks at him like that. I just think it’s unfair the way we see it and the way the media portrays certain things because of personal feelings about a person."
Ok, first off, who’s this ‘we’ business and the way ‘we’ see it? Correct me, Steeler Nation, if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of the entire world think that Dez Bryant is bat shit crazy (or at the very least was on a cocaine trip Sunday afternoon). Secondly, comparing how Tom Brady behaves on the sidelines to how Dez behaved on Sunday is about as awful as your own performance on the field this season. Tell me, who hasn’t taken Brady to task – either critically or by simply making fun of him – for the way he acts on the sidelines or at the microphone at times? Plus Brady’s (or any sane person’s for that matter) outbursts are usually short, direct, and happen once. Dez’s outburstS were confusing, erratic, and directed at everyone but his mother…. and hey maybe he called her up after game and yelled at her too for all we know.
Whether you agree with Clark’s vein and empty response or not doesn’t take away from the fact that this guy seems more concerned with letting everyone out in TV Land know what he thinks (and that he smiles nice for the camera) rather than looking at himself in the mirror. Well I’m sure he takes great care at looking at himself in the mirror, but does he actually see who’s looking back?
Why Clark is getting more playing time than rookie Shamarko Thomas is baffling and only confirms how inept and dumb the coaching staff is for not playing him more often. As Dom wrote earlier on Thursday, at 2-5 and a season that is practically ‘lost,’ the coaches should be throwing all the young guys out there and getting real game time experience. It can’t hurt the team anymore than they are suffering now with the poorly performing vets. Clark’s performance is well deserving of a benching. What I don’t understand is that Tomlin/Haley is so willing to bench a running back that fumbles the football for the rest of a game, yet when a guy like Clark is continually out of position and