Athletes who did not speak to the media

[Mizzougrad96]

Bill Parcells' assistant coaches weren't allowed to talk, either. Not surprising his evil spawn continued the tradition.

Yeah, but Parcells would fill up the notebooks, which is more than I can say about Belichick.

My dealings with Saban are pretty limited, so I'm not sure where he would fall between those two.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Bill Parcells' assistant coaches weren't allowed to talk, either. Not surprising his evil spawn continued the tradition.

Yeah, but Parcells would fill up the notebooks, which is more than I can say about Belichick.

My dealings with Saban are pretty limited, so I'm not sure where he would fall between those two.

Saban will answer any question about anything, though he'll often do so in a condescending fashion. If you can stand a 30-second lecture about why you shouldn't have asked that question, he'll give you a great answer.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Bill Parcells' assistant coaches weren't allowed to talk, either. Not surprising his evil spawn continued the tradition.

Yeah, but Parcells would fill up the notebooks, which is more than I can say about Belichick.

My dealings with Saban are pretty limited, so I'm not sure where he would fall between those two.

Saban will answer any question about anything, though he'll often do so in a condescending fashion. If you can stand a 30-second lecture about why you shouldn't have asked that question, he'll give you a great answer.

I was on a conference call once when he hung up when someone asked about injuries.

 

[mrbio]

Curtis Pride didn't have a "speaking handicap." He's hearing impaired. He speaks quite well. I interviewed him when he was in high school, when he played basketball at William and Mary as well as when he played pro baseball.

Think you're right, it's been a long time since I last interviewed Curtis Pride, back in the mid to late 90s. Despite this he was still an excellent interview.

 

[Golazo21]

I once overheard a pro player in my neck of the woods advising a few of his teammates to "unleash the cliches" when speaking to the media. At first, I thought it was one of those classic "Bull Durham" moments - the vet teaching the young guys about cliches. Then, when I actually interviewed him, he literally spouted cliche after cliche, even if they weren't appropriate. Like this:

Me: What kind of preparations is the team taking with a fierce opponent in town this weekend?
Cliche man: We're going to take it one game at a time, you know. That's all we can do...

Me: Player X is someone who seems to give a lot of defenses fits. What do you think is the best way to neutralize him?
Cliche man: All I can do is play the best I can. I can only control what I can control, and let the chips fall where they may.

After awhile, it became obvious that he was doing this just to be a deck. And he was a deck. He'd constantly rip his teammates in practice and in the locker room after a game. Thankfully, none of his teammates listened to his schtick about cliches, and he was promptly traded a year later. He was a good player, just a terrible personality. The quintessential talented jerk in every respect.

 

[YankeeFan]

Think you're right,

You think he's right?

If Curtis Pride is known for anything, it's for being hearing impaired. (OK, he was really fast too.)

And, Moddy's known him since high school.

And, you're going to conditionally agree with him on this point?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Think you're right,

You think he's right?

If Curtis Pride is known for anything, it's for being hearing impaired. (OK, he was really fast too.)

And, Moddy's known him since high school.

And, you're going to conditionally agree with him on this point?

Oh, boy. I remember touching off World War III at this site when I casually said to Double Down, a couple of years ago, that, "I think you're probably right" regarding some arcane criminal law matter. It was just throwaway vernacular, and what I really meant was, "You ARE right." But the effect was akin to a nuclear bomb going off.

I see this as my karmic opportunity, and I'm going to give Mr. Bio the benefit of the doubt here.

 

[mrbio]

I think you're probably right on the exact terminology of the precise handicap but will only concede he's 100% right with a doctor's confirmation.

Here we go again, Yankee fan loves to stick it to me, don't ya,

 

[YankeeFan]

Yankee fan loves to stick it to me, don't ya,

Absolutely.

And you haven't been around much, so I was pent up.

 

[mrbio]

You gonna read my new book YF? It's getting good reviews in the tennis world. "Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew."

 

[Moderator1]

Curtis Pride was a decent player on some very bad William and Mary basketball teams. He was the only person of color on one of them, causing one writer to use the line, "Curtis and the Caucasians," when writing about the Tribe.

His basketball coach did not like him playing baseball.

"My point guard," he said once, "is not going to get a lot better when he's off hitting .136 in rookie ball."

I think history shows Mr. Pride made the right choice in playing baseball.

 

[vivbernstein]

Greg Lloyd stopped talking to the local media in Pittsburgh for a while. He would still talk to the national guys, but he made a fuss of telling everybody he wasn't talking to the local media any more because he had been misquoted.

The sad part is he was right. He was misquoted by a guy from one of the local newspapers. I wish I could say that it was an uncharacteristic error, but that particular reporter was one of the worst reporters and people I've ever met in the business.

Greg Lloyd is the only athlete I have ever covered who looked at me like he wanted to kill me. Not for anything I said or wrote. Just because.