FS1's Katie Nolan with TKO of Rick Reilly

He re-signed with ESPN just last March:

http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2013/march/espn-officially-re-signs-rick-reilly.html

 

Agree.

 

I might have gotten a little aroused when watching her tirade.

 

Both statements are pretty much on target.

But isn't that about what you would expect? Simmons is younger (by 11 years), hungrier, still eager to make his mark. His "work" is still "play" to him, and he goes at it with the gusto you would expect.

Reilly turns 56 next week. Has made millions of dollars. Could retire tomorrow and never want for anything. But amazingly he gets paid more and more to do less and less. I'm not proud to say it, but put in the same position I (and countless others) would do exactly the same thing. If his employers demanded his fastball for a superstar salary, I think he could probably bring it on occasion. But they don't. So what's the incentive? Work all week on an A+ column, or mail in a C- column and spend the rest of the week playing Pebble Beach? Regretfully, he GETS that choice. But it's hard to begrudge him for taking advantage of it. Life is to be enjoyed, after all.

 

It's kind of an apples and oranges comparison. Bill is an entrepreneurial idea guy who likes to try new endeavors. That, I believe, not age, is what maintains his drive. Reilly's a writer. He doesn't have much left to prove doing that, so tuning out is understandable if regrettable.

 

I certainly don't begrudge him for it. But it is just so disappointing. He was a guy that I read religiously when he worked for SI, and one of the guys who made me see this as a profession I might pursue. And you could tell by reading his stuff that he really loved to write. I would assume he is just burned out a bit and coasting, and maybe when he gets dumped by ESPN he will bring that fastball again. Or maybe he's like Berman and will just be a caricature of himself from here on out. He does some good work occasionally. Loved his piece on the young Seahawks fan last week, but he wasn't really what made it good.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=10051523

The column I linked on the previous page should be embarrassing to him.

 

Katie Nolan is the closest thing that FS1 has to a breakout talent. She's still not getting huge exposure - I don't know anyone who watches CGW - but it's a big step forward from the Guyism videos. Her daily videos are still great, even if she's had to tone it down about 100 levels.

(The other thing that interests me about FS1 is Charissa Thompson. Having them on the same family of networks just makes it more obvious how much better she is than Erin Andrews, especially in a studio environment.)

 

This is the kind of thing that can make you famous as a media personality. Jim Rome was a regional radio personality in early 1993, then he got into a "fistfight" on espn2 with Jim Everett.

 

So Rick is Andy Kaufman?

 

The fate of FS1 and the career path of one Katie Nolan is exponentially more interesting at this point than anything that "Mail it in Reilly" is doing.

If I am Fox, I put her front and center of the five hours of pregame on Sunday. Make her a household name. She's cute and appears to have some personality. Currently, guys turn into FS1 and see Andy Roddick and Donovan McNabb, and immediately turn the channel (see ratings).

 

The viewer mail segment is way hotter...

 

Charissa Thompson is gorgeous, and she is very good in the studio. I actually watched SportsNation on occasion and put up with Cowherd because she was that good. I really enjoy watching her, but can't do it for very long with Roddick, McNabb and Kapler acting like morons. Salaam is very good, but most of the rest of FS1's hires have been annoying as hell.