{mosimage} Last night as I was driving I ended up listening to sports talk on the radio. The particular host was involved in a full out rant concerning the week's activities involving the Cleveland Browns.

In his rant he attacked Brady Quinn for his contract holdout as letting down the team, the city and the fans. He failed to give any time to the concept that as a draft pick, Brady Quinn owed nothing to the fans, the city or the team. He did not acknowledge that this was perhaps the one chance that any player has to secure his future. Just as the team and the fans do not know how any draft pick will turn out, the player also does not know. He could get injured during his first practice with the team and never play again again. If lucky he will make it only to face the same criticism for lack of loyalty if he chooses to play for money and leaves for another team. I would have agreed with his rant if Kellen Winslow or any other player had refused to practice in an attempt to break his contract and to either force a new one or a trade.

He also continued his rant against the owner, the GM and the coach of the team by making assumptions as to who was in control and making particular decisions. He criticized the owner and GM for keeping the coach when other personalities on his own station (who claim to have first hand knowledge) state that the management attempted to replace the coach but were unable to get individuals to accept their offers. He criticized the coach for letting the GM run the team rather than insisting that he have all control. Yet the host of the show does not claim any inside knowledge of the workings of the team and its management.

One would assume that when a person is given a 50,000 watt platform from which to speak that he would do so with a sense of responsibility. If he is simply going to speak as a fan that drinks for six hours prior to the game, wears a dog nose with a painted face and sits in the Dawg Pound then he should make it clear that he is ranting only as an irresponsible fan and not as the host of a sports talk show who knows what he is talking about.

There have been excellent sports talk show hosts and miserable ones. Unfortunately the excellent move on to major television and radio gigs and leave us with the screamers. But I will keep looking for someone to listen to during those long drives.

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